There are two ways to search the catalogue database, a Quick Search or an Advanced Search. In both cases searches are not case sensitive so it doesn't matter if you type Mallory or mallory.
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Quick Search
Do a simple search by typing your search into the large search bar on the front page of the catalogue. This will search on the title and description fields in the catalogue.
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Advanced Search
To narrow down your search or to search on a wider range of fields, you can use the advanced search. Fields that you can search on in advanced search are:
~Any Text~
This searches on a range of text fields in the catalogue. It can be useful if you want to search for a particular type of record or material. E.g. if you search for “Object” this will return all objects in our collection, even if the word object doesn’t appear in the Title or Description fields.
~Ref No~
Use this field if you already know the reference number (Ref No) of the field you want to search on. You can also add a * to widen your search e.g. if you search for “CBO*” this will return all records with a reference number starting CBO.
~Description~
Use this field to search the description field of all available records in the catalogue.
~Date~
Use this field to search for dates. You can search in a variety of formats including:
25 February 2021 | 25th February 2021 | February 2021 | 2021 | 1900-2021 | 20th century | 1960s | 1960s-1970s | c1960s
NB there are some date formats that the catalogue will not accept so you won’t get any results if you use them:
1960’s (the apostrophe makes the format invalid)
February 65 (the full year needs to be entered)
In the advanced search you can also click Refine Search Criteria if you want to do a more detailed, Boolean style, search.