HELP FOR DBI-MOBILE
(1) BOOK FORMATS INDEXED
(2) HOW TO ENTER QUERIES: SIMPLE
(3) HOW TO ENTER QUERIES: ADVANCED
(4) SHORT TUTORIAL: COMPLEX SEARCHES
(5) ENTERING NON-ENGLISH CHARACTERS
1. FORMATS:
DBI INDEXES THE FOLLOWING FORMATS:
PDF, KINDLE, EPUB, TEXT, GRAPHIC
(DIGITIAL FACSIMILIES) HTML, MSReader,
ALONG WITH A FEW THAT ARE LESS
COMMON, SUCH AS DjVu, .DOC, & AUDIO
THE FOLLOWING DEVICES SHOULD READ
THE ASSOCIATED FORMATS:
KINDLE = PDF, KINDLE, TXT
NOOK = EPUB, PDF, TXT
iPADs = PDF, TXT, GRAPHIC, HTML,
KINDLE*, NOOK*
PHONES= HTML, TXT, PDF, GRAPHIC
* with purchase of Kindle or Nook
apps from the Apple iPAD store
DESPITE THE SMALL SCREENS OF
PHONES, MOST SMARTPHONES CAN BE
USED FOR READING BOOKS. THE
EASIEST FORMATS ARE THOSE WITH
FLEXIBLE (WRAPPING) TEXT, SUCH AS
HTML. TURN YOUR PHONE SIDEWAYS TO
READ FIXED-LENGTH FORMATS
CHECK YOUR APPS STORE TO FIND AN
APP THAT WILL ALLOW YOU TO READ AN
ALTERNATIVE FORMAT ON YOUR DEVICE
2. SIMPLE SEARCH:
DBI HAS BEEN DESIGNED TO ACCEPT
VERY SIMPLE QUERIES IN WHATEVER
ORDER YOU ENTER THE WORDS. THE
FOLLOWING ARE EXAMPLES:
Verne Leagues
"Franklin, Ben" Almanac
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE HENRY IV
SHAKESPEARE WILLIAM IV HENRY
"SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM"
Author:"Shakespeare, William"
* PUT PHRASES WITHIN QUOTE MARKS " "
* DBI SEARCHES BOTH THE AUTHOR &
TITLE FIELDS OF THE DATABASE FOR
THE WORDS ENTERED.
*TO RESTRICT YOUR ENTRY TO THE
AUTHOR, DEFINE THE SEARCH AS:
Author:"Verne" or
Author:"Verne, Jules"
*TO RESTRICT YOUR ENTRY TO THE
TITLE, DEFINE THE SEARCH AS:
Title:"HENRY"
Title:"Henry IV"
*AUTHOR & TITLE CAN BE COMBINED.
3. ADVANCED SEARCH:
DBI USES STANDARD BOOLEAN LOGIC
TO PARSE QUERIES. THE FOLLOWING
ARE EXAMPLES:
"Shakespeare, " AND "Henry V"
"Shakespeare, " AND "Henry V "
Author:Doyle Title:Sherlock
Author:Verne AND (Title:20,000
OR Title:world)
Verne AND (20,000 OR world)
"Under the Sea"
Author:Shakespeare AND NOT
title:Henry AND NOT title:Richard
DBI WILL ACCEPT EITHER WORD(S) OR
PHRASES(S). TO SPECIFY A PHRASE,
ENCLOSE THE PHRASE IN QUOTATION
MARKS (" "). UNLESS THE WORD OR
PHRASE IS SPECIFIED AS AN
AUTHOR OR TITLE, DBI WILL SEARCH
BOTH THE AUTHOR & TITLE FIELDS.
*YOU CAN USE AND NOT TO
RESTRICT OR NARROW THE SEARCH.
*YOU CAN USE OR TO BROADEN
THE SEARCH.
*YOU CAN USE THE HYPHEN (-) TO
REPLACE "AND NOT"
EXAMPLES:
Author:Shakespeare -Henry
Author:"Shakespeare, Will" -"Henry IV"
Author:Shakespeare -Henry -Richard
Mexico -"New Mexico"
(to find Mexico, but not New Mexico)
DBI DOES NOT ACCEPT THE "GREATER
THAN" OR THE "LESS THAN" SYMBOLS
(">" or "<").
WILDCARDS: YOU CAN ENTER
danc* [with
the asterik character]
AND YOU WILL GET THE SAME RESULTS
AS THE EXAMPLE IN THE NEXT SECTION.
4. A SHORT TUTORIAL:
DBI USES "STRING" SEARCHES FOR
FINDING RECORDS. - BY ENTERING WAR
YOU WILL FIND "WAR" ANYWHERE
WITHINTHE RECORD (INCLUDING WITHIN
THE TITLE OR WITHIN A WORD
FOR EXAMPLE, "WAR" WILL FIND:
war, warfare, warplanes, warlord,
hardware, etc.,
IF YOU WERE LOOKING FOR BOOKS
WITH THE WORD "DANCE" IN THE
TITLE, IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO
ENTER THE WORD AS Danc
(LEAVING OFF THE "ing"). THIS WOULD
RETURN:
dance, dancer, and dancing,
SOMETIMES, LESS IS MORE. USING
THE EXAMPLE FROM ABOVE:
Verne Leagues
BY KEEPING THE QUERY AS SIMPLE AS
POSSIBLE, THE RESULTS ARE MORE
COMPLETE, RETURNING BOTH:
20,000 LEAGUES and
twenty-thousand leagues
TO FIND VARIANTS, INCLUDE THE
VARIANTS. AS AN EXAMPLE, TO FIND
BOOKS WITH 'WISCONSIN' IN THE TITLE
(OR AUTHOR), YOU MIGHT ENTER THE
FOLLOWING:
Wisconsin OR Wis. OR Wisc.
TO ACCOUNT FOR THE VARIOUS
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN A TITLE
BY BEING CAREFUL WHERE YOU USE
THE QUOTATION MARKS TO DEFINE
A PHRASE, YOU CAN ACHIEVE
MORE ACCURATE RESULTS.
NOTE THE DIFFERENCE BELOW WHERE
THE "SPACE" CHARACTER HAS BEEN
INSERTED OR OMITTED AFTER THE
WORD "HENRY"
"Shakespeare, W" AND "Henry V"
"Shakespeare, W" AND "Henry V "
THE FIRST EXAMPLE WILL FIND BOTH
HENRY V AND HENRY VI, WHILE THE
SECOND EXAMPLE WILL ONLY FIND
HENRY V.
ON BOTH EXAMPLES, NOTE THAT YOU
WILL MISS ANY RECORDS WHERE THE
TITLE IS:
Henry the Fourth
IF YOU ONLY ENTERED "astro" (LOOKING
FOR ASTRONOMY), YOU WOULD ALSO
FIND ASTROLOGY -- A VERY DIFFERENT
SUBJECT. ENTERING:
astrol
WILL FIND:
Astrology and Astrological, etc.
ENTERING:
Astron
WILL FIND:
Astronomy and Astronomical, etc.
WHEN SEARCHING TITLES, BE AWARE
OF ARCHAIC SPELLINGS & USAGES.
FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE 19TH CENTURY,
"New York"
WAS SOMETIMES SPELLED AS
"New-York" (with a hyphen),
WHEN USED AS AN ADJECTIVE. AND
"United States"
WAS SOMETIMES SPELLED AS
"United-States", etc.
5. ENTERING NON-ENGLISH CHARACTERS:
MOST SPELLINGS HAVE BEEN
REGULARIZED TO AMERICAN ENGLISH.
"Bronté, Charlotte"
SHOULD BE ENTERED AS:
"Bronte, Charlotte".
THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS:
â ä à å á ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ñ ò ó ô ö ù ú û ü ÿ
should all be entered as
a a a a a c e e e e i i i i n o o o o u u u u y
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