Usage Help for the "DIGITAL LIBRARY" Full Text Data Base
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Content and Scope of the Data Base
Scope : | Some 3,000 full texts (last update: February 2006) |
Content : |
The data base provides central access to the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Library's full text publications on the Internet. Please note that the full text indexes of the retro-digitization projects of the SPD Press Releases, the Party and Trade Union Press Release project and the full text collection "Programmatic Documents of the Labour Movement", are not integrated into the Digital Library, as they are made accessible in independent data bases.
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Guidelines for Using the Data Base
The search for full texts is conducted as a search in a catalogue data base. Thus users can search among the full texts in a way that is similar to the research function of other bibliographical data bases (title search, author search, etc.). Results are shown as title lists, from which one can download the full texts to one's screen. The full texts are either available as HTML versions or in .pdf format. In order to display the .pdf full texts, you require version 3 or higher of Adobe Acrobat Reader, a program which is available for free on the Internet.
Basic Information on Research:
- The catalogue search engine is not case sensitive.
- Search categories are chosen via the arrow.
- Only one search word should be entered into each search field.
Exception: Naturally, when searching for titles and series of publications, one may enter the complete title or beginning of the title. - The catalogue search engine's default setting is a word stem, or truncated, search, i.e. it searches for the beginnings of words.
Example: Searching for "work" will find "work", but also "worker", "workbench", etc.
Switching the search mode to "exact" will mean that only the exact word entered will be searched for. - The search engine is also set to AND operation as a default, i.e. all search criteria must appear in the search result.
This search criterion can be switched to OR operation. - Search categories:
- Keyword
Keyword means a word from the bibliographical description, i.e. from the words contained in the catalogue. Please note: this keyword search is not to be confused with a keyword search in the full texts themselves! Such a "full text retrieval" is not available at the moment, but we are investigating at the moment whether such a search mode can be implemented in the future. - Author
Here, you can research the names of persons such as authors, editors and other involved parties. When searching, person's names are entered in the order "last name, first name". Since the word stem search mode is also in effect here, entering the last name only will usually suffice. - Title
This search criterion allows users to search for the main title of a literary piece of work. It is sufficient to enter the beginning of the title. Please note, however, that articles coming at the beginning of a title are not to be entered.
Example: The Printed Memory of the Labour Movement = >
ENTER: printed memory... - FES Topics
42 "topics" offer subject-related access to all the fields that the FES works in. - Contextual subject heading (only in German language)
A "controlled vocabulary" of German-language search words (descriptors) allows for a dedicated contextual research. The "descriptors" that are used come from the social sciences thesaurus of the Social Science Information Center (IZ), Bonn. - Regional Subject heading (only in German language)
The German-language "regional descriptors" of the library catalogue open up a geographical access to the full text content. - Series
This search criterion allows users to search for the title of an entire series. It is sufficient to enter the beginning of the title. - ISB(N) Number
When entering an ISB number, please make sure to add the hyphens between digit blocks.
Example: 3-86077-857-9
It is also enough, however, to enter "3-86077-857" only, since the number is unique like this, and the word stem search mode is in effect here, as well.
One fact applies in all cases:
- you send the search request to the data base by clicking the "SEARCH" button and then receive the list of results.
When found titles are displayed in the hit list, you will also see the respective hits for the full texts themselves.Or:
- you use the "INDEX" button to allow for a specific view of the respective index opened in the search request window.
This index view allows for a better overview over the descriptors (search words) used, the individual titles and series titles indexed in the data base, the indexed persons etc.
You can then click the search word in the index, and a result list of titles belonging to the respective search will be displayed.
- Keyword
Some Hints and Tips on Search Strategies
- You know the author:
Switch the search category to AUTHOR and enter the name or the beginning of the last name in the search field.
Example:
AUTHOR = Zimmerman, Rüdiger
or
AUTHOR = Zimmermann, R - You know the title:
Switch the search category to TITLE and enter the (beginning of the) title
Example:
TITLE = Biographical Lexicon of the Union of Transport and Public Service Sectors and its Precursor Organizations
or
TITLE = Biographical Lexicon of the Union of Transport and Public Service Sectors
Please note that articles at the beginning of a title are considered "non-sortable" and thus cannot be searched for.
Example for a title:_ Das_ gedruckte Gedächtnis der Arbeiterbewegung
TITLE = gedruckte gedächtnis ... - You know parts of the title, but you don't remember the exact title (beginning of the title):
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Switch the search category to KEYWORD (this is the default) and search for as specific a word from the title as possible.
You might perhaps want to search for more than one keywords in two or more search fields:
Example:
KEYWORD = lexikon
KEYWORD = oetv - · You know the ISBN number:
Switch the search category to "ISBN" and enter the number in the search field. Make sure you enter the digits of the number with the "-" (hyphens).
Example:
ISBN = 3-86077-857-9
It is also enough, however, to enter
ISBN = 3-86077-857 only, since the number is unique like this, and the word stem search mode is in effect here, as well. - You want to conduct a subject-related search by means of contextual subject headings or regional subject headings:
Since no words from publication titles are searched for when you conduct a subject-related search, it usually makes sense in these cases to think of a search word specific to your subject and to enter this word into the search category CONTEXTUAL SUBJECT HEADING (or REGIONAL SUBJECT HEADING). Since you usually cannot be sure that the descriptors contained in our subject heaading lists correspond to the way you yourself define terms, you should check the search word you have chosen in the index. (This means that you should click on the "INDEX" instead of the "SEARCH" buttons.) Perhaps the index will contain, in its close alphabetical context, some search words which are important to you and which are used in the data base?
Example:
You are searching for texts on the culture of the labour movement and thus want to take a look at the contextual subject heading index in the "labor" section.
The subject heading entries indexed here show you how many the data base contains on each descriptor:
Labor (7)
Labor contract (3)
Labor court (1)
Labor law (5)
Labor market (48)
Labor market policy (75)
Labor movement (20)
Another possibility to gain thematical access is searching by FES topics.
Here you will find all publications published by the FES in contextual allocation, roughly divided into a system of 42 fields of work. Since subjects are divided up into large theme groups, this type of search will usually yield very long result lists. On the other hand, with this type of search you may be sure that most of the literature existing for the subject will actually be listed, since you need not be afraid of having overlooked competing descriptors.
When searching by FES theme groups, we also recommend looking at the respective index in order to get an overview over the topic focus.
If you have any further questions, please contact Ruth Großgart , phone no +49 (0) 228 883559.