Help

Contents of the database 

The Digital Library of the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University is divided into several basic sections (collections): 

Items marked with an asterisk are included in their completness and are regularly updated (except for the Proceedings of the Faculty of Arts BU, which closed in 2012).

Structure of the database 

DL FF MU is a classical bibliographic database with document records that are arranged hierarchically and enriched with full texts: 

For some documents, full text is not available due to licensing, technical or other reasons (these documents represent a fraction of the number of documents in the entire database).

Browsing the database 

DK FF MU offers two basic browsing options according to:

• individual document types and
• selected content aspects.

The first type of browsing is available via the Collections element in the main navigation menu, which includes the following items:

• Journals
• Proceedings of the Faculty of Arts at Brno University
• General book series
• Specialised book series
• Single books

The database can be browsed using the Browse element in the main navigation menu, which includes the following items:

Database search 

DL FF MU offers several search options: 

Examples of different types of searches

Search by author
You can identify the author you are looking for by browsing or searching. From the Browse menu, select Authors and then scroll through the alphabetical index, or type the author's name or part of it into the search box. For example, if you enter the string "drn", the system will search for the names Bedrnová, Drnovský, Kudrna, Kudrnáč, etc. After clicking on the desired name, a list of documents can be displayed in which the person in question appears as an author or as a contributor in the role of editor, translator, etc. (in the citation, he or she does not have to appear among the main authors; information about his or her role is in the "Contributor" field in the full document record).
Especially when combining authors' names with other data, it is advisable to use the search form. Select the Search link and enter the person's name in the Author field in the form, and fill in other fields if necessary. Clicking the Apply button will display a list of documents in which the person is listed as an author or as a contributor in the role of editor, translator, etc. (the person may not appear as the main author in the citation; information about the person's role can be found in the "Contributor" field in the full document record). The search results can then be restricted using the filters located on the left side of the screen (domain, topic, department, content type and language).

Search by topic
When searching for a topic, it depends on whether the topic is relatively general or specific. In the first case, you can use browsing or searching by subject or institute, in the second case by keywords.
 

General topic
The thematic structure of the database can be seen by browsing the topics and departments (in the Browse menu, links to Topics and Departments). The topics are logically linked to the departments, but not always in a 1:1 ratio; in any case, the topical or departmental view leads to structurally the same result: an overview of documents by collection and a listing of the most recent documents depending on the topic or department. Thus, for example, selecting the field of "archaeology" lists four specialized journals, four specialized book editions, two general book series, two collections of single books, and the ten most recent documents (single issues of journals or monographs).
A similar approach can be applied when searching by selecting values in the field Topic or Department FF MU (and specifying them using other fields, alternatively). Clicking the Apply button will display an overview of documents classified in the given topic or department. The search results can then be restricted using the filters located on the left side of the screen (domain, topic, department, content type and language). However, especially for journal articles, the sorting is very coarse and may not (exactly) match the actual subject matter of the articles - this is due to the fact that the articles are automatically tagged with the same topic (or department) that describes the journal.

Specific topic
If you need to find a specific topic, e.g. Habanese pottery, poetry of the National Revival, or the national question in Moravia in the 1890s, there are several ways to proceed:
Unstructured search. In this case, the system searches both the full text of the documents and the bibliographic descriptions, resulting in the best recall of hits.
Metadata search: in the search form, enter the selected keywords in the Any word from the bibliographical description field. In this case, the system will limit the search to the bibliographic description (metadata) only, so the set of records searched will be much narrower compared to an unstructured search.
Subject search. In the search form, enter the selected keywords in the Subject field. In this case, the system only searches the subject fields, titles, and abstracts, so the results are more limited than a metadata search.
Title search: In the search form, enter the selected keywords in the Title field. This search yields the smallest set of records compared to previous methods.

For all of these types of searches, keep in mind that:

• the search is conducted in documents published in different languages, which is particularly relevant for unstructured searches, but also for other search methods in the case of document titles;
• also the language of some metadata elements is variable (depending on the language of the primary document), e.g. for keywords or abstracts, and affects most search methods;
• monographs and articles are described in different ways (articles by author keywords and abstracts, monographs by subject headings and annotations), which can have a negative impact on the number and relevance of search results.

In order to find the most relevant records in as many as possible, then use one of the following methods (ideally a combination):

• try multiple search methods and evaluate which yields the best results;
• use different expressions of the search terms, synonyms or foreign language equivalents;
• when searching full text documents, formulate the query in the language in which you expect the best results.

Search a specific document or set of documents
If you want to limit your search to a specific item, e.g. journal number, journal, edition or monograph, proceed as follows:

• using Collections, or using Browse or Search, find the item you want;
• at the beginning of the record for that item is a Search in this title link;
• click on the link to open a standard search form limited to that item. There is a link in the header of the form that you can use to navigate back to the unrestricted form if necessary.