Help for search
It is possible to research our website using search patterns that are arranged in order of increasing selection and search possibilities, from simple to extended and if necessary advanced.
In addition, it is possible to browse directly in the inventory list using the " Browse index ".Through the Filter (actually: classification) one is able to search according to language, material, color of the material, catchwords, script style, ink color, completeness and subject matter. With the extended and, above all, advanced search, it is possible to hone a search in that it is possible to combine multiple filters.
The simple search encompasses a full text search of the metadata (data that was acquired in the cataloguing).
With extended search for all data models it is possible to search by classmark, language, author, title, date, place and subject.
With advanced search (only for manuscripts) it is also possible, among other things, to search by content, script, illumination, miniatures, other copies, editions and translations. Thus, search capabilities for all publicly accessible criteria are provided.
In order to simplify the input, special characters were normalized. Consequently, next to the term that is being searched for in correct, scholarly transcription, it is possible to ignore special symbols. A search using the input "Iṣfahānī" will produce the same result using the notation "Isfahani". This normalization (or symbol-neutral) search should always produce the same results. In spite of this and in order to simplify the input possibilities of the correct, scholarly transcription for the user (among other things to restrict the search results which through the normalization are logically, sometimes too many), an on-screen keyboard was developed in which the symbol can be clicked as needed.
If more search terms are entered consecutively, the operator “AND” is executed. This means that, for example, the search for "Kitāb Faḍā’il" in the metadata directly finds not only the entry "Kitāb al-Faḍā’il", but also further entries in which both words appear within the description at least once and through any number of symbols that are separated from each other as well as independent of the order of their appearance. Thereby, a search for the term, exactly as it has been entered, is performed. Capitalisation is not relevant.
Furthermore, it is possible to enter an asterisk (*) as a so-called wild card in place of another symbol/letter. With this placeholder for any number of consecutively appearing symbols, one can search, e.g., for terms whose spelling is not definitely known, or one searches using words with a similar spelling: the search for “cover” does not bring up, e.g., the word “hardcover”. However, if one supplements the wildcard “*cover”, the search will also produce the compounded forms. The search for “tu*k” would produce “turkish” as well as “Turkey”.
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