CalmView ‘How To Search’
You can search our catalogue using either a (1) Basic search or (2) Advanced search.
The third and final section of this page, (3) Collections in Tree View, provides instructions to navigating records in the context of their archives’ ‘hierarchical arrangement’, as well as links to Tree View pages for specific archives/collections.
All sections have embedded video instructions as well as written instructions.
If you experience problems using the catalogue, you can email us for support at archive-enquiries@arts.ac.uk.
(1) Basic search
Enter your search term in the search box on the Home page.
The Basic search method will search across all the record fields in the catalogues for all our collections.
If you enter more than search term, records containing all search terms entered will be identified.
Note that these terms may not be next to each other. For instance, if you were to type printing history in the search box, your results would include records that include the following in their metadata fields:
- “…holds records about printing history…”
- “…exhibitions related to book history and printing…”
- “…an outline history of jobbing printing…”
To search for an exact phrase, enclose your search phrase with double quotation marks e.g. "Hawk Films".
(2) Advanced search
If you want to refine your search more, you can use Advanced Search. Advanced Search enables you to narrow down your search by using multiple different fields at once. We explain the function of a few of these fields below:
Advanced Search field: Reference Number
Note that this field also appears as ‘Ref No’ in other parts of the online catalogue.
You can use the Reference Number field if you know the exact reference number of the specific collection or items you are looking for. You must include correct spaces and forward slash (“/”) symbols when using this type of search.
If you don’t know the precise reference number of a collection you want to search, you can use any of the collections-specific links in section ‘(3) Collections in Tree View’ as a starting point to refining your search.
Advanced Search field: Any Text
Using the Any Text field searches across all catalogue fields: to search an exact phrase, enclose your search phrase with double quotation marks. See the ‘(1) Basic search’ section above for examples of how syntax and punctuation impact search results.
Advanced Search field: Title
This search box narrows the search by searching the Title field only
You can refine your 'Any Text' or 'Title' searches further by selecting Refine Search Criteria
- Search for records containing all the words you enter
- Search for records containing at least one of the words you enter
- Search for records excluding the word(s) you enter
Advanced Search field: Description
This search box narrows the search by searching the Description field only. The description field contains a brief summary of the physical characteristics and/or historical context of the material.
You can refine your 'Any Text', 'Title' or ‘Description’ field searches further by selecting Refine Search Criteria
- Search for records containing all the words you enter
- Search for records containing at least one of the words you enter
- Search for records excluding the word(s) you enter
Results
Your results appear in four columns: Ref No, Title, Description and Date. To see more details of any result, click anywhere in the result’s corresponding row.
(3) Collections in Tree View
Archive collections are catalogued hierarchically. The top level of the hierarchy is a collection level description, and the collection is then further sub-divided into groups of items, files of items and then individual items. Sometimes you might find it helpful to see the whole collection hierarchy. This is called the ‘tree view’.
You can bring up the tree view of any collection by clicking on the catalogue link for a collection in our list of collections or by (A) following the below actions for a particular archive or collection:
- Entering the collection-level reference number of the collection you wish to search
- Clicking on any search result
- Clicking on the hyperlink displaying at the top of the hierarchy display
- Clicking on the hyperlinked reference number
You can then click on ‘+’ to expand the levels and open more records within that collection.
Below is a list of direct links to the Tree View for particular archives and collections. Please note that the list below is not exhaustive, but represents a selection of our catalogued material:
If you experience problems using the catalogue, you can email us for support at archive-enquiries@arts.ac.uk.