Here you will find instructions for searching the Romanische Bibliographie Online and explanations of the individual search functions.
The "Fachinformationsdienst (FID) Romanistik" offers a visual search help (PDF; under "Tutorials zu einzelnen Datenbanken") in German.
Search
You have two different options for searching.
Search form
The search form allows you to search using various search criteria. To do so, select the appropriate criterion in the search field and enter your search term(s) in the search field. The search is not case sensitive. Truncation does not work currently in title search.
The following search criteria are available:
- Full Text: Searches in all entries for the entered terms. Finds entries that contain all searched terms, also in titles of contributions or in the keyword section. Therefore, this search returns the most results. For a more specific search, the other search criteria are more suitable.
Only the following wildcards can be used:
- *: Added in the middle or at the end/beginning of a string. Placeholder for one or more letters.
- ?: Added at the beginning/end of a string. Placeholder for exactly one string.
The following operators can be used and combined in the search field:
- AND: Searches for entries including all the terms connected by this operator (default search function).
- OR: Searches for entries including at least one of the terms connected by this operator.
- NOT: Searches for entries including the first, but not the second of the terms connected by this operator.
- Title: Finds all entries whose titles contain all searched terms. This search criterion can be used to search specifically for entries for particular terms. Search with truncation does not work at the moment.
- Author: Finds all entries with authors of the searched name. Suggests up to 15 matching author names in alphabetical order as you type. This search criterion can be used to search for entries by specific authors.
- Person: Finds all entries that contain the searched person. Suggests up to 15 matching persons in alphabetical order as you type. This search criterion can be used to search for entries in which specific persons are mentioned.
- Keyword: Finds all entries to which the searched keyword is assigned. Suggests up to 15 matching keywords in alphabetical order as you type. This search criterion can be used to search for entries that deal with a specific topic.
- Type: Select a type from the drop-down menu: Artikel/Article, Monographie/Monograph or Sammelband/Collection. Finds all entries of this type.
- Subject: Finds all entries that are assigned to the searched subject area. Suggests up to 15 matching subject areas in alphabetical order as you type. This search criterion can be used to search for entries that belong to a specific subject area.
- Publication Year: Select Exact to search for a single year, or Range to search for a range of years. Finds all entries that have been published electronically in this year or range of years.
- Periodical/Series: Finds all entries that are assigned to the searched periodicals/series. This search criterion can be used to search for entries that have been published in specific periodicals/series.
- Publisher: Finds all entries that are assigned to the searched publisher. Suggests up to 15 matching publishers in alphabetical order as you type. This search criterion can be used to search for entries published by specific publishers.
- Place: Finds all entries which contain the searched place. Suggests up to 15 matching places in alphabetical order as you type. This search criterion can be used to search for entries in which specific locations are mentioned.
- ISBN/ISSN: Finds all entries that belong to the searched ISBN or ISSN. This search criterion can be used to search specifically for the bibliographic data of entries that originate from a particular publication.
- Volume: Finds all entries that were published in a volume with the searched number. This search criterion, in combination with the search criterion “Periodicals/Series”, can be used to search specifically for the entries of individual volumes of certain periodicals/series.
Combination options: You have the option to apply several search criteria at the same time. To do this, click on "Add row" in the search form. This creates a second search field in which you can set another search criterion (or else the same one). You can create as many additional search fields as you like.
If you use more than one search field, the search will find all entries that match all search criteria (“Search for all of these terms”) (AND). Instead, you can also select “Search for any of these terms” (OR) above the search fields, which will cause the search to find all entries that match at least one of the searched criteria.
By clicking on "Add NOT" you create a search field to which you can assign a search criterion. Terms entered in this search field will be excluded from the search. You can add this search field as often as you like.
By combining the above functions, you are able to perform very specific searches.
Browse
The browse button allows you to quickly search based on the classification (Systemschlüssel) of the Romanische Bibliographie Online. The results list of a browse search can be further searched via the search fileds described above. For that, the checkbox "Search in browse results" is activated.
Results list
The results that match your search are listed on one or more pages. The number of search results as well as the search criteria can be found above the results list.
Each search result consists of the title of the bibliographic entry, series title, publication date, author(s)/editor(s) names and the cover of the database.
You can access a search result by clicking on the title or cover of the database. If you do not have access to the database, please log in first.
The search results are sorted by relevancy (frequency and weighting of the searched terms). You can also sort by date ("New to old" or "Old to new") or by title ("A to Z" or "Z to A").
Furthermore, instead of the default 10 results per page, you can also display 20, 50 or 100 results per page.
Filter
The search results can be further restricted under "Filter Results".
The filter "Access" is a formal one: It refers to the bibliographic entries within the database and not to the bibliographed content. For example, the user can filter out from the result list those entries that are NOT covered by the licence of their institution/library.
"Licensed content" (the accessing institution/person has some but maybe not all content licensed)"Open access""Publicly available" (entries are freely accessible, with no regard to any licence; this does not include OA)"All available content" (subsumes the licensed, publicly available and OA content)"All content" is the default setting (it shows all entries, ignores any license) Further, content-oriented filter options are: Person Type Subject Publication year Place
All filters can be combined with each other. Filtering by certain filter options excludes further certain filter options if there are no entries which match both options.
Search examples
(1) You search for works about Italian travel literature that were published in the last five years (since 2018). For this you use the search form as follows:
Change the default label "Full Text" to "Keyword" and enter the term "Reiseliteratur". Create a second row by clicking "Add row" and choose "Subject" instead of "Full Text". Start typing "ital..." and choose from the autocomplete drop-down list the phrase "Italienische Literatur / littérature italienne". Create a third row by clicking "Add row" and choose "Publication Year" instead of "Full Text". Switch to option "Range" and enter in the first box "2018" and in the second box "2023". Click on "Search". You receive 22 hits.. If required, the result list can be sorted chronologically or alphabetically. Also, the filters "Person", "Type" or "Place" can be used on the result. (2) You search for works about Spanish literature from the 19th century, respectively the Romanticism that deal with the Orient. For this you use the search form as follows:
Click on "Browse" in the upper, right window area and choose "Literature". In the following, click on the level "Spanish literature", then "19th century" and finally on "Essays on history of literature, Generalities". Narrow down the amount of 1352 results by clicking in the upper, middle window area into the search field and by entering in the search field "Full Text" the term "orient* with truncation. Click "Search" and you receive 52 hits.. A full text search will hit also in titles of contributions or in the keyword area. If required, the result list can be sorted chronologically or alphabetically. Also, the filters "Person", "Type" or "Place" can be used on the result. (3) You search for journal and collection articles about the language policy of French. For this you use the search form as follows:
Change the default label "Full Text" to "Keyword" and enter the term "Sprachpolitik". Click on "Search". Click in the filter "Type" on "Artikel/article" and in the filter "Subject" on "French". You receive 176 hits. If required, the result list can be sorted chronologically or alphabetically. Also, the filters "Person", "Type" or "Place" can be used on the result.
