CATALOGUES INSTRUCTIONS OF USE


1. Selection of a catalogue
2.
Selection of fields
3.
Free text boxes
4.
Available fields
5.
Multiple queries
6.
Number of items to display per chunk of results
7.
Display of results


1. Selection of a catalogue

From the BCCM catalogues main page select one of the four available catalogues.

2. Selection of fields

To select a particular field to search, roll down a list of fields and select a field name.

3. Free text boxes

After selecting a field, type a string in the related free text box. Do not use plurals.

In "free text boxes" you do not have neither to combine words with reserved/special characters nor to use wildcards. Just type a string containing either a part of word, one word or several words separated by blank spaces and the search engine will search for the whole string contained in the related field(s) of the selected catalogue.

The search engine does not use wildcards.

4. Available fields

Species names / Plasmid names

For bacteria, fungi and yeasts: searches for a string contained in the species name, including genus name, species epithet and author's name. The search engine also searches automatically for that string in other fields like synonyms, misapplied and former names...

For plasmids: searches for a string contained in the plasmid name.

Examples

Searching on Penicillium retrieves all the species names containing the string "penicillium", such as the genus Penicillium and also the genus Eupenicillium.

Acre retrieves all the species names containing the string "acre", such as the genus Acremoniella and also the genus Acremonium and the species Cephalosporium acremonium.

Chloridium lignicola retrieves this species name and its varieties.

Gams retrieves all the species names containing the string "gams", such as all the species for which the author's name is Gams.

Accession number

Searches for a strain using a particular strain number. Do not type the acronym of the related collection but only the strain/plasmid number.

Examples:

Typing "3137" is ok and all strain numbers containing "3137" will be retrieved.

Typing "LMG 3137" is wrong and will lead to no result

Other collection's numbers

Searches for a strain using an other collection's strain number. Here it is preferable to type the other collection's acronym before the strain number itself. If not the search engine will retrieve all the strains for which other collections' numbers contain the typed number.

Example: ATCC 13460

Other fields available in the list

When selecting one of these fields and typing a string in the related free text box the search engine will search for this string contained in the selected field.

All fields

When selecting "All fields" and typing a string in the related free text box the search engine will search for that string in all the fields of the selected catalogue.

5. Multiple queries

To make a multiple query select one field in at least two lists of fields and type a string in the related free text boxes.

For plasmids a multiple query can also be made either by selecting two or several lists of values (containing all possible items for the related field) or by a combination of free text boxes and lists of values.

The different parts of a multiple query can then be combined with the OR or the AND operator.

6. Number of items to display per chunk of results

The user can choose to display the results per chunk of 10, 20, 50 or 100 items.

Displaying results per chunk of 50 or 100 items may result in a transfer of a large amount of data. Therefore for computers having a low bandwidth connection to the Internet or for long distance connections to the BCCM Website it is advised to display results per chunk of 10 or 20 items. Otherwise a script time-out or connection time-out error message may appear on the page of results.

7. Display of results

For bacteria, fungi and yeasts

The results will be displayed in two possible ways depending on the fields searched.

A. When searching only on "species names" the page of results will display successively

  • 1. The list of the corresponding species names sorted alphabetically
  • 2. The list of the corresponding synonyms of species names sorted alphabetically
  • 3. The list of the corresponding former/misapplied names of particular strains

Then when clicking on a species name the details of all available strains for that species will be displayed.

B. When searching on other fields then "species name" or when making a multiple query combining a search on "species name" with a search on one or several other fields the page of results will display the details of all corresponding strains.

For plasmids

When making a search the page of result will display the names of all corresponding plasmids.

When clicking on a plasmid name the details about the plasmid will be displayed.

From the plasmid details page a link to the plasmid circular map is inserted.



Contact: François Guissart (guis@belspo.be)
Last update: 20 November 2000

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