| TABLE OF CONTENTS - Home
- Search
- Search Hits
- Result List
- Full View
- History
| | HOME | The HOME screen is an optional opening MetaLib screen. The screen is made up of a Navigation Banner for moving between the different MetaLib screens, an area called MY SPACE on the right for accessing personalized MetaLib elements, and areas on the left for selecting MetaLib resources to search.
In the top left is a browse box. The Resource Browser enables you to scroll through an alphabetical list of information resources in which you can carry out searches. Enter a name or the beginning of a name, such as Medline. An alphabetical list of resources will appear in the center of the SEARCH screen.
Below the Resource Browser is a pulldown menu of resource categories; selecting a category or a subcategory will automatically bring all the relevant resources to the SEARCH screen.
At the bottom left is a Resource Locator, a more advanced way of selecting resources. You can search by a word in the resource name, by a word describing the resource, by keyword assigned to the resource and by resource type. More than one field can be chosen at a time. The resources which meet your criteria will appear in the center of the SEARCH screen.
If you have already selected resources for MY RESOURCE LIST, click on this header from within MY SPACE to access your list on the SEARCH screen. At any time during a MetaLib session, you can click on MY RESOURCE LIST to return to your list.
You may use the BACK button of your Internet browser to return to the previous screen. For optimal display, use Medium sized fonts on Explorer, or size 10 font on Netscape. | | SEARCH | The SEARCH screen consists of a Navigation Banner for moving between the different MetaLib screens; a central search area; MY SPACE on the right for accessing personalized MetaLib elements, a PAGE GUIDE, on the right for brief help, and areas on the left for selecting MetaLib resources to search.
A list of resources is presented in the central search area. Resources that can be searched simultaneously (Search Resources) have a check box for selecting the resource.
Note that the gray line above the list of resources indicates how you have selected this group: whether they are from My Resource List, a list generated by selecting a category or subcategory (History Resources, for example) or a list generated using the Resource Locator (name=art).
To the left of each resource is a series of icons which are explained in the PAGE GUIDE: Click on the i (information) icon for a short description of the resource. Click on the plus (+) icon to add a resource to My Resource List. Once added, this icon switches to a check mark to indicate that the resource is already in My Resource List. When My Resource List is displayed, you can remove a resource from your list by clicking the minus (-) icon. Click on the arrow icon to go to the home page of the resource.
METALIB SEARCH
To search, select a field name from the pulldown menu following "Field to search." You may search by All Fields, Subject, Title, Author, ISSN, ISBN or YEAR. Then fill in your search term in the space provided, following "Type word or phrase". If you are searching for two nonadjacent words, connect them with AND. MetaLib is not case sensitive. Select one or more resources (with the checkbox) to initiate the search in them. Click on the SEARCH button to submit the search.
The MetaLib SEARCH screen provides you with two lines for search fields and text, connected by a Boolean operator (AND, OR or NOT). Use of the second line is optional. USE the following operators as follows: - AND: Both terms must appear in the results. Example: nuclear AND physics
- OR: Either term will appear in the results. Example: Britain or England.
- NOT: The first term will appear, but not if the record includes the second. Example: chips NOT potato.
MetaTips:
Do not put terms in quotation marks, and avoid punctuation.
Avoid using words such as 'a' 'an' 'the' in your search. The more search terms used, the more specific, and fewer the results.
To broaden your search results, use synonyms or truncate words with a question mark.
The standard format for authors' names is Last, First. Due to variations of the standard, it may be best to try variations on the name, or to truncate it, as in Johnson, M?
It is difficult to predict whether the resources list their subjects as "maps, ancient" or "ancient maps". For maximum results, search maps AND ancient.
Refer to the "search tips" provided for most resources in the information screen (press the "i" icon to the left of the resource name).
BROWSE
On the top left of the SEARCH screen is a browse box. The RESOURCE BROWSER enables you to scroll through an alphabetical list of information resources. Enter a name or the beginning of a name, such as Medline and click on GO. An alphabetical list of resources will appear in the center of the SEARCH screen. Clicking on GO without entering text will bring you to the beginning of the alphabet. Use the arrows to move forward or backward within the list.
To the left of each resource is a series of icons: Click on the i (information) icon for a short description of the resource. Click on the plus (+) icon to add a resource to My Resource List. Once added, this icon switches to a check mark to indicate that the resource is already in My Resource List. Click on the arrow icon to go to the home page of the resource. Select resources with the checkbox to initiate a search in them. If a resource has no checkbox, it can only be linked to directly.
RESOURCE CATEGORIES
Below the RESOURCE BROWSER is a pulldown menu of resource categories; selecting a category or a subcategory and clicking on GO will automatically bring all the relevant resources to the SEARCH screen. From there you may search them, link to them, add them to My Resource List, or view a short description of the resource.
RESOURCE LOCATOR
At the bottom left is a Resource Locator, a more advanced way of selecting resources. You can search by a word in the resource name, by a word describing the resource, or by resource type. More than one field can be chosen at a time. The resources which meet your criteria will appear in the center of the SEARCH screen. From there you may search them, link to them, add them to My Resource List, or view a short description of the resource. | | SEARCH HITS | After submitting a search, the search status, per resource, appears on a screen that refreshes its display every few seconds. During this time, the terms "searching" or "fetching" appear. When the search complete, a looking-glass icon will appear to the left of each resource searched, and the number of hits will appear on the right. Click the icon to see the results originated from the specific resource.
In a line above the hits, four services appear. REFINE is used to narrow the search results by combining them with an additional search. In the REFINE box, type in the new search term, designate the search field, and connect it to the previous search with OR, AND or NOT.
Small sets can be combined with MERGE, which creates a merged, deduplicated set of records. Merge is limited to a total of 150 records.
| | RESULT LIST | The results of your search appear on this screen in a brief form. Use the tabs above the list to display the results from each resource searched.
You can navigate through the Result List with the Forward and Back arrows, or by filling in the Jump To box with a number and clicking on GO.
If the headings at the top of the each column: author, title, year, are underlined, sorting of the results is enabled.
The MORE button will bring you to the full bibliographic record.
Clicking on the name in the Resource column links you to the Home Page of the resource or to a display of the record in the resource's native interface.
Services can be activated by clicking on the buttons above the list of results: To create a smaller results set (subset), select individual records by clicking the checkbox of each record. View your selected records by clicking VIEW SELECTED RECORDS. After you view your selected records for the first time, a SELECTED tab appears along with the tabs for each of the resources you searched.
To save a record(s) onto your local or network disk drive , select them and click on the SAVE RECORDS button, and follow the onscreen instructions. You can save items in MetaLib's standard format, the original format of the record, or in a citation manager format if one is loaded on your PC.
To send a record(s) by email, select them, click on the SEND RECORDS button, and fill in the onscreen form.
REFINE is used to narrow the search results by combining them with an additional search. In the REFINE box, type in the new search term, designate the search field, and connect it to the previous search with OR, AND or NOT. REFINE acts on an entire result set, not on individual records.
Small result sets from different resources can be combined with MERGE, which creates a merged, deduplicated set of records. Merge is limited to a total of 150 records.
| | FULL VIEW | This screen provides you with full bibliographic details of each record, available in the Standard MetaLib display format, as well as the original format. Typical fields in the Standard display include author, title, year, publisher, subjects and source. The original display format includes all of the information sent by the resource.
Use the forward and back arrows to navigate between records.
The author, title and subject fields are hypertext links. Clicking on one of these headings will move the text to the SEARCH screen, where you can conduct a new search in the same set of resources, or in a different set of resources. Clicking on the underlined text in the Resource field brings you to the Home Page of the resource or to a display of the same record in the resource's native interface.
Clicking on a HOLDINGS link, if present, will initiate a new search for information on holdings in the Library, such as the number of copies held by the library, their location and availability for loans.
Some records have OPEN DOCUMENT fields which link you to an external Web page, often containing the full text or image of the record in question.
To save a record onto your local or network disk drive, click on the SAVE button, and follow the onscreen instructions. You can save items in standard or original format, or in a citation manager format if one is loaded on your PC.
To send a record by email, click on the SEND TO button, and fill in the onscreen form.
| | HISTORY | The HISTORY screen displays searches from the current session. Searches can be reactivated within the original resources by clicking on the underlined text.
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