Searching and Browsing

Book Owners Online is built using the software which underpins Wikipedia, and works in broadly similar ways.

It can be SEARCHED using keywords, entered into the box in the top right of any screen - a name, a subject, a date, any word or words which are included in pages should be found like this, with a list of entries matching a search displayed at the bottom of the results screen.

Categories provide the key functionality for BROWSING. Each entry is flagged with subject headings reflecting the background of the owner (academic, aristocracy, schoolmaster, etc), kinds of ownership marking (e.g. armorial stamps, bookplates), and ways in which libraries were bequeathed or dispersed (e.g. given to parishes or institutions, sold by auction). Click on the link to see a full list of browsable headings: Categories.

To see one alphabetical list of all the entries in the database, use the Category All Owners.

All the pages include Properties, which enrich searching by ensuring that standardised terminology is embedded within the text, though it may not be visible. So, every reference to "Prebendary of Westminster" includes the property "Westminster Abbey", and every reference to "divinity" includes the property "theology".

To see a list of the LANGUAGES that are regularly tagged as Properties when they occur, and the standardised titles of those languages used, use the Property Language.

To see a list of the SUBJECTS that are regularly tagged as properties when they occur, and the standardised wording used, use the property Subject.

To PRINT a page or pages, click on the "Tools" link in the bottom left corner of any page, and select "Printable version".

When entries contain references to names which also have their own pages in the database, CROSSREFERENCES are added as dynamic links to move easily between the pages.