The Library
SOGCAT: Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: What is a browse search?
- Q: Is punctuation significant?
- Q: Is case significant?
- Q: Search option "Exact phrase" gives some hits which don't contain the exact phrase I entered
- Q: What counts as a Subject in a Power search?
- Q: How do I know if I've found everything that is relevant for a place?
- Q: I searched for a place name including "Saint" but there were no hits
- Q: How do I know if I've found everything that is relevant on a surname?
- Q: A browse shows several variants of a surname. Can I combine the results?
- Q: I did a Power search for "London AND directories" but got far too many hits. How can I find just the ones for the 19th century?
- Q: I did a Power search for "Chertsey AND parish AND records" but without result. What am I doing wrong?
- Q: I did a Browse subject search for a place without result. Do you really have nothing on it?
- Q: I entered words from a book title as "subject" but got no hits.
- Q: OK, I've found what I want, but what do the abbreviations mean?
- Q: How can I print a complete record?
- Q: Can I view several complete records without returning to the list of titles?
- Q: Why does nothing happens when I click on a title?
- Q: Can I email the titles of some items?
- Q: My email did not arrive. What should I do?
- Q: Can I print the titles of some items?
- Q: OK, I've found what I want but how do I see it?
SEARCHING
A: A list of Authors, Titles, Subjects, Series or item IDs is displayed, in alphanumeric order starting from the term you type in the box, with the number of hits for each. For example with subject "Blackmore" the list of subjects starts:
Blackmore, Essex - 12 hits
Blackmore (surname) - 6 hits
Blackpool, Lancashire - 16 hits
Search Also Under the broader term: Bispham, Lancashire - 8 hits
Note that a browse search for "Lancashire" (which has over 700 hits) is followed by a series of lines for places within Lancashire, like:
Search Also Under the narrower term: Accrington, Lancashire
Q: Is punctuation significant?
A: Yes. A name like "O'Reilly" is not found by a search for "Oreilly". But if in doubt try looking for both or use a wildcard e.g. "O*Reilly"
A: No. It doesn't matter whether you use capital or small letters in searching.
Q: Search option "Exact phrase" gives some hits which don't contain the exact phrase I entered
A: At present this option gives some extra results. You may need a power search with an "and not" condition to exclude unwanted ones.
Q: What counts as a Subject in a Power search?
A: There are 2 distinct categories of subject:
1. PROPER NAMES for places, surnames, schools, universities and colleges, regiments, registration districts, church courts (eg Canterbury Prerogative Court), occupational names etc.
2. Names of RECORD TYPES such as registers, monumental (ie tombstone) inscriptions, censuses, directories, poll books (including all types of voters lists), wills, family history etc. eg. Durham AND wills, or Bristol AND registers, or Ireland AND censuses, or Seton AND family history
SEARCHING FOR MATERIAL ON A PARTICULAR PLACE?
Q: How do I know if I've found everything that is relevant?
A: Use the Browse search for subject and type in the first five or so letters of the place name and hit the "Go" button. Pick the place you want from the list. NB Place names beginning North, South, Upper. Nether etc - use the second element of the name eg Cadbury for North or South Cadbury
Q: I searched for a place name including "Saint" but there were no hits
A: "Saint" is abbreviated to "St" throughout this catalogue, so search with "St".
SEARCHING FOR MATERIAL ON A PARTICULAR SURNAME?
Q: How do I know if I've found everything that is relevant?
A: Use the Browse search for subject and type in the first five or so letters of the surname and hit the "Go" button. Pick the name you want from the list. NB. Manuscript Document Collection material is hardly represented at all in this catalogue yet. Contact the Research Assistant from the "Limited search and copy service" link on the left of the SoGCAT search page for a check in these collections.
Q: A browse shows several variants of a surname. Can I combine the results?
A: Click the square on the left of each surname of interest then click the "find" box above the browse list. This gives a combined list. The "sort" box allows you to choose the order, e.g. by author or title.
TOO MANY HITS?
Q: I did a Power search for "London AND directories" but got far too many hits. How can I find just the ones for the 19th century?
A: Power search for "London AND directories AND 18??" (where each ? replaces a single variable digit)
NO RESULTS?
Q: I did a Power search for "Chertsey AND parish AND records" but without result. What am I doing wrong?
A: Take out the word "parish" - we don't use it as a subject term because it would exclude nonconformist registers. Change the general word 'records' to the more specific word 'registers'
Q: I did a Browse subject search for a place without result. Do you really have nothing on it?
A: Check that the place you are looking for is a parish, town or city. Hamlets and other small settlements are rarely listed. Look at the Genuki church database and also Genuki gazetteers page
Q: I entered words from a book title as "subject" but got no hits.
A: Use "Title" or "Words". "Subject" is one allocated by our cataloguers - for example there is a subject "Monumental inscriptions" but not a subject "Memorials".
USING SEARCH RESULTS
Q: OK, I've found what I want, but what do the abbreviations mean?
A: C = Christenings, M = Marriages, B = Burials, Z = Births, D = Deaths, (I) = Index, MIs = Monumental (tombstone) Inscriptions
Q: How can I print a complete record?
A: Click on the title in a list of hits to open a separate window which displays the full record. Click on the print
icon 
at the top right of the window. You are given options
on what to print.
Q: Can I view several complete records without returning to the list of titles?
A: Click on the square to the left of the records you want, then click on the "view" box at the top of the list. To select all records on a page, click on the square just under the 'view' button and then click 'view'. The first complete record is displayed in a new window. Click numbers 2, 3 etc. at the top of the page to see details of subsequent records.
Q: Why does nothing happens when I click on a title?
Your internet browser is set to not to allow pop-ups. IT Support suggest you make the SOGCAT web site a trusted place and configure the security/privacy setting to permit pop-ups
Q: Can I email the titles of some items?
A: Click on the "Email selected records" icon 
.
Enter the recipient's email address. You can change the suggested subject of the email. What is sent is the information
from the summary display of the record, ie Title, Author, Edition, Location, Media, Shelf Mark, Accession Number.
Q: My email did not arrive. What should I do?
A: If the email is not received by the intended recipient it is probably because the email address used was invalid. Repeat the search and re-send the email taking care to use a valid email address. An attempt to redirect mail if the addressing error is obvious will be made by postmaster@sog.org.uk.
Q: Can I print the titles of some items?
A: Click on the "print selected records" icon . What is
printed is the information from the summary display of the record, ie Title, Author, Edition, Location, Media, Shelf Mark,
Accession Number.
Q: OK, I've found what I want but how do I see it?
A: SoG members living in the UK can borrow certain items from the library. Close this window and follow the link to "Library Borrowing" on the red bar at the left for further details. Non-members can have short searches done for them in indexed sources in the Society's collections for a fee. Close this window and follow the link to "Limited search & copy service" on the red bar at the left for further details.
GENERAL
Q: Some menu items are not available unless I can sign-in
It is planned that these extra facilities will be made available to Members of the Society at some future date. The menus are present so that testing can continue.
Q: Some results do not properly formatted on the screen
Use the link on the red bar at the left to report the problem