Helpsheet for the Database of Classical Bibliography
The Database of Classical Bibliography (DCB) is an electronic database containing citations to publications in many languages and aspects of the study of Classical Civilization. Version 2 of the DCB comprises the material presented in volumes 45-60 (1974-1989) of L'Année Philologique (APh), an premier index of Classical publications. The comprehensive collection of the APh periodical is available in print in the Classics Reading Room on the 4th floor of the Joseph Regenstein Library. While the DCB presents only a portion of the APh corpus, this electronic resource should prove useful for its flexibility in searching and greater approachability to the volumes' contents.
Location: The Database of Classical Bibliography is located in the Classics Reading Room on the 4th floor of the Joseph Regenstein Library (RR4Cla) on the Macintosh G3 computer.
I. Starting the DCB: Open the "Items for User" folder and double-click on the "Database of Class. Biblio." icon. Click OK at the sponsors screen to enter the database. You will then be taken to the Authors and Works index.
II. Explanation of Indexes and Fields: The indexes contain alphabetic lists of all data appearing in the fields of the DCB records. The indexes provide a simple way to locate a specific term, topic, author, etc. The Index Window is not a search tool; it is meant for browsing the records organized alphabetically by a specified field/index. When launched, the DCB begins with the Authors and Works index. This two-level hierarchical index lists ancient and modern authors and their works. Type an author's name (LastName FirstName -- no comma) in the field at the top of the window; then double-click the author's name in the index to see the cataloged titles. Double-click a title to view the detailed information for that record. This index contains modern editions and translations of works by ancient authors. To find works about ancient authors, use the APh Rubrics index described below. The current index may be changed from the pop-up menu above the index search field. The Word List index contains every word in Roman characters appearing in the DCB. Use this list to search for single terms in any modern or ancient Roman-character language. Double-click an entry in the index to view all records containing that term. To search multiple terms or in multiple languages, see section III: Searching the DCB below. The Greek Word List contains all words in Greek characters appearing in the DCB. To type words in Greek, change the language pop-up menu from Roman to Greek. The Author's Names index contains both ancient and modern authors. Unlike the Authors and Works index, double-clicking an author's name displays the author's works in a separate results window for saving or exporting. Books and articles by modern authors and reviews of their works are all listed under the author in Author's Names. Names may appear in a variety of formats (e.g. Faraone Christopher A.; Faraone C. A.). Use the Search Window (section III below) with wildcards to find all works by the same author (e.g. Faraone C*). The Titles index contains all modern and ancient titles founds in the DCB, including names of journals (see Journals index below on abbreviations). Articles (The, A, Das, Ein, Le, etc...) are considered in alphabetization (e.g. The Greeks is found under the T's). The Series Titles index contains the series in which books are published (e.g. Oxford Classical Texts); abbreviation is according to APh and has even changed for particular series titles over time. Modern Languages lists all modern languages in which cataloged works are published. Ancient works with translation/commentary are assigned modern languages appropriately. 'Greek' in this context is modern Greek. The contents of Places of Publication and Publishers should be readily apparent. Note that abbreviations are used for publishers as found in the printed APh. The Publication Dates, APh Volumes, and APh Pages indexes are of limited use in the Index Window. APh Volumes lists the volume of the printed version of the Année Philologique in which a work is cited (currently 45-60, plus 0), while APh Page lists the page on which a work appears. Combine these fields with other fields in the Search Window to narrow the focus (e.g. specify APh Rubric: "Histoire grecque*" and APh Volume "47<RANGE>50"; then repeat with the next range of volumes; see Range Operators below). APh IDs contains the ID number assigned to an entry in that volume of the APh (e.g. the first entry in each volume of the APh has the APh ID 1 and APh Page 1). The APh Rubrics index contains the classification headings in the printed version of the APh in alphabetic order (not as presented in print). People familiar with the print version may find this index most useful for locating a subject. APh Topics contains English translations of many subjects in APh Rubrics (excluding ancient authors and texts). Some subjects are classified in multiple ways (e.g. APh Rubric "Archéologie grecque" is APh Topic "Greek Archaeology" and "Archaeology -- Greek"). The Types index can be used to limit the scope of a complex search to a single type of record or work (e.g. Article in Journal, Dissertation, etc.) or to exclude reviews and cross-references ("no type") from one's results. A record is classified as "no type" when it is a cross-reference to the full record elsewhere in the printed APh. TLG Greek Genres contains a list of genres in which authors from the Canon of Greek Authors and Works of the TLG (Thesaurus Linguae Gracae) wrote (e.g. comedy, epic, history, lyric, etc.). Selecting a TLG Greek Genre searches the Canon files for all authors who wrote in that genre. These authors are then automatically searched in the APh Rubrics index. The results list contains all records with these authors in the APh Rubrics field. Similar to the TLG Greek Genres, the TLG Greek Geographic Origins looks for all authors in the Canon files originating from the specified geographic region and returns all records containing these authors in the APh Rubrics field. Combine the TLG Greek Genres or TLG Greek Geographic Origins index with TLG Ancient Greek Dates (enter single numeral for century; e.g. "6" for "6th Century") in the Search Window to locate all works of a certain period written in a specific literary genre or geographic region. The Journals index contains an alphabetic list of the full titles of all journals appearing in the APh. Double-click a journal to view its abbreviation and double-click the abbreviation to view all catalogued articles published in that journal. This index can be useful for discovering the abbreviation to be used when searching the Titles index.
III. Searching the DCB: The Search tool is particularly useful when searching across multiple fields (e.g. Word List: "acropolis" and APh Rubrics: "Archéologie grecque") or when searching for more than one term in a single field (see Wildcards below). To open the Search Window, select the magnifying glass search button (top left button; or "Profiled Search" from the Tools menu). Check the desired fields to search and enter your search terms. See section II: Explanation of Indexes and Fields above for information on possible formatting guidelines (e.g. author names). As with the indexes, the Search tool looks for terms at the beginning of the specified field(s) unless the search criteria begins with an asterisk (see Wildcards).
- Wildcards and Boolean Operators are especially vital
when searching for more than one term in a single field. A question mark
(?) can be used to substitute a single character (?? for two characters,
etc.) and an asterisk (*) can substitute zero or more characters. When
searching for multiple terms in a single field, be sure to include an asterisk
before and after each individual term and use the <AND> operator if
the terms are not necessarily adjacent or in that order (e.g. "*homer*
<AND> *hymn*" in the Title finds "Homerische Hymnen", "Homer, Hesiod
and the Hymns", and "... l'Hymne homérique ..."). Wildcards are
also ideal for searching more than one language at once (e.g. s?mboli*
-- symbolique, symbolish, symbolic, simbolico) and also for different forms
of an author's name (e.g. Boardman J* finds Boardman John; Boardman J.).
Also, be sure to surround a phrase with asterisks if the phrase is to be
found embedded within the field (e.g. search Title for "*athenian acropolis*";
a search for "athenian acropolis" (without asterisks) would return works
entitled simply Athenian Acropolis). When searching for only one
term, it is best to use the Words List index instead of a more specific
field like Title. Otherwise, if searching for a single term in a specific
field, surround it by asterisks as with search phrases (e.g. search "*acropolis*"
in Title; do not search "acropolis" in Title). Boolean Operators
must be contained within angled brackets (<AND>, <OR>, and <NOT>)
and cannot be used in the Index Window (they can be used in the Search
Window).
Note: Alphabetization in the DCB does not follow cataloging standards. Titles beginning with articles (e.g. The, A, Das, Ein, Le, etc...) are alphabetized by the article (e.g. The Greeks Overseas is found under the T's).Range Operators can be used in the Search Window with indexes containing number. The available range operators are <LESS> (less than), <LESS_EQUAL> (less than or equal to), <EQUAL>, <GREATER_EQUAL>, <GREATER>, <UNEQUAL> (does not equal), and <RANGE> ("X<range>Y" -- from "X" to "Y").
V. Copying, Printing, and Saving Search Results:
A. Copying a record to another program: When viewing the detailed record in the Main Window, highlight all the text and select "Copy" from the Edit menu. Switch to a word processor and paste the text. Formatting is preserved in an RTF-compatible program (WordPad, Word, and most word processors, as opposed to text editors like NotePad and SimpleText).VI. Exiting the DCB: Select "Quit" or "Exit" from the File menu.B. Printing search results: Click the Print button in either the Main or Results Window. When viewing a detailed record in the Main Window, only that record will print. When viewing the list of search results in the Results Window, you can print the detailed record of one or more results at once.
C. Saving search results as a Plain Text (txt) or Rich Text Format (rtf) file: Saving search results must be done from the Results Window. Select the record(s) in the Results Window (hold down Shift to select multiple records; a plus sign appears beside selected records) and click the Save button with the disk icon. In the save dialog box, enter a file name and select the format type (plain text or Rich Text). Rich Text Format can be viewed by most word processors, but not text editors. RTF is recommended for preserving formatting and fonts (especially for Greek text). RTF and TXT seems to be backwards on ND's DCB...
For more help use the Help Function available on the menu bar, refer to the 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.