More search options
By clicking 'More search options' you can search for words or names in particular fields of the database. For example, searching for Green in the 'Artist/maker' field will find records associated with a person or institution called Green, but not records that simply contain the word green elsewhere.
You can enter search terms into more than one field and you can use the 'More search options' box to combine your search with terms you have entered into the basic search box.
Using Current Location searches
The current location of every object in the database is stored and returned as part of the record details. The location information ranges from the relatively precise, 'shelf number', through increasingly broader terms such as 'case number' and 'room number' to generic groupings based on subject areas, for example 'photography' or 'British galleries'.
To make a general search using part of the location information enter any one of the location terms, for example searching on 'room 38a' or just '38a' will return just the objects on display in Room 38a. Alternatively a term like 'silver' entered in the Current location field will return records of objects in the Silver Galleries and the Silver Discovery Area's but not all of the silver objects in the collection.
How to enter an exact location into the Search field
In order to return results for a precise location the search term should be entered in the following form. Note the punctuation - "room, case, shelf"
"room 139, case 18, shelf 8"
"room 137, case U, shelf 4"
In some location descriptions there are variations in the way the location is described, for example items in the Prints & Drawings Study Room have a level designator rather than a room number and a proportion of those records give both a shelf number and a box reference.
If the location information is shown as 'In store' this indicates that the item is not currently on display. If the location is shown as 'On loan' the object is currently away from the Museum.