Catalog Record Search

Navigate to the search page either by opening the Arctos homepage (arctos.database.museum) or by using the Search toolbar > Catalog Records menu option. A basic search pane will display:

Presets and Profiles

The default search pane contains a few basic search fields that are most frequently used for querying biodiversity collections. Use the Customize Search & Results menu at the top of the page to select from several preset search options that are tailored to discipline-specific query fields (e.g., paleo or ethnographic collections):

To customize the search and result fields displayed or add more fields to the pane to create a more advanced search, use the “Customize or Manage Profile” menu option. Toggle on or off fields in the Search Options and Results Options tables to control what fields are displayed. You can use an existing profile to “seed” the selections. Pro Tip: While any user can customize the fields displayed, users must create a login to save these custom preferenes for subsequent searches.

Each customize table is sortable, listing the field name of either Search Options (query fields) or Reults Options (the fields that will be displayed in the search results table). When clicked, eye icons display the definition of each term. Use the checkboxes to manually selct desired options, or use the category or subcategory checkmarks to batch-select related options within a categoy, or the “x” symbol to batch toggle off existing selections. Note that while a user can turn on every Search table option, doing so in the Results table will result in limited record retrieval. This is due to the “cost” of the memory needed to simultaneously search multiple fields/tables throughout the database. Generally speaking, the more Results Options selected, the fewer catalog record results will display. For instance, toggling “core” (default) selections plus a handful of targeted fields will typically result in a search that maxes out at 500,000 records. Adding a few more fields may result in a maximum of 250,000 records returned. However, toggling every Result Option selection will likely retrieve a maximum of 3 catalog records. Note that Results Options only relate to the fields displayed in the initial results table, and that users will be able to access all informaiton contained in a catalog record by clicking on the catalog record. Users will also be able to download the search results as displayed (limited to the Result Options fields selected), or “for record bulkoader” which will contain all information included in the record, and/or may asynchronously “request data” for large datasets.

Search Tips

• All field names are linked to documentation or relevant code table values. Click on the blue text to view definitions and navigate to documentation and/or linked code tables for each value.
• Use the “choose” button next to the Collection search field to search multiple (specific) collections or institutions at once. The “check all” Collection Code menu is handy for searching across Arctos for within a specific collection type (e.g., all invertebrate collections).

Spatial Search - howto

Customize and turn on “Map” in the search options (left) column.

Save

Choose Draw a Shape tool

Draw a shape. Doubleclick to close/select.

Submit

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