The system provides on-line access to the ISIS databases run under Linux. It performs ISIS queries and retrieves a relevant information from the databases in a very simple manner. On the "welcome" page you can see the following options enabling you to move around the database:
Depending on what you are looking for, you can use the most relevant tool to reach the appropriate information. If for example you know the name of the source you want to find, or at least you expect how the source name starts, the easiest way to reach the information is to use the Browse operation, which provides you all the source names sorted alphabetically.
On the opposite side there is an option which allows you to find a number of sources satisfying some searching criteria - this is standard search. You can use this option if you want to find some sources by country, region, keywords from the source name, descriptors, etc. or a combination of the various criteria. This type of search is supported by dictionaries which you can invoke whenever you feel lost how to express your request.
If your search is "subject" oriented, you may need to consult your vocabulary with the thesaurus (AGROVOC). For this case you should refer to the thesaurus based search. Note however that the thesaurus based search can be combined with the standard search. So, you can start with navigating the thesaurus, and doing so, you can mark those descriptors which are relevant for your request. All descriptors marked during you "navigation" through the thesaurus will then be used in your automatically created query. Obviously the query can be completed by specifying other criteria.
All the records can be viewed as an ordered list. For example the bibliographic database can be seen by authors ordered alphabetically. If you want to find a given name just enter a meaningful stem of the name to the text field:
To the criteria field you can enter some keywords separated by semicolon (;). If you know what to enter to the field, just fill it. If however you are not sure what are the values you can enter, use the LIST button.
If you press the List button next to an empty criteria field, the system will display the first 20 terms from the dictionary list for the field in alphabetical order. If, however, you enter the initial letter/s of a term in the field, the system will start displaying the list starting from the term (or the next nearest one) beginning with the letters entered. Now you can select a number of terms from the displayed dictionary:
PgDn button will give the next 20 terms from the dictionary in the List; the PgUp will go back to the previous 20 terms. The Go back button will take you back to the search screen. However, if you decide not to Select any term from the List, or to change your selection, it is quicker to use the Back button from the Netscape or Explorer browser tool bar to go back to the search screen. Below an example of the selection list is shown.
Example 3 illustrates using of the LIST button.
The terms in one search criteria field may be ORed or ANDed, depending on the choice made in the AND/OR combo-box (see also Example 1).
Note: The CLEAR button will delete only the selections you have typed in since the last transfer of the form from the AGRIN server.
Between the subqueries specified in the criteria fields one can use the logical operatos AND, OR or NOT. If a given criteria field has to be ANDed with the preceding subqueries, in the preceding inter-field boolean AND/OR/NOT radio butons we select AND (see Example 2).
Let us consider some examples.
Example 1 - Search within one field with more than one selection
If you make a search and would like to specify more than one term in a field, say, Publication language, you must:
So, for the specification as below:
the system will interpret as a request for records having languages value Polish OR German OR French, and providing as an answer the records where at least one of the languages is available.
Example 2 - Search using more than one field to narrow down results
If more than one field are used they are connected by inter-field boolean operators (AND, OR or NOT). By default the fields are automatically connected with AND. We use AND if we want to narow the query. If we want to relax the query we can use the OR operator. Anyway,, it is possible to make a more selective search by filling in more than one field.
For instance, if you are interested in the sources with languages Spanish OR German OR French, but only those having Europe in the Title:
The system will interpret the request as seeking for records having Languages Spanish OR German OR French, and the keyword Europe in the title.
Example 3 - Search using the List button
If you are interested in the records having some keywords in a field, you can refer to the dictionary associated with the field by pressing the button LIST. Before doing so however, you can indicate which part of the dictionary you are interested in. Therefore you enter the first few letters of the word you are looking for to the field. Provided we are interesting in the Institutions having the word University in the name we procede as follows:
This procedure will give us the field Keywords from the Institution Name filled with the requested keywords, preceded by the key univ. We can continue the procedure jumping to another part of the dictionary.
Note: When we finish, before moving to another field or running search the starting key should be removed from the field or ended with the semicolon.