Hebrew Script Languages: Search/Display
Hints
Records in Hebrew script languages (Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic,
and others) in the Library of Congress Online Catalog are cataloged
using a romanized (transliterated) script (see ALA-LC Romanization
Tables). However, in many of these records, some information is
also provided in Hebrew script (e.g., names, titles, publishers,
etc.).
In order to display records and view the non-Roman scripts (like
Hebrew), please see help on Displaying Non-Roman Characters in the Online Catalog.
Searching in Hebrew Script Languages
There are two ways to search the records containing Hebrew script:
- enter search words using Roman characters
- enter search words using Hebrew characters
Because Hebrew characters are not included
in records created before 1987 and not in all of those created
since then, only
romanized
searches will give comprehensive results.
On Nov. 22, 2005, an author search for
גלאטשטיין, י retrieved 1 record while "glatstein, j" retrieved
36.
In order to enter Hebrew characters, you must
use the appropriate Input Method Editor (IME) (view more help on installing and using IMEs).
No matter which method of searching you use, the resulting records
will display the romanized script along with the Hebrew character
portions of
the record if both are present in the record.
In pre-2005 Hebrew script records, non-Roman fields containing numerals, brackets,
parentheses, and other marks of punctuation may not display correctly
because of problems in intersystem data transfer. (For an example
of incorrect display, look at the publication date in the non-Roman
"Published/Created" field of the Hebrew record shown at the beginning
of this document.) These incorrect displays are being corrected
to the extent possible as they are encountered in cataloging. Tips for searching Hebrew script language records using Roman characters:
Note: In order for special characters such as ‘ayin and alef and diacritical
marks to display correctly, your Web font must be Arial Unicode
MS. To set the font, click on the Tools menu at the top of your
screen, then on Internet Options, then on Fonts, and then select
Arial Unicode MS.
- Use the system employed
in the ALA-LC Romanization Tables. In addition, please follow
these rules for entering a romanized search:
- Ignore diacritical marks
- search "hevrah" not "̣hevrah" for
חברה
- search "sason" not "śaśon" for ששון
- Disregard sheva na' when not pronounced in Israeli Hebrew
- search "shomrim" not "shomerim"
for שומרים
- but search "ketivah" not "ktivah" for כתיבה
- Disregard consonant doubling
- search "medaber" not "medabber"
- Use a hyphen to separate prefixed particles (e.g., the definite article "ha-,"
the conjunction "̣ve-" or "̣va-," prepositions
like "le-," and combinations
of these particles) from the word to which they are prefixed
- search "ha-bayit" not "habayit"
for הבית
- search "ve-hayu" not "vehayu" for והיו
- search "vela-moreh" not "velamoreh" or "ve-lamoreh" for ולמורה
- Numbers and dates expressed in Hebrew letters are romanized as Arabic numerals
- search "helek 12" not "helek y"b"
for חלק י"ב
- search "708" not "tashah" for תש"ח
- Spaces may be substituted for hyphens
- search "Tel Aviv" or "Tel-Aviv" to
retrieve תל-אביב
For more details about the Hebrew and Yiddish romanization systems employed by
the Library of Congress, see p. 8-34 of Paul Maher's Hebraica
Cataloging (Washington, D.C. : Cataloging Distribution Service,
Library of
Congress, 1987) >> link to document in MS Word format
Tips for searching Hebrew script language records using non-Roman characters:
- To be sure of finding
all appropriate records, search both full (ketiv male) and incomplete
(ketiv ̣haser) spellings
- to find "" search
both ליקוט and לקוט
- to find "̣̣kodesh" search both קודש and קדש
- The catalog search engine differentiates between the letter
itself (כ נ מ פ צ) and its ending (sofit) form (ך ן ם ף ץ). This
is especially relevant when searching for works that use Soviet
Yiddish orthography, in which the sofit form is not used.
- a search for שכנ does not retrieve שכן
- the single and double quotation marks (' and ") in the Microsoft
Hebrew IME are not equivalent to the Hebrew geresh and gershayim
in Library of Congress Hebrew script records. Searches using
the Microsoft quotation marks will not retrieve appropriate results.
Words or strings containing them should be searched in romanization.
Note: If you copy the geresh or gershayim character directly
from a Hebrew script catalog record and paste it into your Hebrew
script search, you will retrieve correct results. A record containing
both characters is LCCN 99461387.
- searches for רמב"ם , תש"ח or פאלג'י retrieve nothing; substitute 708, rambam, palag’i (or palagi)
- Truncation is automatic in non-Roman left-anchored searches,
but not in keyword searches. Only exact keyword searches retrieve
appropriate results
- a search for בית does not retrieve הבית
Exception: If the first word in a title begins with the definite
article ה, that character should not be included in a title search
- a search for יכתב does not retrieve יכתבו
- a search for שכנ retrieves neither שכנים nor שכן
- For easier Hebrew script searching, replace hyphens with spaces
and omit commas
- search תל אביב not תל-אביב
- search עז ארי שלמה not עז-ארי, שלמה
- To delete a preceding Hebrew script character, use the backspace
key (or the left arrow key followed by the delete key)
- Use the left arrow key to move the cursor to the right; use
the right arrow key to move the cursor to the left
Notes on Yiddish searching:
- Substitute יי (yod-yod) and וו ()
for the Yiddish characters
ײ ( yudn) and װ ()
- For vowels and consonants with diacritical
marks, such as א (with a line under) or פ (with a line over),
use the Hebrew character without a diacritic. A
search for
פיין retrieves both "fayn" and "payn"
Note on printing, saving, and emailing:
Catalog records containing diacritical
marks and non-Roman characters can be printed or saved using the "Save, Print or Email Records" functions of the Online Catalog (found at the bottom of search results and single
record displays). Records containing non-Roman characters or diacritics
will not be emailed properly--entire lines containing these characters
will be missing from the email. Until this problem can be corrected
by the vendor, we suggest that you use either "print" or "save" to capture this information in its entirety.
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