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About Searching the Archives' Databases

Background

In early 2009 we made some badly needed improvements to the internal structure and search results of the Archives' online databases. Building on that upgrade, we have made some significant changes to the search interface that researchers use to access our database records and digitized resources.

Regular visitors will notice that our specialized search forms (such as City Records, Private Records, Moving Images, Photographs) are still there, albeit with slightly different names. The real difference is in regard to some of the features on those forms and the way search results are presented.

More Databases to Search

The Archives' reference Library is now searchable online. It was previously only available on catalogue cards.

Easier Searching

Google-like searching makes searches more inclusive. Search terms are automatically stemmed and joined by “and”, so North Vancouver finds north and vancouver. It also finds northern and northwest. To find an exact match, enclose exact phrase in quotes e.g. "North Vancouver". This is particularly important when searching for Archives holdings identifiers such as item numbers or private record numbers e.g. "CVA 1184-300" or "Add MSS 301"

Radio buttons and checkboxes replace most drop-down menus.

The radio buttons allow you to choose only one

but checkboxes allow you to choose more than one option
check boxes

There's a Browse button for most controlled-vocabulary lists located to the right of that field.
Either enter a term at the top, or browse using the "Play" control. Click one or more terms to put the search terms into the search field: no more copying and pasting.
browse screen

City Government Publications may be searched directly by Authors. The List of Authors shows all Authors of City Government Publications.

Hit the "List of Authors" link next to the Author field

author link

Hitting any link on the resulting Authors list will take you to a list of all publications by that Author

list of authors

Search Everything! searches all three of our databases at once: Archival Holdings, City Council Minutes Index and Archives' Library.

Better Results

There are three types of search results: Search Everything!, Brief Results and Full Display.

Search Everything! results give a summary of how many results were found in each category. Clicking on View Results takes you to Brief Results.
Brief Results gives basic information about each record.
Full Display gives all the available information about each record.

You can sort search results by either date or relevance.

You can search within your search by using Revise Search:

You can view the finding aid (an organized listing of everything in a fonds or collection) from a Full Display results page by clicking the Finding Aid link. This will give you a look at all of the records described in that fonds/collection

Brief Results tells you exactly what you searched for:

Ability to Share and Save Results

You can create a list by checking items in your search results, then email the resulting list to yourself or save or print it for your reference from "View List".

You can share a single-item result using AddThis:

Feedback?

We hope these changes make using our database a more enjoyable experience. If you find any issues, or have any suggestions for improvements, we welcome your feedback.