Using the Knitting & Crochet Guild Collection catalogue
This is where you will find help on how to use this catalogue of the Guild's Collection.
How is the catalogue organised?
When you use the catalogue, you will see "Exhibits", "Collections" and "Items".
An "Exhibit" is where we showcase selected items, usually based on a theme (like an "exhibition" in a physical museum). An example is the donation known as the "Coats Collection" made by Patons. In an Exhibit, we can show you selected items alongside contextual information to help you understand how the items represent aspects of the history of hand knitting, crochet and machine knitting.
A "Collection" is a group of related items. We have chosen collections that are based on the type of item (for example books). Collections can hold a very large number of items, making them difficult to find your way around. Think about them as the storage vaults in a museum.
An "Item" is something in our Collection. It could be a knitted jumper, a book, or a layette consisting of several individual objects. Occasionally, we may slip up and you may see references to "admin" items; do not expect to be able to see these "items" - they should only be visible to the Collections Team and are used to record information the team needs to manage the items in the Collection.
With so many items, how do I find anything?
If you want a flavour of what we hold, look at our exhibits. Over time we will be adding exhibits to give you a broader insight into what we hold.
If you are interested in a particular type of object, then you may want to use our "search" tool at the top of the page. This will search for the words that you enter. As with most searches, this can result in more results than you can cope with. If that is the case, use the three dots to the right of the search box to bring up an option for an "advanced search". You will want to limit your search to "Items" (uncheck the "files" and "collection" boxes).
The advanced search lets you restrict your search to specific fields in the item descriptions - the "Narrow by specific fields" section.
In this section of the search page, use the left hand "search below" drop-down list to select the field you want to search, the right hand "search below" drop-down list to say how you want the search to work, and then enter the text you want to search for in the box below.
You can add fields to the search by using the "ADD A FIELD" button to get a new set of boxes. This extra row contains an additional box on the left - specify "AND" if you want the results to show entries where all the conditions are true, or "OR" to show entries where that condition is true as well as those that meet the other criteria.
What should I search for?
The information on each item is divided into fields. The "Understanding item descriptions" help page explains the type of information held in each field. You can use this to guide you in making your search.