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About
What is Alphabetica
Alphabetica is an advanced bibliographic portal, which retrieves news and materials through an integrated search system that connects different databases, all managed and coordinated by the ICCU. The portal returns to the user materials from OPAC SBN, Manus Online, EDIT16, SBN Teca, Digitised Historical Catalogues, 14-18 - Documents and images of the Great War and MOVIO - Online Virtual Exhibitions. In order to involve more and more institutions in cultural promotion, the portal has been designed to communicate with external databases. At the present day, Alphabetica users can, for example, browse the cultural heritage digitised by IMAGO, the Digital collective catalogue of Regione Emilia-Romagna.
The portal addresses a curious audience, interested in deepening the knowledge of a specific topic or material by building a personalized collection or even just exploring the heritage of Italian libraries. Simple and immediate, Alphabetica has been designed to give users the possibility to create customised cultural itineraries with bibliographic information and digital materials as basic elements. Just as speeches and thoughts are generated from the combination of the letters of the alphabet, collections and cultural itineraries are born by linking together data on cultural heritage preserved in Italian libraries, that can be browsed directly, in a digital environment, or consulted in a cultural institution.
One portal, many paths
Alphabetica can be browsed through a simple search tool, the results of the query being sorted and shown in different boxes. Each box is referred to a thematic area or a material type. Those who need a deeper level of insight can access a specific search path from the homepage, choosing among the following subject areas:
Music,
Books,
Manuscripts,
Audios and Videos,
Cartography,
Periodicals and
Graphic. By launching a query in one of these areas, through the search tools in the main page, users will obtain results sorted in different set of boxes, specifically designed for the selected area. Browsing a specific area allows a deeper level of insight and different opportunities to wide the search through the suggestions and links highlighted by the portal.
The Protagonists and Libraries areas follow a different logic. Users cannot launch a free-text query in the related search tools, which operate through lists whose items are shown after inserting at least three letters.
In the Protagonists area, the items refer to names linked to the bibliographic records present in the portal. Once a name - referring to a person or an institution - is selected and a query launched, a short biography or description will appear, followed by related bibliographic records and material. Records will be sorted iinto boxes, mirroring the beahaviour of all the portal areas.
In the Libraries area, the listed items refer to the libraries recorded in the National Library Database. Once a library is selected and a query launched, a description of the institution will appear, containing relevant information such as services, contact information, opening hours and more. Scrolling the page, users will be able to browse different boxes sorting all the bibliographic records referring to the materials preserved by the library. The Library area also features a map search tool and an advanced search page.
In response to a query, every area of Alphabetica will show a page with a heading - containing all the search parameters and filters, with the possibility of deleting some of these - and a time bar to refine the search results in the boxes.
Boxes as browsing tools in Alphabetica
The Protagonists and Libraries areas follow a different logic. Users cannot launch a free-text query in the related search tools, which operate through lists whose items are shown after inserting at least three letters.
In the Protagonists area, the items refer to names linked to the bibliographic records present in the portal. Once a name - referring to a person or an institution - is selected and a query launched, a short biography or description will appear, followed by related bibliographic records and material. Records will be sorted iinto boxes, mirroring the beahaviour of all the portal areas.
In the Libraries area, the listed items refer to the libraries recorded in the National Library Database. Once a library is selected and a query launched, a description of the institution will appear, containing relevant information such as services, contact information, opening hours and more. Scrolling the page, users will be able to browse different boxes sorting all the bibliographic records referring to the materials preserved by the library. The Library area also features a map search tool and an advanced search page.
In response to a query, every area of Alphabetica will show a page with a heading - containing all the search parameters and filters, with the possibility of deleting some of these - and a time bar to refine the search results in the boxes.
Boxes as browsing tools in Alphabetica
In search results pages, the box is the key element to browse the portal. Each and every box is initially shown in a collapsed state, which only shows three records top and the total record number below. By clicking on the "show all" command, in the upper right corner of the box, users can expand it and look at all the bibliographic records it contains. If a list is particularly long, scrolling it down will show more and more records, progressively retrieved by the portal. Each box contains different lists, divided into tabs. In addition to the "General Catalogue" tab - the results shown by which can be further filtered, allowing users to retrieve all Resources, or just Digital Resources - the "Other digital resources" tab contains digital resources still not comprised in the main database and yet available in Alphabetica.
The lists shown in the tabs allow further search refinement thanks to the facets, shown on the left. Users can expand or collapse the terms contained by each facet. If a facet contains many terms, the "Show all" function can be activated to recall a full list in a pop-up window and browse all the terms with the possibility of selecting more than one to refine the previous search results. Users are also able to delete an applied filter by clicking on the "X" shown beside it in the relative facet. The left panel also shows a graph dividing the result set by year.
The ultimate navigation level of a box is devoted to single work and manifestation records. Clicking on one of the results, users land on a page that shows all the manifestations related to a work or, if the record already is at manifestation level, the description of the resource. The description page of a bibliographic record shows catalographic data, retrieves digital reproductions if present and lists the physical locations of the resource. From the description page, users can share a resource or discover more information by visualizing it on the OPAC SBN (the collective catalogue of the National Library Service), which is part of the ICCU digital ecosystem. Description pages can be fastly reached from the initial state of a box, by selecting one of the three top results already visible.
The "Protagonists" and "Libraries" boxes - which will gather results inside every area - operate in a different way. "Protagonists" shows all the names related to the bibliographic resources retrieved and offers two functions: a filtering one (magnifying glass icon), which reloads the result set by including the sole resources related to that specific name and can be activated more than once in case users need to filter by more names; a navigation one (external link icon) which points directly to the description page of the selected protagonist in the "Protagonists" area.
The "Libraries" box features similar functions and shows all the libraries preserving the cultural heritage shown by other boxes. Again, the magnifying glass icon besides a library name filters the result set by said library and the external link icon points directly to the description page of the institution in the "Libraries" area.
The combination of the aforementioned features of "Protagonists" and "Libraries" allows to refine search results in many different ways, with outcomes that can be interesting in terms of serendipity. From this point of view, the "See also" and Other resources" boxes offer further possibilities to widen the horizon of a single search.
The user dashboard, a space to search and share
Alphabetica shares a personal space with all the other sites of the ICCU digital ecosystem: the user dashboard. Users can register and sign in online, getting access to a tool allowing them to save single bibliographic recors or entire searches, sorting them out in personal collections and sharing them with other users registered on the ecosystem, by e-mail or on social networks.
You can register here
You can register here
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