Unicorn
Item Search and Display
Strategies
Unicorn recognizes the following
catalog searching tools and techniques.
Operators
link search terms and define the relationship between them. Operators help to focus the search. Boolean operators (AND, NOT, OR, XOR) locate
records containing matching terms in the index you selected.
AND:
Unicorn locates records containing all of the specified terms.
NOT:
Unicorn locates records containing the first search term but not the
second.
OR:
Unicorn locates records matching any or all of the specified terms.
XOR:
Unicorn locates records matching any one of the specified terms but not
all of the specified terms.
Positional
operators (SAME, WITH, NEAR, ADJ) locate records in which the search terms are
in close proximity. Positional operators
can be used to connect words or phrases within a single field entry.
SAME: Unicorn locates records in which a
bibliographic record field contains all of the specified terms.
WITH: Unicorn locates records in which a field
contains a sentence with all of the specified terms.
NEAR: Unicorn locates records in which a field
contains all of the search terms adjacent to each other; however, the order of
the terms does not have to match the order they were entered.
ADJ:
Unicorn locates records in which a field contains all of the search
terms adjacent to each other and in the order they were entered.
Note: You may append a number to the operators,
NEAR and ADJ, to limit or broaden the proximity between words.
Example
ADJ2
means that the words may be within two searchable words of each other, but they
must be in the order they were entered.
The
title "From Here to Eternity" could be searched as follows.
FROM
ADJ1 HERE ADJ2 ETERNITY
Relational
operators (<, >, =, <>, <=, >=) allow you to search numeral
expressions. Use relational operators by enclosing a field name or entry tag
number in braces {}, then typing a relational operator and number. Unicorn then
locates records meeting this criteria.
Example
If
you type {DATE} < 991022, Unicorn searches for records whose Date field
contains values less than 991022.
When
the search expression consists of a combination of terms, the order in which
these terms are searched can be defined. If two operators are at the same level
in the list, Unicorn first searches the term at the left, then moves right. Refer to the following list for operator
precedence, with the highest listed first.
=
< >
<
<=
>
>=
NEAR, ADJ
WITH
SAME
AND, NOT
XOR, OR
For
a description of the symbols used, refer to the following table.
Relational
Operators Symbol Description
< Less than
>
Greater than
= Equal to
<> Not equal to
<= Less than or equal to
>= Greater than or equal to
Note:
Unicorn will not allow you to search for operators when they are at the
beginning or end of a search expression and not enclosed in double quotation
marks.
Unicorn
allows a set of terms to be marked as a single phrase by enclosing the
expression in double quotes. This
enclosed search expression must be matched in the catalog exactly as typed in
the search field. In the located
records, the matched term(s) must also display in the same (adjacent) order as
the order they were entered. However,
the search expression can display in any of the heading fields searched using
the index selected.
Nesting
Unicorn
allows search expressions to be grouped or nested using parentheses. Unicorn
searches the expression located in the innermost set of parentheses first.
Unicorn continues the search, moving outward to the terms at the edges of the
expression.
Searching Keyword Index
Synonyms
Every
record in the Unicorn database has standard entry tags. The most common format
is the MARC format with MARC entry tags. Unicorn allows one or more MARC entry
tags to be represented with an index synonym name. The search can be limited to certain fields
and entries within a bibliographic record without typing several entry
tags. Search the General index by
entering the search term followed by the keyword index synonym enclosed in
braces, or curly brackets. Unicorn
searches only the specified entries/fields represented by this abbreviated
name.
Note: Any searchable keyword index
external/internal synonym can be entered.
Refer
to the following list of Unicorn equivalent search fields for keyword
indexes. These tags are most effective
when conducting a general index search.
Keyword
Index Synonym MARC Entries Included
Author AU 100,110,111,700,710,711
Title TI 130,245,440,730,740
Subject SU 600,610,611,630,650,651,690,691
Series SER 400,410,411,440,490,800,810,811,830,840
Example:
To
find any materials with the author Charles Dickens, enter a General search with
the following text.
Dickens
{AU}
Unicorn
locates items by searching all of the MARC entry fields represented by the
keyword index synonym, AU. In this
example, Unicorn will search the 100, 110, 111, 700, 710, 711 entry tags for
Dickens.
Searching Specified Entries
Every
record in the Unicorn database has a particular format consisting of standard
entry tags. Unicorn allows the search to
be limited to certain fields and entries within a bibliographic record. In an appropriate search index, enter your
search expression followed by the entry tag(s) enclosed in braces, or curly
brackets. Unicorn locates only records
with your search term in the specified entries/fields.
Example:
To
find materials with the primary personal author Charles Dickens, enter a
General search with the following text.
Dickens
{100}
Unicorn
locates items by searching only the specified entry fields represented by the
tag. In the preceding example, Unicorn
will search the primary personal author (100) entry tags for Dickens.
Enter
multiple entries separated by a space only.
In the following example, Unicorn will search both the primary (100) and
secondary (700) personal author entries.
Dickens
{100 700}
Any
entries may be combined in a single search.
In the following example, Unicorn will search the main title (245)
entries and the primary (100) personal author entries.
Dickens
{100 245}
The
following entries are some of the most common MARC and Technical Report entry
tags.
US
MARC Entry Tag Definition
100 Personal author main entry
245 Main title and statements of
responsibility
260 Publication information including date
published
440 Series title entry
500 General note
505 Contents note
520 Summary or abstract
650 Topical subject heading
651 Geographical subject heading
710 Added corporate author
Technical
Report Entry Tag Definition
AUTH Personal author(s)
CONN Contract number
CORP Corporate author
CTTL Classified title
TITL Unclassified title
DATE Date entered
DESC Descriptors
IDEN Identifiers
Note: Other formats use different entry tags and
fields appropriate to the database you are searching.
Stopwords
Unicorn
can be configured to ignore specified words when searching the catalog. This
feature allows Unicorn to search on the keywords of an expression. These
stopwords are usually articles, prepositions, or conjunctions.
Example:
The
following lists are typically defined as stop words.
A
AN
AS
AT
BE
BUT
BY
DO
FOR
IF
IN
IT
OF
ON
THE
TO
If
you type The Book of Lists in the Title field, Unicorn locates items with the
title, Book Lists. If the search
expression contains all stopwords, the following message displays.
Your
search contains all stopwords
Enclose
your expression in double quotation marks to prevent the stopwords from being
ignored.
Substitution
and Truncation
Unicorn
allows the symbols ? and $ to
be used to represent substitution and truncation. Use the ? symbol as a substitute for a missing character in a search
term. Use the $ symbol to truncate a
search term. These two symbols can be
used together or separately. These symbols
may only be used at
the middle or end of a term, not as the first character of the term.
Note:
Many symbols/characters are used to enhance a catalog search, such as
relational operators and the symbols ? and $. To literally
search these symbols/characters, enclose them with quotation marks.
Substitution
The ? symbol is used as a substitute for a
missing character in a search term, usually when you are unsure of a spelling
or when you want to find two forms of one word.
Example:
Type
wom?n in the search field.
Unicorn locates the appropriate records containing either "woman" or
"women."
Truncation
Truncation
is unlimited character substitution. The
$ symbol is used to truncate search terms and can represent a single
characters, many characters, or no characters. If you follow the $ symbol with
a number, Unicorn limits the number of characters matched. When more than one
term in a search expression is truncated, each term is searched for all
variations. When truncated words produce too many variations to search, a
browse list is retrieved.
Example:
Type
Jame$ in the search field. Unicorn locates records
containing the terms "Jame,"
"James," "Jameson," and "Jamerton."
Searching Numbers in a List
To
individually search numbers in a list, you must type a space between each
number. Unicorn searches numbers separated by commas as if the numbers were not
separated.
Examples:
Unicorn
searches 1,2,3,4,5 as a single term, but Unicorn searches 1 2 3 4 5 as 1 SAME 2
SAME 3 SAME 4 SAME 5.
Unicorn
searches 5000 and 5,000 as the same term.
Searching Special
Characters
Unicorn
supports 256 characters in its full bibliographic record. Given terminals and
printers which can’t print all 256 characters, Unicorn prints, displays, and
indexes on those characters designated as ASCII printing characters. The remainder of the 256 characters are transliterated with
printing characteristics as specified in a configurable file called characters.
If a non-ASCII, nonprinting character is not located in this file, the
character is replaced with an asterisk (*) for printing and is left blank for
displaying and indexing.
Transliterated Characters
The
following table contains transliterated characters as well as the replacement
characters to use when searching a term containing a transliterated character.
Example:
Searching Julius Caesar
title ==> JULIUS CAESAR
Special
Transliterated Character Name Replacement
Character
Polish
L (uppercase) L
Polish
l (lowercase) l
Scandinavian
O (uppercase) O
Scandinavian
o (lowercase) o
Icelandic
thorn (uppercase) B
Icelandic
thorn (lowercase) b
D
with crossbar (uppercase) D
d
with crossbar (lowercase) d
digraph AE (uppercase) AE
digraph ae (lowercase)
ae
ligature OE (uppercase) OE
ligature oe (lowercase)
oe
O-hook (uppercase) O
o-hook (lowercase) o
U-hook (uppercase) U
u-hook (lowercase) u
musical flat (lowercase) b
When
the following marks of punctuation are included in a search expression, Unicorn
either replaces the punctuation marks with spaces, or searches variations of
the search expression containing the punctuation, or ignores the punctuation
marks.
Note:
To search a punctuation mark as a literal character, the expression must be
enclosed in quotation marks.
Periods
Unicorn
searches periods based on how this punctuation mark displays in the search
expression. If not used as a decimal
mark within a numeral, the period is replaced with spaces. If the period is used as a decimal mark, it
is not replaced with a space.
Example:
The
title Vacationland
title ==> VACATIONLAND U S A
The
title 98.6: a novel will be searched as the following.
title ==> 98.6 NOVEL
Commas
Unicorn
also replaces commas within a search expression with a space.
Example:
The
title Goodbye, Columbus, and Five Short Stories will be searched as the
following.
title ==> GOODBYE COLUMBUS FIVE SHORT STORIES
Hyphens
Search
expressions containing hyphens are searched with the hyphen included. A search
without the hyphen displays words both with and without the hyphen.
Example:
The
title Camp-fire Girls will be searched as the following.
title ==> CAMP-FIRE GIRLS
Only
titles that include a hyphen between Camp and Fire will display. To broaden the
search to include the phrase "
title ==> CAMP FIRE GIRLS
Miscellaneous
Symbols
The
following table contains additional special characters. These characters do not
affect searching. Some of these characters are replaced by a space; some are
ignored.
Punctuation
Name Punctuation Mark Replacement or Action
Accent ` Space
Ampersand & Ignored
Apostrophe/Single
Quote ' Ignored
Asterisk * Space
At/Each
Sign @ Space
Back
Slash \ Ignored
Brackets
[ ] Spaces
Circumflex ^ Ignored
Exclamation
Point ! Space
Forward
Slash / Space
Number/Pound/Sharp # Space
Percentage
Sign % Space
Plus
Sign + Space (Except for C++ which is indexed with both plus
signs)
Semicolon ; Space
Tilde ~ Space
Underscore _ Space
Note: Superscript and subscript characters may be
searched by entering either the actual superscript or subscript character, or
standard character equivalents.
SIRSI
Corporation