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To select what to search: |
There are three
collections to search:
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PADI
Database |
A search of
the PADI Database will retrieve a list of resources that have been indexed for
PADI that meet your search criteria. The search will be based on metadata about
the resource stored in our PADI database. You would search the PADI Database if
you were interested in finding quality resources dealing in a substantial way
with a given topic, as assessed by our subject indexers. You can also
limit a search to a specific field in the PADI
Database. |
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PADI
Topics |
A search of
PADI Topics will retrieve a list of pages on this site relating to a specific
topic from the PADI Thesaurus: for example, the Emulation page or the Authenticity page. You would select PADI Topics if you
were interested in obtaining an overview of a given topic and browsing related
resources. |
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Linked Web
Sites |
A search of
linked Web sites will retrieve pages from resources indexed for PADI that
contain words or phrases that meet your search criteria: for example, a phrase
search on David Bearman will retrieve
Museums and the
Web 2000 because David was a speaker at that conference and is listed on
the conference homepage. You would search linked resources if you were
interested in finding information even if it was not the main subject of the
resource. |
The PADI Database
is the default collection but you can select one of the other collections to
search by checking the appropriate option button.
A phrase can be
entered as a search term using double quotation marks:
"technological obsolescence"
You can enter
multiple phrases by separating each phrase with a comma:
"preservation strategies", "storage media"
You can also
combine words and phrases in a single search:
"preservation strategies" migration
emulation
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To require an exact match on case: |
Use UPPER case to
require an exact match on case.
"Jo Bushnell" CHArt
Search terms in
lowercase will match words in any case, otherwise, an exact case match is used.
For example, chart will find matches for Chart, chart and CHArt, whereas CHArt
will only match CHArt (an acronym for Computers and the History of
Art).
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To
Require or Exclude Terms: |
When you search for
words or phrases, the search will look for any of the terms in the document or
PADI database record and then rank the results so that items with the most
terms are presented first.
Requiring a term
to be present
You can require a
term to be present by using the + sign; for example:
+conference +Frankfurt metadata "Dublin
Core"
In this example,
returned documents or records must have the words "conference" and "Frankfurt"
in them and may have either the word "metadata" or the phrase "Dublin Core".
This ensures that the most relevant items are presented first.
Excluding a
term
You can exclude a
word from the returned documents or records by using the - sign; for
example:
+pdf archival archiving -"electronic
records"
In this example,
returned items must have the word "pdf" in them and either the word "archival"
or "archiving" but not the phrase "electronic records". This ensures that the
returned items deal with pdf as an archival format in relation to other kinds
of resources than electronic records.
It is easy to
refine a query to get precisely the results you want.
Searching Within
the Initial Results
You can refine a
query immediately after you have done a search using the facility to "Search
within these results" at the bottom of the page. This will search for the terms
you have already specified plus the additional terms you enter now; for
example
Original
Search: "preservation strategies"
Search Within These
Results: migration encapsulation
This will return
only documents from the original result set that contain the words "migration"
or "encapsulation".
Trying
again
If your first
search did not work there may be another technique you can use that will get
better results.
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To Limit
a Search to a Specific Field: |
When searching the
PADI Database, you can restrict searches to certain portions of a record by
limiting a search to a specific field. The field name should be in lower case,
and immediately followed by a colon. There should be no spaces after the colon
and before the search terms. For example:
title:digital
title:"digital library"
title:+"digital library" +California
The fields
applicable when searching the PADI Database are:
| Name |
Description |
Use |
| Title |
Looks for matches in the Title
field |
Limiting a query to Title will give you
more precise results. This is the most powerful query refinement
technique |
| Subject |
Looks for matches in the Subject or
keyword fields |
Limiting a query to Subject will ensure
that a high proportion of the records you retrieve describe resources that are
on the subject you are interested in rather than only indirectly related.
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| Name |
Looks for matches in the Creator,
Contributor or Publisher fields |
Limiting a query to Name will ensure you
only retrieve records where the person or organisation you are interested in
had a substantial role in the creation or dissemination of the resource
described |
| Type |
Looks for matches in the PADI Type
field |
Limiting a query to Type will ensure that
you only retrieve records of a given type. Allowed values for type in the PADI
record are: article; bibliography; case study; discussion list; event;
glossary; journal; organisation; policy/strategy/guideline; project; web
site |
+
| term 1 term 2 ... |
Specifies that one or more of the terms
must be found for a match to occur. Items containing all terms will be listed
first in the result set display |
video videorecording "moving picture"
"motion picture" |
| "word1 word2 ..." |
Enables a term to be entered as a phrase
consisting of adjacent words |
"storage media" |
| +term |
Requires a term to be present for a match
to occur |
+"storage media" DVD CD-R |
| -term |
Excludes items containing a
term |
"storage media" -CDROM
-CD-ROM |
| fieldname:term |
Specifies that the term must be found in
that field. See listing of fieldnames in the tables above. |
title:"storage media" |
Lowercase terms match any case, otherwise case is
matched exactly as typed.
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To change the sort default: |
You can change the
sort default from the Results Page by clicking on the sort by ... button
or by using the tab key to highlight the button and then pressing
Enter.
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To show or hide summaries: |
You can change the
display to show or hide summaries from the Results Page by clicking on the
...summaries button or by using the tab key to highlight the button and
then pressing Enter.
We welcome
feedback on problems you may have finding
information on PADI through this search service. This will help us to refine
the service to meet your needs.
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA, Canberra, ACT 2600, AUSTRALIA
Telephone + 61 2 6262 1111; Facsimile +61 2 6257 1703; Telephone Typewriter
Number: 1800 026 372
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