Union Catalog: Functions

Browse according to catalog classifications

Content theme

The union catalog is divided into 11 themes according to the type and characteristics of the holdings. These include biology, geology, anthropology, archives, artifacts, calligraphy & painting, maps & remote images, stone & bronze rubbings, rare books, archaeology, and journalism & mass media. This provides the thematic browsing function, along with listing by brief description or pictures and ‘limit to this theme’ searches within a particular thematic group.

Time period

The union catalog allows the user to select or key in a specific time period, according to the time period the holding belongs to, and browse according to the time-grid reference.

Geography

Apart from time, the union catalog allows browsing according to the holding’s geographical attributes. Through the Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, the user can directly select a geographic position on the map in order to conduct intuitive browsing and also use map-layer views to show the digital items’ largest distribution area.

Archiving organizations and projects

You can also browse the collection according to the holding’s original archiving unit, in order to understand the item’s origins and the characteristics of the archiving organization.

Search

Entire text and Boolean search

Apart from the usual keyword searches of the entire text, the union catalog also supports Boolean style ‘or’, ‘and’ and ‘not’ searches allowing you to search with more flexibility and accuracy. A space between keywords is set as a default ‘or’ search.

Metadata step-wise search

In order to combine resources from each academic field, the union catalog uses the Dublin Core (DC) element set and categorizes the metadata into the 15 main elemental structures:

  • Title:The name given to the resource.
  • Creator:The person/s or organization/s primarily responsible for the intellectual content of the resource (the author).
  • Subject & Keywords:The topic of the resource.
  • Description: A textual explanation of the content of the resource.
  • Publisher:The entity responsible for making the resource available in its present form.
  • Contributors:Person/s or organization/s who have made intellectual contributions to the resource.
  • Date: The date the resource was made available in its present form.
  • Resource Type: The characteristics or the type of the resource.
  • Format: The data representation of the resource on either the physical or digital formation of the resource.
  • Resource Identifier:Unique identifiers of the resource.
  • Source: The work from which the current resource is derived.
  • Language:The language/s of the intellectual content of the resource.
  • Relation:The relationship to other resources.
  • Coverage:The spatial locations and temporal duration characteristics of the resource.
  • Rights Management:Information describing relevant rights relating to the resource.

These 15 elements are the core elements that allow the union catalog to combine resources from different fields and allow unrestrictive use of these elements to conduct combined, more precise information searches.