Finding items

Tips on using search

With thousands of items in the Collection, just browsing for what you want is unlikely to be successful. At the top of each page you will see a Search box, and next to it a link to "Advanced Search". You can use this search to help you find what you are looking for.

Using the search box

The search box is quick to use, but can return items that you are not expecting because it searches all the text in every item in the catalogue. However, to use it, just enter the text you would expect to find in the descriptions of the items that might interest you.

Using Advanced Search

Advanced Search is a way of narrowing down your search very quickly.

Clicking on the Advanced Search link a the top of a page will take you to the options for searching. In order, these are:

Search for Keywords: this searches everywhere in the item records for the words you enter.
Narrow by Specific Fields: this is the most useful way of narrowing down your search, and you will find more details below.
Search by a range of ID#s: this refers to the internal numbering system used by the software, and is of little use to the general user.
Search by Collection. Our catalogue is arranged by the groupings that the Collection Team use to manage the items. So, textiles, the reference library, tools, yarns and patters are in different Collections. Use the drop down menu to choose the type of item that interests you.
Search by Type: This is a technical search that is only of use to the system administrators.
Search by Tags: we use Tags to identify groups of items. For example, we use tags for each of the "Team's Selections" exhibitions. Many of the tags are there to help the administrators manage the records for items.
Featured/Non-Featured: the software gives us the opportunity to declare some items as "featured" so that we can display them as highlights. At present, we do not use this option.
Search by Exhibit: if you know that the item you want is in one of our "Team's Selections" you can use this drop down menu to limit the search to items in that selection

Using "Narrow by specific fields"

The record describing each item is sub-divided into "fields" that contain specific types of information that you can use to narrow down your searches. The fields are described in our page Understanding Items; this page also lists the values that are allowed in the fields that have "controlled vocabularies".

The "Narrow by specific fields" option in Advanced Search allows you to search for terms used within specific fields. The fields of most use for searching are listed below.

There are three boxes in the Narrow by Specific Fields option: "Field", "Type" and "Terms".

Field is a drop down menu that lists the fields you can use for searching. See below for the most useful.

Type is the type of search. The three options used most frequently are:

"contains": items that contain the "Terms".
"is exactly": the "Terms" (and only the "Terms") are included in the field.
"starts with": the "Terms" are at the start of the field, but can be followed by anything (or nothing).

Terms is the phrase (or set of characters) to search for.

Most useful fields for search

Title - the name given to the item in the catalogue (use this if you know the name given to the item, and use type "is exactly").
Subject - the craft (Hand Knitting, Machine Knitting, Crochet) or other generic classification (e.g. Tool). This is a "Controlled vocabulary" - use type "is exactly".
Identifier: a unique identifier (such as the accession number) that has been assigned to the item by the Collections Team. Some items are split over several records (such as the individual animals in the knitted zoo) and have identifiers that are formed from the accession number followed by a qualifier. Because of this, use the type "starts with".
Format: this is how the item would be generically described (e.g. Cardigan/Jacket/Bolero). Use type "contains" because this controlled vocabulary contains many terms that include several synonyms (as in the example).
Type: aspects of specific interest (this is a controlled vocabulary) - such as intarsia. Use type "is exactly".
Category - the intended use of the item (size for clothing, or use for others). This is a controlled vocabulary, so use the type "is exactly".

Combining search options

All the options in the Advanced Search are combined together using "logical and" - that is all the criteria have to be met for an item to appear in the results.

The exception is the Narrow By Specific Fields option. This is combined with all others using "logical and" (so thin that respect it is the same as any of the other criteria). You can, though, search in many fields at the same time. To do this, use the "add field" (or plus sign) within the Narrow by Specific Fields area to add additional fields to search. This gives you the option to include items that meet all the Fields conditions (AND) or any of them "OR".

Tip when using Advanced Search

When you hit the Search button, the catalogue searches for all items that meet the criteria you are looking for. If you want to change, or modify the search, you can use the "history" drop down on the back button of your browser to go back to the search page, even if you have clicked on items in the list. Although this only retains that first of the Fields you searched for, you can often search much faster by going back that re-entering your search criteria by hand.