Helpsheet for Medioevo Latino

Medioevo Latino: A Bibliographical Bulletin of European Culture from Boethius to Erasmus (VI to XV Century) is an annual bibliography focusing on texts written in Latin between 457 CE and the beginning of the 16th century. The electronic version comprises volumes I-X (1980-89) and XVII (1996) of the print volumes of Medioevo Latino Z5579.5.M4. RR4Cla (index table).

Location: Medioevo Latino is located in the Classics Reading Room on the 4th floor of the Joseph Regenstein Library (RR4Cla) on the first Windows NT computer.

I. Starting Medioevo Latino: Double-click on the Desktop icon "Medioevo latino" to launch the program. Click on the flag corresponding to the language desired for the program's interface; this guide will use the English interface. Once the program is fully loaded, you will be taken to the search construction screen.

II. Building a Search: The Search tab consists of a number of buttons along the left side and the top of the main window, where one's search syntax appears. The left column of buttons consists of searchable categories or fields. The top row of buttons consists of functions that apply to a search (e.g. save the parameters) or parts of a complex search (e.g. edit a search term). Hold the mouse pointer over any button for a second to display a little tool tip explaining the button's function.

The Search Categories (the left column of buttons): Clicking on any of the search category buttons will display one or more relevant subcategories with which to formulate a search. Select a category, then a subcategory, and specify the search criteria in the floating "enter a search parameter" dialog box.

Working with Term Lists: The "List" button in the floating "enter a search parameter" dialog box opens a separate window containing every item appearing in that database field or category (e.g. select the Manuscript button, then select the first subcategory button (Place of Preservation), then click the List button to view all places of preservation for manuscripts in Medioevo Latino). Type a term (or partial term) in the list window's text field and press Enter to jump directly to the closest matching term in the list. Select an item from a list and click OK to add it to your search criteria.

Wildcards, Boolean Operators, and Ranges: Substitute a question mark ("?") for one character in the search parameters or an asterisk ("*") for two or more characters. Wildcards may be used in any location within the search parameters (beginning, middle, or end) and may be used multiple times within a single search. The available Boolean operators are "and", "or", and "and not". Boolean operators may be entered in two ways. Either type them in the floating "enter a search parameter" dialog box (e.g. Latin word studied: "existere and esse") or you may click a category button, enter the first term, and click OK, then click the same category button again and a new Boolean operator pop-up menu will appear in the "enter a search parameter" dialog box. There is no range function in Medioevo Latino. You may use the Boolean "and" operator to create a numeric range (e.g. Journal Year: "1990 and 1991 and 1992 and ..."), but some records already contain ranges in numeric fields, which causes problems for searching (e.g. a record contains the Journal Year value "1963-64", but is not listed among the results when searching for "1963"). When in doubt, select the List button from the search parameter dialog to view all actual values present in the database for that field.

Below is a hierarchical list of all search categories with brief explanations, when necessary, in the order in which the buttons appear in the column:

• Medieval Author (Latin form of author's name according to Medioevo Latino)
• Anonymous Work (title of an anonymous work)
• Scholar, Author of a Publication (name of modern author; in two subcategories)
  • Name (first name)
  • Surname (last name)
• Scholar Cited (name of a modern scholar cited in a publication)
  • Name (first name)
  • Surname (last name)
• Manuscript
  • Place of Preservation
  • Holding Library (library containing the manuscript)
  • Manuscript Collection
  • Manuscript Number
• Journal (modern periodical)
  • Title
  • Issue
  • Year
• Book (by modern scholar)
  • Title
  • Place of Publication
  • Publisher
  • Year of Publication
  • Series Title
• Place Studied (a place cited in the title or abstract of a publication)
• Latin Words Studied (a Latin word studies or examined in a publication; caution: the Latin Words list [the List button in the floating dialog box] mistakenly places a significant portion of Latin words beginning with "e" and "f" at the top of the list.)
• Word (any term, modern or ancient, including numbers and alphanumeric codes, occurring in the database)

To execute a search, select the rightmost button among the top row of buttons in the Search tab. The results will then be displayed in the Results tab. To create a new search, return to the Search tab and select the first button in the top row. You may be prompted to save the current search. This saves the search parameters internally; it does not save the results. To save/export search results as an external file, see section IV below.

III. Working with Search Results: Search results appear in the Results tab. The first result will display by default in the window. The total number of results and your current position within the set of results appears just above the search results window (e.g. "current position: 1/13"). As in the Search tab, hold the mouse pointer over a button to view a tool tip explaining the button's function. Use the forward/backward arrow buttons to the left of the results window to browse the set of results. The Options tab allows you to limit your search to a selection of Medioevo Latino volumes and to choose parameters by which to sort the search results.

Sorting search results: Select the Options tab and click the button beside the desired sort order. Then go to the Search tab and enter or resubmit a search. The results will then be sorted according to the selected order.

IV. Copying, Printing, and Saving Search Results:

Copying a record to another program: Highlight the text of a record in the Results tab and press Ctrl+C to copy the text. Then switch to another program and press Ctrl+V or Paste from the Edit menu.

Saving/Exporting search results: The fifth button in the Results tab allows you to export a set of search results or the currently visible record as a text (.txt) file. Because of file formatting concerns, however, it is best to view the exported file with a word processor (MS Word, WordPad, etc.) or web browser rather than simply NoteTab (the default for .txt files).

Printing search results: The sixth button in the Results tab (the printer icon) allows you to print either the complete set of search results or the current record through the standard print dialog.

V. Exiting Medioevo Latino: Select "Exit" from the File menu.

For more help select "on-line guide" from the "?" menu or refer to the printed manual located next to the workstation in the Classics Reading Room or contact Catherine Mardikes, ETS Coordinator and Bibliographer for Classics and the Ancient Near East, JRL 471, 708-2783, c-mardikes@uchicago.edu.