Moving Image Collections: A Window to the World's Moving Images

Search Help

MIC includes two databases

Archive Explore - a database of archives--organizations that collect moving images
Collections Explore - a database containing descriptions (catalog records) of moving image titles.

Collections Explore Help

Collections Explore searches the database of catalog records.

You can:

Search for keywords anywhere in the record

Search within particular parts of the record, by:

title
credits (person or organizations}
summary and contents
subject, genre, form

Limit your keyword search to particular organization(s)

To do a keyword search:

type one or more words in the box
select the fields to search
click GO

How it works: MIC finds records where all the words you type occur within the specified fields. Typing 'gone wind' will retrieve the Gone With the Wind, but not Gone in Sixty Seconds.

Word order does not matter. If you type 'fly dieter,' MIC will retrieve Little Dieter Needs to Fly.

Select multiple fields by holding down the Ctrl or Shift key while selecting from the pulldown menu with your mouse. For Apple computers, hold down the Apple key while clicking your mouse.

You can choose to search using Boolean operators OR, ADJ, NOT. (AND is implied.)

seven guns - finds records where both words occur in the field(s) searched. This search retrieves Guns of the Magnificent Seven. (Note AND is implied.)

tv or television - finds records containing either TV or Television in the field(s) searched. This search retrieves both KYUK-TV and Kentucky Educational Television.

will adj smith - finds records where 'Will' appears next to 'Smith.' Useful in broad searches which would otherwise retrieve the terms in unrelated contexts. You may also surround the term in quotes (eg: "will smith").

news not day - finds records containing the word News in the field(s) searched, excluding those with the word Day. This search retrieves Broadcast News and The Shipping News, but not News of the Day.

To search variant spellings, use a truncation or wild card character, which substitutes for zero or more characters:

dan* - retrieves Dan, Danish, Danske

na*ional - retrieves both National and Nacional

colo*r - retrieves both Color and Colour

ne*erlands - retrieves both Nederlands and Netherlands

For the following selections, these fields are searched. For a list of all MIC Catalog fields, click here.

Area selected	Field searched	MIC field no.
All fields	Names (of people, organizations, conferences, events, etc.)	MICUC006 MICUC009 MICUC012
	Titles (Titles, variant titles, titles of related works, episode titles, series titles, conferences, events)	MICUC012 MICUC014 MICUC015 MICUC016 MICUC017 MICUC018 MICUC019
	Date (dates shot, produced, released, or broadcast, as provided)	MICUC020
	Languages (if provided) Notes about language	MICUC037 MICUC038
	Country of production	MICUC021
	Contents Summary or abstract	MICUC032 MICUC033
	Cast notes (participants, performers) Production credits notes	MICUC035 MICUC034
	General notes	MICUC031
	Subjects Genres and forms Classification (call) numbers	MICUC040 MICUC041 MICUC046
Title	Titles (Titles, variant titles, titles of related works, episode titles, series titles, conferences, events)	MICUC012 MICUC014 MICUC015 MICUC016 MICUC017 MICUC018 MICUC019
Credits (Person or Organization)	Cast, credits, names of people and organizations as subjects, conferences, events, etc.	MICUC006 MICUC009 MICUC012 MICUC034 MICUC035
Summary and Contents	Summary or abstract Contents	MICUC033 MICUC032
Subject, genre or form	Subjects Genres and forms Classification (call) numbers	MICUC040 MICUC041 MICUC046

Archive Explore Help

Archive Explore searches the database of archives.

You can:

Search for a particular organization by name

Search all organizations by location and/or resource type

To search for a particular organization, type one or more words from the organization's name in the first box, then click GO.

How it works: MIC finds organizations where all the words you type occur within a set of several name fields. Typing 'pacific film' will retrieve the Pacific Film Archive, but not Pacific Title Archives.

Name searches look for words in the name, alternative (variant) name, and parent organization name fields, as well as the Organization ID field. For a list of Organization IDs, click here.

Word order does not matter. If you type 'Alberta Archives' MIC will retrieve 'Provincial Archives of Alberta.'

You can choose to search using Boolean operators OR, ADJ, NOT. (AND is implied.)

art museum - finds organizations where both words occur in the name fields, e.g., The Museum of Modern Art. (Note AND is implied.)

tv or television - finds organizations where either TV or Television occur in the name fields. This search retrieves both KYUK-TV and Kentucky Educational Television.

new adj media - finds organizations where 'New' appears next to 'Media.' It retrieves New Media but not New Zealand Media Centre. You may also surround the term in quotes (eg: "new media").

johnson not lyndon - finds organizations where Johnson is in the name, but Lyndon is not. This search retrieves the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum, but not the Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum.

To search variant spellings, use a truncation or wild card character:

cent* - retrieves both Center and Centre

na*ional - retrieves both National and Nacional

To search organizations by location or resource type, select any place and/or resource type by which to limit your search, then click GO.

Search by:

location (country or state/province)
genre/form
subject
physical format

To search by place, you must choose either a country or a state/province (not both).

To search by material type, select as many categories as you wish.

How it works: Form/genre/subject searches use an implied Boolean OR operator. Therefore, if you select both 'Animation' and 'Silent era films' you are asking for either one or the other, and MIC will find organizations holding either animation or silent era films or both. Search results will not be limited to organizations holding silent-era animation. The same is true in physical format searches. If you select both 'Films' and 'Video recordings,' MIC will find all organizations holding either films or video recordings or both.

However, between categories (location, form/genre/subject, physical format), the Boolean operator is AND. Therefore, you can search for Canadian organizations holding newsreels on video by selecting 'Canada' in the pulldown menu, 'animation' in the form/genre/subject list, and 'video recordings' in the physical format list.

As MIC development continues, search options will be expanded and more fields will be available for searching. For a list of all MIC Archive Directory fields, click here.

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Updated: March 16, 2005
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