Contents
The subject correlations application is reached by taking the "Subject Correlations" link on the main classification menu.
Looking up subject correlations works the same way as browsing indexes in the classification search system. You input a classification number or subject into the appropriate field on the screen and click on the corresponding "Find" button. The server will return either a list of subject headings with their subdivisions, or a list of classification numbers.
STATUS LINE At the bottom of your Web browser is a status line. Any time you want to know what a link does in the classification system, move your mouse over the link. The status line will be filled in with information about the link.
When you search the subject correlations database, the system is returning information about the number of bibliographic records with a particular combination of a subject (with its subdivisions) and a classification number. The results are presented as a "top ten" list -- the ten most common subjects for a given classification number or the ten most common classification numbers for a particular subject. Each "result" includes the number of times this combination was found in the bibliographic database.
Because the system only returns ten correlations per subject or classification number, you may not find the particular combination you expected. It doesn't mean it is not in the database, just that it didn't make the "top ten" list. Also keep in mind that the eleventh entry (not shown) may have the same number of correlations as the tenth (the last entry that is displayed).
SEARCHING BY CLASSIFICATION NUMBER When you input a value into the classification number field and press its "Find" button, the server will return the page of classification numbers that comes closest to your request. Each classification number is returned as a link. When you click on that link, the server will expand the display to include the subject correlations for that classification number.
These are the ten most common subject headings that were used with that classification number in the bibliographic database. The subjects are listed in descending frequency, with the number of bibliographic records that used that combination of classification number and subject heading displayed in parentheses.
SEARCHING BY SUBJECT When you input a value into the subject field and press its "Find" button, the server will return the page of subject headings that comes closest to your request. To search for a subject plus subdivisions, separate each subdivisions with a space, comma or period. You can also use " -- ". The following are all equivalent:
Guilds -- Germany -- History.
Guilds Germany History
guilds -- germany - history
guilds.germany.history
Whether you are index browsing or running a query, Minaret treats almost all punctuation (comma, period, hyphen, dollar sign, parentheses, slash, etc.) as a space and multiple spaces as a single space. In addition, any leading and trailing spaces (or punctuation) are ignored. Any punctuation that is not treated as a space is ignored (apostrophe and caret: ' and ^).
This makes it possible to find what you are looking without knowing how the original record was punctuated or formatted. In classification number indexes the following punctuation is not ignored: colon, hyphen and period.
Finally, index browsing is always case-insensitive. This means the software does not care if you input your criteria in upper case, lower case or mixed. Accent marks are also ignored.
Each of the subject headings that is returned is also a link. When you click on a subject, the server will expand the display to include the classification number correlations for that subject. These are the ten most common classification numbers that were used with that subject heading in the bibliographic database. The numbers are listed in descending frequency, with the number of bibliographic records that used that combination of classification number and subject heading displayed in parentheses.
DISPLAY The subject correlations screen contains up to three different sections, depending on whether there are any records on the page. The possible sections are:
Search Results This is the list of correlations that are closest to the criteria you input. Additional Links When a classification number is listed under a subject, that number is a link to the classification browser. In addition, classification numbers can be followed by a series of letters in square brackets. These links are used to perform actions related to that particular number. The possible letters are:
Search Input Fields These two fields allow you to search by classification number or subject heading. For additional information:
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