Searching The OPAC - Indexes

Indexes

Each bibliographic record is indexed as it is added to the database so that it can be retrieved by a variety of access points during a search. The standard INNOPAC indexes are illustrated in this section. However, a particular organization's indexing may vary from this standard.

Authority records are indexed in the same indexes as bibliographic records. Searching the author index, for example, searches both bibliographic and authority records.

The standard indexes available for bibliographic and item records include the following:

• Record number index -- the index of the unique, sequential number which is assigned automatically to each new INNOPAC record when it is created.

• Word index or indexes (also called "keyword" index) -- includes words from title fields and subfields, series, corporate and conference authors, and contents notes (optional). This index is available as part of the OPAC module.

• Call number indexes -- there can be separate call number indexes for each type of call number the library uses.

• Barcode number index -- the index of the unique number which the library assigns to each Item record; used in the Circulation module.

• Other bibliographic indexes -- the library may include up to seven additional indexes. Most libraries include:

• Author (see Heading Indexes)

• Title -- usually includes series titles (see Heading Indexes)

• Subject (see Heading Indexes)

• ISN/other numbers (see Number Indexes)

• Bibliographic utility number, e.g., OCLC/RLIN number (see Number Indexes)

• Government documents number (when not used as a call number) (see Number Indexes)

• An additional optional index defined by the library

INNOPAC indexing capabilities are quite sophisticated. Each index may include many MARC fields and subfields; in addition, different subfields from the same MARC field may be used in different indexes. For example, a record containing the field:

700 |aJames, Henry |tPortrait of a lady

could be retrieved by an author search on "james, henry", a title search on "portrait of a lady", or a keyword search on "portrait", "lady", "portrait lady" or "lady portrait".

Word Index (also called "keyword" index)

The Word index consists of an index of individual words from title fields and subfields, series, corporate and conference authors, and contents notes (optional).

When keyword indexing words which have attached contracted articles, such as "l'enfant," INNOPAC will remove both the initial character and the apostrophe. Thus, an INNOPAC user can search the Word index for "enfant" and successfully retrieve a record which contains "l'enfant" in a keyword indexed field.

Call Number Indexing

During record loading, INNOPAC chooses a single call number from each record (from among all the call numbers in the record) and stores it in the INNOPAC call number field. The library may specify which fields INNOPAC should check, and the order in which it should check them, to extract the value to use. For example, an OCLC library may want the call number selected from the 099, 090, or 050 fields; an RLIN library may want it selected from the 950 or 090 fields. INNOPAC offers the flexibility of extracting call numbers from different fields for different library collections, based on the library holding symbol.

If your library has acquired the Advanced System Access & Administration feature, you can edit the Holding Symbol file. See Holding Symbol for more information.

The resulting call number field may be indexed using:

• a character-by-character indexing scheme,

• LC classification logic,

• Dewey classification logic,

• SUDOCS logic, or

• NLM logic.

The LC classification logic allows INNOPAC to keep a call number index for LC call numbers in true shelflist order with Cutter numbers always in a specified position. If your library always uses LC call numbers, you should select the LC classification logic. Dewey, SUDOCS, and NLM logic order the call number index based on the intricacies of those classification schemes.

A library which uses call numbers from different classification schemes, may choose to have multiple call number indexes. In such a case, when a call number is entered in a record, INNOPAC determines which indexing scheme to use based on the MARC tag of the call number field.

Concatenated Call Numbers

If your library has acquired the concatenated call numbers feature, the bibliographic call numbers you specify are concatenated with author and title information. This allows you to generate meaningful inventory reports on the records in your system that begin with general call number information (e.g. MYSTERY, FIC, or YA). See Inventory Control for information on the Inventory Control function.

With concatenated call numbers, eight characters from the author field (not counting spaces or punctuation) and six characters from the title field (not counting spaces, punctuation, or initial articles) are appended to the call number and are indexed in the call number index.

For example, a bibliographic record that contains the data

Call number:	FIC AAR
Author:	Aaron, Chester
Title:	An American Ghost

will be indexed in the call number index as fic aar aaronche americ. With the author and title information included in the call number, the items attached to this bibliographic record will appear in the correct shelving sequence in an inventory.

Heading Indexes

The heading indexes - Author, Subject, and Title - are "phrase" indexes (each index entry consists of an entire heading, not individual words). When searching one of these indexes, the words used in the search statement must be entered in the order in which they appear in the entry in the index. For instance, in the example above, a title search for "lady portrait" would not retrieve the record.

NOTE

Initial articles in titles (as defined in MARC 21 records by the value of the second indicator in the 245 field) are not indexed in the title index. Although punctuation marks are usually not included in the title and subject indexes, the library may choose to include certain ones, such as the '#' character which might appear in titles to indicate the musical "sharp" (e.g., Quartet in C# Minor) or the '+' character which might appear in the title or subject entry for a book on the topic of C++ programming.

The recommended fields and subfields to be included in the standard heading indexes are:

Standard Author Index
MARC Tag	Indicator	Subfields
100	all	abcdq
110	all	abcd
111	all	acdegq
400	2nd ind. = 0	abcd
410	2nd ind. = 0	abcde
411	2nd ind. = 0	acdegq
700	all	abcdq
710	all	abcde
711	all	acdegq
800	all	abcdeq
810	all	abcde
811	all	acdegq

Standard Subject Index
MARC Tag	2nd Indicator	Subfields
600	0 and blank	all
610	0 and blank	all
630	0 and blank	all
650	0 and blank	all
651	0 and blank	all
690	0 and blank	all
691	0 and blank	all

Standard Title Index
MARC Tag	Indicator	Subfields
100	all	fglnoprstv
110	all	fkloprstv
111	all	fklpstv
130	all	all but h
210	all	all
211	all	all
212	all	all
214	all	all
240	all	all but h
245	all	all but h, c
246	all	all but h
247	all	all but h
400	2nd ind. = 0	tpv
410	2nd ind. = 0	tpv
411	2nd ind. = 0	tpv
440	all	all but x
700	all	fglmnoprstv
710	all	fklmoprstv
711	all	fklpstv
730	all	all but h, x
740	all	all but h, x
800	all	fglmnoprstv
810	all	fklmoprstv
811	all	fklpstv
830	all but h	all

Number Indexes

Standard ISBN/ISSN Index
MARC Tag	Indicator	Subfields
020	all	a
022	all	a
028	all	all

NOTE
Libraries can choose to index ISBN and ISSN without punctuation, e.g., the ISSN 0148-8759 would be indexed as 01488759 and could be retrieved by searching for "01488759" or "0148-8579" or "0148 8759".

Standard SUDOCS Index
MARC Tag	Indicator	Subfields
086	all	a

Standard OCLC # or RLIN # Index
MARC Tag	Indicator	Subfields
001		all

Searching The Opac - Help Screens

Help Screens

When a user performs a search, the system responds with a help screen tailored to that type of search (e.g., a title search). The Title Search Help screen in the Web OPAC is shown below:

Searching The OPAC - Entering Search Statements

Capitalization

Search statements may be entered in uppercase, lowercase, or mixed case. The Web OPAC isn't sensitive to case, since it translates all search statements to lowercase before performing the search.

Punctuation

When processing search statements, the Web OPAC observes the following rules regarding punctuation:

• The ampersand (&) is treated as if it were the word "and" spelled out

• Apostrophes are removed

• Most other punctuation marks are replaced by spaces for purposes of searching

• INNOPAC treats repeated spaces or repeated punctuation marks (other than the ampersand and the apostrophe) as a single space, e.g., " --- " is treated as " ". Whether or not these punctuation marks are included has no effect on a search.

Examples of equivalent searches
All the King's Men	All the Kings Men
Fathers & Sons	Fathers and Sons
O'Malley, Walter	Omalley Walter
Mexico--history	Mexico history
U.S. News	U S News	U. S. News

NOTE
While the above three "U.S. News" entries are equivalent to each other, they are NOT equivalent to "US News" (since there is no space between the 'U' and 'S')

Diacritics and Special Characters

INNOPAC supports the full ALA character set even when searching is done using terminals and microcomputers which cannot display certain diacritics and special characters. On these terminals, searches for special characters may be done using substitute Roman characters which the library specifies. For example, a search for books about Spain, "España", will succeed if the user keys "Espana" (no diacritics or special characters) even though the system has stored the Spanish "ñ" in a representative form as set by the Library of Congress. The Web OPAC will display these characters, provided the client browser has been configured to do so.

Chinese Characters

INNOPAC searches for both the traditional form of a character and the simplified form, at the same time, when a user enters either form in the search statement. As is the case with ALA special characters, the Web OPAC will display them on browsers that are configured to do so.

Initial Articles

When filing MARC 21 (USMARC) entries, INNOPAC takes into account the MARC 21 format specifications concerning when to ignore initial articles in titles (i.e., the second indicator of the 245 field). Where the MARC 21 format is incomplete (e.g., for a subfield t of a 7xx field which begins with an English language article), INNOPAC will still file the entry correctly.

The library can specify the initial articles that INNOPAC should ignore in Web OPAC search statements for title searches, e.g., a, an, the, la, le, les, l', etc. Users performing searches may choose to input or not input articles which are included in the library's list; either way, INNOPAC will retrieve the same record(s). For example, if the is included in the list of articles to ignore, a user may input the title The New Yorker or New Yorker; in either case, the system will retrieve the correct record(s). If no records are found, the user will be offered an opportunity to browse in the appropriate alphabetical portion of the index, e.g., New, not The. If the library has included le in the list of initial articles to ignore, then a user may start a search statement with either Le Monde or Monde and INNOPAC will retrieve the correct record(s). If no records are found, INNOPAC will place the user in the Ms, not the Ls. Likewise, if l' is included in the list of articles to ignore, INNOPAC will search for age if l'age is the first word in the search statement.

SEARCH TIP
If you wish to retrieve titles beginning with a word which is normally considered to be an initial article (e.g., the title "A to Z, the Alphabet"), type the initial article twice when performing the search. For example, entering "A A TO Z, the Alphabet" will cause INNOPAC to search for the desired title.

If an article is not in the list of initial articles to ignore, INNOPAC will treat it as a word to search for. The person performing the search must determine whether the article should be included in the search, as in "Los Angeles", or should not be included in the search, e.g., "los lobos". Note, however, the system can retrieve records correctly for users who input initial articles not included in the library's list, if the cataloger makes an added entry (or a cross reference) for the heading using the initial article (i.e., the added entry has the indicator set to zero).

MRRL's list of ignored initial articles is:

an ,the ,el , la ,las ,lo ,los ,un ,una ,unas ,unos ,das ,le ,l' , and les

Searching The OPAC

INNOPAC records can be retrieved by searching in INNOPAC's web-based Web OPAC or by staff searches performed from within various INNOPAC functions. This "Overview" section discusses Web OPAC searches and staff searches, although the focus is on Web OPAC searches.

INNOPAC uses indexes when it performs searches (the library has a great deal of leeway in specifying which fields will be included in each index). The examples in this lesson are based on the indexing options that many libraries have chosen, however, it should be noted that indexing can differ from library to library.

The Web OPAC uses HTML links, buttons, and forms to guide patrons through the search options.

The menu structure and available options for the interface is quite flexible. The Web OPAC offers great flexibility in design of the interface.

NOTE
The Web OPAC menus are entirely under the control of the library and may be changed at any time by library staff.

In addition to offering various indexes for record retrieval in the OPAC, the library can also offer some or all of the following services to Web OPAC users (some of the following are products which the library must acquire separately):

• Information about the library and its catalog (see Library Information).
  

• Opportunity for patrons to enter suggestions and describe materials the library should acquire (see Library Information).
  

• Information about items on reserve (see Reserve Lists).
  

• The ability to connect to other databases or systems (on the same machine or different machines), such as journal citation databases or to other library systems using the Z39.50 protocol (see Reference Databases).
  

• The ability to export records in a variety of formats, including, for libraries on the Internet, the capability to email the records (see Export Marked Records).
  

• The ability for patrons to view their own records, renew materials they have already checked out, and to cancel their own holds (see Patrons View Their Own Circulation Records).
  

• The ability to transfer a search to an INNOPAC system at another library with whom there is a co-operative agreement (see INNOPAC Partners).
  

• The ability to restrict a search to a particular collection, such as the West branch, or music recordings (see Search Scoping).
  

• Display of the table of contents for particular titles (see Tables of Contents).
  

The opening screen that patrons see in the Web OPAC might look similar to the following (the library has complete control of the layout and options on this screen; see Search Help Screens in the Web OPAC Management section):

• Entering search statements

• Help screens

• Indexes

• Heading searches (author, title, subject, etc.)

• Word searches (keyword searches)

• OPAC display formats

• Limiting searches

• Cross references / Authority records

• Reserve lists

• Library information screens

Introduction to the WebPac

Welcome to the first of the Millennium training sessions! This training program will focus on the structure of the catalog so that we can all understand how to search for information more efficiently - and then pass that knowledge on to our patrons.

In this program, we'll be learning:

• Searching The WebPac
• Screen Displays
• Indexes and Search Strategies
• Printing and exporting records
• Featured Lists
• Viewing your own patron record
• Library Information
• Suggestions and Books To Acquire
• Reading Patron Suggestions
• What's New
• Notable WebPacs from other libraries

Click on each title to go to that lesson. Be sure to post in your blog your thoughts and/or exercise results for each of the lessons you have finished!