Dementia Catalogue - 10 simple search tips

If you are having trouble searching you can use the help screen by clicking the Help button on the right hand side of the screen.

The advanced search is the default search option. You can select basic search or browse by clicking on the Search and Browse buttons. An option is given for guided search, though we do not recommend that you use this search option. Search tips for the guided search have not been provided.

If the Help screen did not provide the information you require, use this sheet. It provides more thorough explanation of search options.

Basic Search
The basic search allows you to search through the records on Dementia Catalogue. Just type the word, or words, you are searching for into the box and click the Go button. There are, however, some ways of making your search more precise.

• Use And to search for records containing all the words you type in. (eg. dementia AND medicine)
• Use OR to search for records containing any of the words you type in. (eg. MMSE OR mini mental state examination)
• Use NOT to search for records excluding particular words you type in. (eg. behaviour NOT aggression)
• Truncate words using *  (eg. typing in therap* will display records containing therapy, therapies, therapeutic, etc.)
• If you are searching for a phrase, type in the phrase you are searching for and then use the drop-down box to select the phrase (it is set at any words by default). Then click the GO button.

With these tips, you should be able to find what you are looking for, but if you want a more specific search, click on the advanced search button.

Advanced Search
The advanced search helps you search the Dementia Catalogue by guiding your search words into the most appropriate field. This narrows down searches, making them more relevant.

• Any words: Searches for the words you type in every part of all records. Use AND, OR, NOT, and *(truncation) to make your search more precise.
• Title: Searches for titles of books, videos, journal articles and other items that match the words you type in. Use as much of the title as you can remember to make your search more precise. (eg. typing in mental health manual brings up the record for 'The Mental Health Act Manual') 
• Author: Searches for authors, editors, corporate authors (organisations named as authors e.g. the publications of Governments, Universities or other bodies) and others responsible for creating books, videos, etc., which match the words you type in. Use the author's surname and first initial, if you know it. If you know the names of several authors or editors who worked on an item, only type in one of them.  Alternatively, click the Lookup button to find an author's name in our thesaurus. When the Lookup window opens, type in the name you are searching for and click search. A list of author names will appear; select the one that matches your search.
• Subject: Searches for subjects or keywords that match the words you type in. Every record on our catalogue has been given a subject or keyword, which describes, generally, what the item is about. (eg. typing in care will bring up results with the subjects Care workers, Community care, Day care, etc.)   

Alternatively, click the Lookup button to find a subject or keyword in our thesaurus. When the Lookup window opens, type in the word you are searching for. A list of subjects containing that word will appear; select the subject that matches your search.

• Date: Use the date boxes to search for records published within a certain date range. If you only want records from one specific year, put the same year in both boxes.  (eg. typing 2003 in the first box and 2004 in the second box, will give you a list of records published during 2003-2004)
• Limit by: This allows you to restrict your search to items in one of three categories. 
  
• Print restricts your search to those records that are in books, journals and other printed material physically held by the library. 
• Online content restricts the records to those that are found online. These records will appear as links to the site where they can be found.
• Audiovisual restricts your search to videos, DVDs and audio tapes.

To use the advanced search more effectively, try combining different elements. You can type residential care into the Subject field, and set the Limit by to Audiovisual to find a video about residential care for persons with dementia. Or, if you want to know what materials we hold that were produced by the Alzheimer's Society since 2000, type Alzheimer's Society into the Author field and then type 2000 into the first date box.

Browse
You can use this to browse through lists of information contained in the Dementia Catalogue records. It is very similar to the Lookup button available in the advanced search, only it gives you more fields to browse through. You can choose from five categories of information to browse through:

1. Subjects - This allows you to look through a list of subjects that contain the words you type in. (eg. typing in care will return a list of subjects such as: Care workers, Community care, Day care, etc.)
2. Authors - This allows you to look through a list of author's names that match the words you type in. (eg. typing in Jones will return a list of author's names such as: Burton-Jones, Julia; Jones, Adele; Jones, M etc.)
3. Series - This allows you to search through a list of series' titles
4. Publishers - This allows you to look through a list of publisher's names that match the words you type in
5. Corporate Authors - This allows you to look through a list of corporate authors, such as government bodies, universities, NGO's etc, that match the words you type in. (Currently not working).

To browse, type in the word or words you are searching for, then use the drop-down box to select the category you want to search, then click go. This will bring up a list of results that match the words you type in, followed by a number.

This number tells you how many items held by the library match that search word or words. Click on the result that best matches what you are searching for. This will bring up the catalogue records for the items held by the library that match contain that word or words.

Catalogue Record Fields
Below is a list of terms that used to define a few of the most important fields, or sections, of the catalogue's records.

Author

The author field contains information about who is responsible for the intellectual content of an item in the library catalogue. This can be, but is not limited to:

• Individual authors of books or articles
• Editors of collections of articles or directories
• Directors of films and multi-media producers
• Corporate authors, such as government bodies, universities, voluntary organizations

Title
The title field contains the names of books, articles, films, journals and other materials held by the library. When searching for a specific title, you should enter as much of the title as possible, to ensure the most relevant results are returned.

Subject
The subject field contains subject headings, or keywords, that describe the general topics of the item. Every catalogue record is assigned at least one, but often several, subject headings. To search by subject, use either the basic search or the subject section of the advanced search. 

Source
The source field contains information about how to find the items we hold, particularly directed at researchers who do not have borrowing rights with Alzheimer's Society and would like to source materials for themselves. This includes the journal or other periodical in which an article was published, as well as contact details for the book and multi-media distributors that we have used in sourcing our materials.

Abstract
Every catalogue record includes an abstract, which is a brief summary of the contents of the item. This will provide more information about the items relevancy to your search needs. The text of the abstract is searched for matches of the word you type in when using the basic search, or when using the any words section of the advanced search.

Date of Publication
Every catalogue record includes the date of publication of the item, so you can search for material from a specific year, or within a range of years. To search by date, use the advanced search and type the year range into the boxes provided. E.g. 2006 - 2008 (YYYY) - (YYYY)

ISBN
The ISBN, or International Standard Book Number, is a unique 10, or less often, 13 -digit number that identifies a book when it is published. Many catalogue records include the ISBN, which can be useful when searching for a particular edition of a book.