Below describes the basic things to know for specifying search conditions.

Generally, entering major keywords of materials refines the search result properly to some extent. If few items are found or destination materials are not found, it is advisable to delete some of the specified keywords and search again. The materials will be found in wider range of database.

If the database in the library (you usually use) is searched, the rules described below are applied. Read carefully for specifying appropriate conditions.

Available letters for conditions

Russian, Chinese, Hangeul and other languages are available besides Japanese and English for specifying conditions.

For Japanese users, keywords for normal search and some parameters for advanced search can be specified by using hiragana/katakana reading.

How to specify conditions

Below describes how to specify multiple conditions in a textbox and how to use syntax.

Specifying multiple conditions in a textbox

Some parameters can be specified with multiple conditions, which are delimited by space characters.

If multiple keywords are specified in normal search, AND method is applied.

In advanced search, when parameters are specified by entering letters in textboxes, one of the methods AND, OR or NOT is selected.

AND (contains all the specified keywords)

Materials whose information contains all the specified words are searched. The search range can be narrowed to refine the results.

For example, when you want to find materials that describe the causes and effects of global warming, select the AND method and specify “global warming,” ”cause” and “effect.” Then destination materials will be searched concisely.

OR (contains one or more of the specified keywords)

Materials whose information contains at least one of the specified words are searched. Select this method when you know there are not so many materials but they must be found without omission.

For example, when you want to find materials about some measures on aging or employment for senior citizens, select the OR method and specify “aging” or “senior” as keywords. Then, the related materials will be searched without omission.

NOT (contains none of the specified keywords)

Materials whose information does not contain the specified words are searched. This method is available only in the advanced search.

Using syntax

For normal search and some parameters of advanced search, the specified character strings are used usually for searching part of them in material information (partial match).

If a diagonal (/) is put to the start or end of a character string, the information starting with the string (forward match) or the one ending with it (backward match) will be found.

Searching information starting with the specified character string

Put a diagonal (/) at the start of the character string. The information starting with the string will be found (forward match).

Searching information ending with the specified character string

Put a diagonal (/) at the end of the character string. The information ending with the string will be found (backward match).

General syntax for conditions

Conditions are generally specified by using the following syntax.

Partial match

Materials are found if their information contains the specified character string.
For example, if “cat” is specified, “Cat’s Cradle,” “The Cat in the Hat” and “I am a Cat” will all be found since they match the condition.

Forward match

Materials are found if the information starts with the specified character string.
For example, if “123” is specified, “123,” “12345” or “123789” will be found, while “1123” or “01234” will not.

Backward match

Materials are found if the information ends with the specified character string.
For example, if “321” is specified, “321,” “54321” or “A00321” will be found, while “13214” or “543210” will not.

Perfect match

Materials are found if the information matches perfectly the specified character string.
For example, “room” is specified, materials whose information values match “room” will be found, while “ballroom” or “classroom” will not.

Assimilating ambiguity

When the database in the library (you usually use) is searched, ambiguity of the input keywords will be automatically assimilated (Fuzzy matching) to get results.

The following kinds of ambiguity are automatically assimilated in LIMEDIO.

Capital and small letters

Difference between capital and small letters is assimilated.
For example, “Computer,” “COMPUTER” or “computer” are regarded to be the same character strings.

Double and single byte characters

Difference between double and single byte characters is assimilated.
For example, “computer” and “ｃｏｍｐｕｔｅｒ” are regarded to be the same character strings. This assimilation is done together with the one for capital/small letters, all of “Computer,” “COMPUTER,” “computer” or “ｃｏｍｐｕｔｅｒ” are regarded to be the same character strings.

Standard and variant Chinese Kanji characters

Variant Chinese Kanji characters are regarded to be the same, such as “学” and”學” or “国” and “國.”
For example, “学問” and “學問” or “芸術” and “藝術” are regarded to be the same character strings.

Hiragana and katakana

Japanese hiragana and katakana characters are regarded to be the same.
For example, “サイエンス” and “さいえんす” are regarded to be the same.

Signs and codes

Japanese character strings with bullets (・) are regarded to be the same as the ones without bullets.
For example, “オペレーティング・システム” and “オペレーティングシステム” are regarded to be the same.
Commas (,), periods (.), hyphens (-), colons (:), semi-colons (;) and underscores (_) are treaded in the same way.

Expressions of sound marks

European characters with sound marks, such as those seen in French or German, are regarded to be the same as the ones without the marks.
For example, “Böhm” and “Bohm” are regarded to be the same.

Expressions of Japanese katakana words

Difference of Japanese expressions of words from foreign languages is regarded to be same.
For example, “コンピューター” and “コンピュータ” or “プリンター” and “プリンタ” are regarded to be the same since they are regarded to be the same even if dashes are removed. The same is applied to the difference between “ア” and “ヤ,” such as “ダイア” and “ダイヤ” or “アンパイア” and “アンパイヤ,” and between “ヅ” and “ズ,” “ヂ” and “ジ” or “ヴ” and “ブ.”
The difference between “ヴァ” and “バ” or “ツィ” and “チ” may be regarded as difference character strings since the number of letters is different.

Inflection of English words

Inflection in plural form of nouns or person and tense of verbs is assimilated.
For example, “company” and “companies,” “throw” and “threw” or “quick” and “quickest” are regarded to be the same.

Spelling of English words

Difference between American and British spelling styles is assimilated.
For example, American “globalization” and British “globalization” are regarded to be the same.

Advanced method to specify keywords

When the database in the library (you usually use) is searched, the codes prepared in the system are available to specify conditions for more strict and concrete search.

Word boundary

When English alphabets are used to specify conditions, the boundary of words is specified, which delimits the character string as words.
The words are delimited by double quotation marks (“). If a word starting with the character string is searched, put an asterisk at the end of the word and immediately before the double quotation mark. If a word ending with the character string is searched, put an asterisk at the start of the word and immediately after the double quotation mark.
Some examples of specification are shown below. Y indicates that the specified string matches words, and N does not.

Condition expressions

Expressions are specified to specify how to evaluate entered values, as well as specifying search conditions to the parameter textboxes.
The number of conditions specified to a single parameter or the relationship of conditions between parameters can be specified.

Condition expressions are available for the keyword textbox of normal search and Keyword of advanced search. Put a number sign at the start of a condition expression.