Catalogue

The cataloging is in preparation. For any request for information on disaster reduction, please contact the UN/ISDR Librarian: darricau@un.org

About this catalogue

The UN/ISDR has undertaken the development of an online catalogue of its specialized Library on Disaster Reduction using VOYAGER, the Integrated Library Management System, and USMARC21.

Conversion of the old database onto the new system will be available in 2004/2005, as well as new entries.

The collection contains more than 10,000 records on Disaster Risk Reduction and related issues such as Sustainable Development, Disaster Reduction Adaptation to Climate Change, el Niño, Early Warning, Water, Gender, Education.

The online catalogue will cover the library collection: books, serials publications, monographs, reports, background papers, articles, information on main conference on disaster reduction and related issues, UN Documents Related to Disaster Reduction (Series).

OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue)

The Web OPAC of the UN/ISDR Library on Disaster Reduction, located at Geneva Headquarters (UNOG) includes specialized documentation provided by UN agencies and Non-UN partners, such as Governments, the Academic, Technical and Scientific community, international and regional organizations, NGOs, etc., dealing with Disaster Risk Reduction.


SEARCH OPAC

The users will have the possibility to search for records using WebVoyáge's searching options. The search options will be keyword, heading, builder, command. These searches are library defined so the names and availability of what is described in the help and what you will see on your display file might vary.


Descriptions of search types

Keyword
A keyword search looks for words located anywhere in a record. For example, a keyword search on the word "drought" would return all of the titles that contain the word drought anywhere in the record. Results from a Keyword search are displayed in the Keyword Titles Index. The Keyword Titles Index displays the type of search, the title(s), and other information (as defined by the ibrary). Also Keyword Search allows allows items to be weighted for importance.

You can search WebVoyáge for records based on keywords that you enter. To perform a Keyword search:

1. Type the word(s) you want to search for in the appropriate text box.
   • Use a question mark (?) after a search term to indicate truncation: comp?
   • Use quotation marks to search for specific phrases: "world wide web"
   • Use a plus sign (+) before a term to indicate an essential term: +internet
   • Use an asterisk (*) before a term to indicate an important term: *explorer
     

   For example, type: drought? "world wide web" +internet *explorer

2. Click the Limits icon if you want to limit your keyword search based on other criteria.
3. Click on the drop down menu to select the number of records you want to display on a page.
   

Limiting a Search

You can limit searches by:

• Year
• Language
• Type
• Medium
• Location
• Publication Status
• Place of Publication

Limiting a search is a valuable part of your search strategy. Instead of starting with very narrow search criteria--and possibly missing related items--you may want to start as broadly as possible, and then limit the initial broad search in carefully designed steps.

Note: You cannot limit Heading (subject, author, and call number) To limit your search by a year, type the year in the Year text box in the format YYYY. Then click the appropriate radio button for the date range that you want to find. For example, to find all texts published before 1850, type 1850 in the text box and then click the radio button next to the less than symbol (<).

1. To limit your search by Language, Type, Medium, Location, Publication Status, and Place of Publication, click on the appropriate drop-down list and select the limiting criteria. Your library determines what what limiting criteria are available.

Click the Set Limits button to begin your search. Click the Reset button to clear the search page.

Heading search

A headings search scans an index and returns every subject, author, or title that begins with what you entered under "search for." For example, a headings search on the suject "medi" would return the topics: medicaid, medical, medici, medicine, medieval and mediterranean. You can search by: subject, author, title, journal title and call number. For example, if you entered the search term poe:

• a subject search might result in hits that contained Edgar Allen Poe in the subject field...or titles about E.A. Poe.
• an author search might result in hits that contained Edgar Allen Poe in the author field...or titles by E.A. Poe
• a title search might result in hits that contained Edgar Allen Poe in the title field...or headings containing E.A. in the title.
• a journal title search might result in hits with the name of the journal title poetry...or the title of a journal that truncated at poe.
• a call number search for PN results in hits that begin with PN.
  

Search results from an Author or Subject search are displayed in the Headings Index. The Headings Index displays titles associated with each heading (Titles) and the heading name (Heading).

To perform a Heading search:

1. Click the radio button next to the type of search that you want to perform.
2. Type the word that you want to search for. Do not include any punctuation.
3. Click the limits icon if you want to limit your keyword search based on other criteria.
4. Click on the drop down menu to select the number of records you want to display on a page.
5. Select the Relevance Cut off by clicking on the radio button that corresponds to the level of relevant titles you want to display in the Titles list. If you select the red relevance bar (at the top), only those titles that are most relevant to your search will display. If you select the black relevance bar (at the bottom), all titles relevant to your search will display.

Click the Search button to begin your search. Click the Reset button to clear the search page.

Builder Search

A Builder search finds records using keywords located anywhere in a record, or only in specific fields.To perform a Builder search:

1. Type in the search term(s) you want to find in the Search For free text field. (Punctuation, case, and word order are ignored.) Your search terms are automatically truncated on the right, so you don't need to use a question mark (?) for truncation.
2. Default search criteria can be modified for your search:
   o Select from the drop-down list whether you want to search for all the search terms, any of the search terms, or the search terms as a phrase.
   • Select which Boolean operator you want applied to the next search term(s): AND, OR, or NOT.
   • Narrow your search by further limiting by entering information in the following free text fields and selecting options and boolean operators from the drop down menu as needed.
3. Click the Limits icon if you want to limit your keyword search based on other criteria.
   Click the Search button to begin your search. Click the Reset button to clear the search page.

Command search

A Command Line search finds records using command-line protocol. A Command Line search finds records that include the words that you typed in. To perform a Command Line search:

• Type in the terms you want to search for using command-line protocol with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) and parentheses. For example, to find information about writing on the Internet, you might type: (internet OR web) AND (writing OR publishing)
  You must type Boolean operators in uppercase letters.

Click the Search button to begin your search. Click the Reset button to clear the search page.