Explore Illinois

Browsing Collections

Use the browse option for viewing items in a collection without specifying search criteria.

• If column headings are hyperlinked, they can be used to sort results.
• An arrow indicates the direction of the sort for that field. To view a different collection, select a collection from the drop-down list and click Go.

Figure 1: Browsing Collections

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Searching the Illinois Digital Archives

You have several options for searching within a single collection or across multiple collections: search across all fields, by selected fields, by proximity or by date. The default selection is to search across all fields.

Search Across All Fields

When you select Search Across All Fields, a screen similar to the one below appears.

Figure 2: Search across all fields

• Choose to search for all of the words, the exact phrase, any of the words, none of the words, or a combination.
• Type your search terms in the appropriate text boxes.
• Click Search when you have finished specifying your search criteria.
• Click Clear all to reset all the search fields.
   

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Selecting Collections

• Select a collection name and click Add. Collections will appear in the Selected collection list box. To select multiple collections from a list box, press Ctrl from your keyboard while selecting collection names. To select a block of collections, select the first collection and then press Shift while clicking the last item in the block. Click Add or Remove.
• Select all collections to search across.
• Clear all collections. In order to perform a search, you must have one collection selected.
• Click the Search button in upper box to begin your search.

When you select Search Selected Fields, a screen similar to the one below appears.

Figure 3: Search selected fields
 

• Use the drop-down list to choose from the types of queries available. You may choose to search for all of the words, the exact phrase, any of the words, none of the words, or a combination.
  Type your search terms in the appropriate text boxes.

• Use the drop-down list to specify which field you want to search.

• Add more search fields by clicking More Fields. Reduce the number of search fields by clicking Fewer Fields.

• Click Search when you have finished specifying your search criteria.

When you select Search by Proximity, a screen similar to the one below appears:

Figure 4: Search by proximity

• Type your search term in the text box.

• Use the drop-down list to choose the number of words the search term in the first search text box can be from the search term in the second search text box.

• Type your next search term in the text box.

• Use the drop-down list to specify which field you want to search.

• Click Search when you have finished specifying your search criteria.

• Click Clear all to reset all the search fields.
   

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Search by Date

Whether you have access to the date search depends on the content of the collection, so this option may not be available. Only the collections that are searchable by date can be selected and searched in this mode. When you select Search by Date, a screen similar to the one below appears.
 

Figure 5: Search by date
 

• Use the drop-down list to refine your search by selecting phrasing options so that your results match.

• Type your search terms in the text box.

• Use the drop-down list to specify which field you want to search.

• Use the drop-down list to specify a date range, or to search after, before, or on a particular date.

• Use the drop-down lists and the text box to specify the range of dates you want to use in your search. Entering a year is required to perform a search. The required format for year is yyyy. Although not required, selecting more options will narrow your search.

• Click Search when you have finished specifying your search criteria.

• Click Clear All to reset all the search fields.
   

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Viewing Results

Results may be viewed in a variety of ways and can be changed using Preferences.
To view an item within the search results, click on a thumbnail image or the hyperlinked text describing the item.
 

Figure 6: Viewing results
 

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Viewing Items

JPEG, JPEG2000 and GIF files open in a window similar to the one shown below.
Portable Document Format (PDF) files open in a window that uses Adobe Reader®, if inline viewing has been enabled by the creators of the collection.

Figure 7: Viewing items

• Click Back to Results to return to the results page.

• Add the item to My Favorites.

• Click Previous or Next to go to the next item in your results page.

• Click Reference URL to access a window that contains the URL of the item being viewed. Copy the URL within the text box and paste it into citations and other references.

• View descriptive information about the item. Depending on how the collection is configured, clicking on a hyperlinked word will launch a new search for that word within the collection where the item resides, across all collections, within the current field, or across all fields.

• If the item cannot be shown in the item viewer, click a hyperlink to view the item.

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Using the Image Toolbar

Zoom, pan, rotate, hide/show thumbnail, and clip options may be available when viewing images in some collections.

Toolbar

• Click the magnifying glasses to magnify or reduce the view. The zoom percentage is displayed in the text box.

• Click the arrows to move left, right, up, or down within an image.

• Click the page icons to view an image at 100 percent, view the entire image, or view the image within the page width.

• Click the rotate icons to rotate an image 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.

• Click the hide/show thumbnail icon to hide and show the small image used to navigate the larger image. The navigation thumbnail setting you select will be retained throughout your session when viewing single items.

• Click the clip icon to open the clip viewer window that allows you to select a segment of the image to save, e-mail, or print. The selected segment may resize when displayed in the new window.

• When the toolbar is visible you can click within the image to zoom in and center the view.

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Viewing Compound Objects

Documents or multi-sided objects are displayed in viewers that provide additional navigation appropriate to the item being viewed. Objects in Portable Document Format (PDF) are displayed in a viewer that uses Adobe Reader.

Figure 8: Viewing compound objects

• Click Back to Results to return to the results page.

• Click Menu Off to hide the menu on the left side of the screen. When the menu is hidden, click the previous/next page links to view other pages. To show the menu, click Menu On.

• Click Previous or Next to go to the next item in your results page. Your zoom and navigation thumbnail settings will not be retained when you go to the previous or next item.

• If full text searching has been enabled by the creators of the collection, you can search for words within an object. Type search words in the text box and click Search. Red brackets and an asterisk appear next to each page or side within the object that contains the word you searched for.

• View the number of results found after a full text search. Then, use Previous Hit and Next Hit to navigate between the full text search results.

• Use the Image Toolbar to navigate the image.

• In some collections, documents and newspapers may have additional data that allow you to highlight and view individual articles. In these collections you may move your mouse over an article and see it highlighted. Clicking on the highlighted article will display the entire article in a separate window. You can use the Hide/Show Article option to turn on and off article highlighting.
   

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To view an article in a separate window:

1. Click on the Hide/Show Article icon on the image toolbar to activate article highlighting.
2. Mouse over the article you wish to view and click on the article you have highlighted.

• Use the drop-down list to choose between different views of the compound object:

  • Document Description/Item Description - View descriptive information about the complete document or item
  .
  • Page Description/Side Description - View descriptive information about a single page or view of a compound object.
  • Page & Text - If a transcription of the page is available, view the image and a transcript of the page, side by side.
  • Side by Side - View both sides of a two-sided object at once.
  • Subset of Print Version - Select a subset of the complete document for viewing, saving, or printing. This option may be available for some items only.
  • Complete Print Version - View a PDF of the entire document or item for printing. This option may be available for some items only.
• Go to the previous or next page within the document or item. Any thumbnail, zoom, or article view settings you have selected will be retained when you move between pages. These settings will not be retained if you go to the previous/next result, turn the menu on/off, or turn on the article view.
• Use the links in this section to navigate to specific pages or sides within the document or item.
• Click Reference URL to access a window that contains the URL of the compound object being viewed.
• Copy the URL within the text box and paste it into citations and other references.
  

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Preferences

Use the drop-down lists to change the appearance of the search results and My Favorites pages. Changing settings in the My Favorites section also affect Slideshow and Compare.

Figure 9: Setting Preferences

• Use the drop-down list to choose how your results are displayed, to determine the sort order for your search results, how the results are displayed, and the number of results to view per page - then click Apply Changes

• Click Restore Defaults to restore defaults. The default view is grid, sorted by title, with 20 results displayed per page.

• Click any of the colors to change the background color and its corresponding text color and link color for My Favorites, Slideshow, and Compare.

• Choose the number of columns to display in My Favorites.

• Click the check box to delete your cookie and remove all items in My Favorites. See Removing Favorites and Cookies below for more information.

• Click Restore Defaults to restore defaults for My Favorites, Slideshow, and Compare. The default background color is white with black text and blue links and 3 columns per page.

• Click Apply Changes
  
  

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My Favorites

Using My Favorites requires cookies. If your Web browser settings do not allow cookies to be saved on your computer, you will not be able to use My Favorites without changing your Web browser's settings.

Any media file within the Illinois Digital Archives can be added to your Favorites for viewing, e-mailing, saving to your local machine, or posting to Web sites. When you view collections in the Illinois Digital Archives, click My Favorites to review or edit your personal favorites.

To Add Items to My Favorites

When you open an item to view it, the link to add items to My Favorites appears in the upper and lower corners of the page. When you open a compound object to view it, links to add either the entire compound object or the page that you are viewing are in the upper middle of the page.

1. Click Add to Favorites. The item and the item description are added to My Favorites. When viewing compound objects, add single pages or add the entire compound object to My Favorites.

2. Click Back to Results to return to browsing or searching.

To Add Multiple Items to My Favorites

1. From the browse or search results view, place a check in the check boxes to the left of the desired items, or click Select All.

2. Click Add to Favorites.
   
   Only the items on the current Web page may be added to My Favorites. For example, you cannot select items on one results page and move to another page to select more items before adding to My Favorites.

Using and Managing My Favorites

Once you have added items to My Favorites, you can view images as slideshows, compare images, delete selected items, or change the order of items within your Favorites page. These functions are located on the left side of the My Favorites page. Using these options does not affect the collection itself.

Up to 100 items may be saved to your Favorites. For each item that has been added to My Favorites, a thumbnail image is displayed. Click the thumbnail image to access the corresponding item.

To View as Slideshow:

The slideshow section is located at the top of the left side of the My Favorites page.

1. From the left toolbar of the My Favorites page, click Slideshow. The slideshow viewer opens.

2. Click Next or Previous to move through the images in your slideshow.

3. To view the item metadata, click Metadata.

4. To compare two images side by side, click Compare.

5. To jump to a specific item, use the drop-down list.

6. Close the slideshow viewer to return to My Favorites.

Note: Only images (such as GIF, JPEG) can be viewed in the slideshow. Compound objects, audio, video, and some types of full resolution files cannot be viewed in the slideshow.

To Compare Images:

The compare view can be accessed from My Favorites or the slideshow view.

1. Use the drop-down lists in the Compare section to specify items you want to compare.

2. Click Compare. The comparison window opens.

To compare other items once the comparison window is open, use the drop-down lists at the top of the comparison window to select the corresponding item number. You can also use the previous and next links within the comparison window to select new items to compare.

Note: Only images (such as GIF, JPEG) can be viewed in the compare mode. Compound objects, audio, video, and some types of full resolution files cannot be viewed in the comparison view. If an item cannot be viewed in the compare mode, item numbers are grayed-out.

To Remove Images from My Favorites:

1. From the Remove drop-down list, select the number of the image you wish to remove. To remove multiple items, use your mouse to select items from the drop-down list while pressing the Ctrl key until all desired items have been selected. To remove all items from My Favorites select All from the bottom of the drop-down list.

2. Click Remove. A confirmation message appears.

3. Click OK. This action removes the image from My Favorites but does not remove any images from collections.

To Move Images:

1. From the first drop-down list, select the number that corresponds to the image you wish to move.

2. In the second drop-down list, select the number of the new position where you want to move the image.

3. Click Move.

Publishing and Saving My Favorites

My Favorites can be saved or published for course lectures, posting to Web sites, or e-mailing. As long as the CONTENTdm server is accessible to the recipient, the items contained on a published page may be viewed by simply clicking on the thumbnails.

To Save as Web Page:

• The Save As Web Page option is located on the left side of the My Favorites page.

• In the Save As Web Page section of the My Favorites page, type a name for your Favorites in the text box. If you do not enter a name the file will be saved with the default name "My Favorites".

• Click Create. A new Web page opens.

• From the File menu in the Web browser toolbar, click Save As...

• In the Save Web Page dialog box, confirm the name of the Web page you are creating and then choose Web Page, HTML only as the file type. Select a location to save the file.

• Repeat these steps with different sets of saved Favorites to create and save multiple Favorites pages.

To Replace Existing Favorites:

To edit a Favorites Web page you have published or to resave a published page as your Favorites you must replace your existing My Favorites with the published page. To do this:

1. Open the published Web page.

2. Click the Make Favorites button located at the top of the published page. Any existing items saved in My Favorites will be overwritten and replaced with the current page.

Clicking Make Favorites stores all of the items shown on the page in the Illinois Digital Archives Favorites for the creator or the recipient (provided the Illinois Digital Archives Server is accessible to the recipient). Items can be compared, moved, or removed using the tools on the Illinois Digital Archives My Favorites page.

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