Help

User’s guide

Structure of the application

The web application of the Library Gateway constitutes three main parts:

  1. Search form (is a part of every page of the web site — at the top);
  2. Search results containing concise information on results found;
  3. Detailed information concerning the particular entry in the library catalogue.

When search inquiry is filled in and performed a search result page appears containing concise information on the entries corresponding to the search inquiry. The following links are included in each entry:

  • Details — displays detailed information on the particular library entry;
  • To form — scrolls the page (or moves the cursor) to the search form, which is placed at the top of the same page.

The following links are displayed at the bottom of the page with detailed information:

  • Back to results — goes back to the page with the search results;
  • Previous document — opens a page with detailed information related to the previous entry from the search results;
  • Next document — opens a page with detailed information related to the next entry from the search results;
  • Back to form — scrolls the page (or moves the cursor) to the search form, which is placed at the top of the same page.

I. Search form

The search form is introduced by a second level heading “Search documents” and consists of the following fields:

  1. Related to the description of the searched entries:
    • four drop-down lists
    • two text boxes
  2. Related to the database selection:
    • check box with options: consider — not consider (the box is checked — not checked).
  3. Related to the display of the search results (the number of entries on a page)
    • one drop-down list

During a search it is possible to consider and combine the following conditions:

  • document type (1st drop-down list): any (default), digital resource, tactile, audio, ink print, video, other;
  • the first condition of the search inquiry (2nd drop-down list): author, title (default), subject heading — followed by a blank text box;
  • the second condition of the search inquiry (4th drop-down list): author (default), title, subject heading — followed by a blank text box.

The conditions can be combined using logical conjunctions (3rd drop-down list): “and”, “or”. Only one condition is compulsory for the search, the other one is optional (for narrowing the search only) — in that case neither type of the logical conjunction is taken into account.

Entering in text boxes

  • it is possible to enter any word or group of words, author’s name or subject heading — search based on parts of words is not possible;
  • it is possible to enter the complete name of the author in the natural order (John Smith) or in the reversed order (Smith John), the same applies to entering subject headings (special pedagogy and pedagogy special);
  • when more words are entered in one text box, these are by default connected by the logical conjunction AND; the words do not need to follow one another immediately and do not need to come only from the beginning of the searched name / expression but can be located in any of its parts;
  • another logical connection of more words can be done through the combination with another text box (see above).

Selection of database

The selection of library catalogues to be searched is available through check boxes. The list of libraries currently participating in the Library Gateway project is divided in three categories (Digital library databases, Physical Libraries, Web Sources) — the heading of each category is an active element that can be used to hide or show the list of libraries in the given category.

As default the first two libraries are checked.

Choice of the number of entries shown

You can set the number of entries resulting from your search inquiry that will be shown on one page by selecting 10, 20, or 50 entries in a drop-down list; the default is 10.

Submitting the search inquiry, etc.

Pressing the button Search will submit the inquiry and start the search.

You can delete the data entered in the form (“clearing the form”) by pressing the button New Search.

Note

The user’s combination of the libraries selected and the number of entries setting from his/her last search are stored by the Library Gateway over a long period (within one web browser). Therefore, when using the Library Gateway again, the last session’s settings will be loaded instead of the above-mentioned default settings.

II. Search results

This part of the application is introduced by a second-level heading “Search results”.

A numbered list of basic information on the entries found in the catalogues of the chosen libraries is shown as a result of a search inquiry. The list can comprise up to 500 entries; if this limit is exceeded, the search needs to be narrowed down. The total number of the entries found is indicated at the beginning of the result list.

Each entry contains the following information:

  • entry number,
  • title,
  • author,
  • release year,
  • type of document,
  • and the library which the entry originates from.

The entry number and the title are defined as a third-level heading.

If the entry list is distributed over more than one page, navigation links for moving from one page to another can be found at the end of the list (Previous page, Next page, and page numbers).

Above the search results there are elements that enable to change the scope and ordering of the current result list:

  • the list of libraries that have been searched, showing the number of entries found in each particular library — every item is active: pressing it will leave out entries found in the given library;
  • a drop-down list “Sort by” including the items Title, Author, Libraries: pressing “Apply” will change the method of ordering the current results according to the selected item.

III. Detailed information on the entry

This part of the application is introduced by a second-level heading comprising the entry number and its title.

The detailed information is structured in the form of a bibliographical entry. The following information is possibly available:

  • title
  • type of document
  • author
  • place of publication, publisher, year of publication (of the current document, that is, e.g. an electronic source or tactile publication, not its possible original version in ink print)
  • bibliographical information on the original version
  • number of pages, edition, notes, ISBN
  • possibly summary, genre/form and subject
  • information on the location of the e-document. This field, introduced by the phrase “Available from:”, is filled in with distantly accessible electronic sources and includes a hyperlink that can be followed directly to the digital document in the particular digital library. Downloading the source is mostly possible after user authorization.
  • call numbers
  • and the library which the entry originates from.