Querying to Find Information Sources and Services:

The query system for the on-line Reference Guide provides for a number of different means to select profiles from the RINCIS Database. The three primary avenues are:

• Query by name
• Query by descriptive term
• Query by geographic scope

Query by name:

The upper part of the query form provides for finding profiles by all or part of the name of the service as listed in the database. There are four options:
"is" - when you know the exact complete name
"begins with" - when you know the first word of the name
"ends with" - to search for the last part of the name
"contains" - when you know part of the name

Select the mode of search you want, type in the name or part thereof and click "search". Note that:

• The search is NOT case-sensitive.
• The "contains" option is the most frequently used, as it is hard to anticipate the exact name of the service.
• Leaving the search field blank will select a complete list of all profiles in the database

Query by descriptive term:

All of the profiles have been indexed to assist retrieval by 6 different sets of descriptive terms. These are:

Category of service - indicates the type of information service independent of content or scope.

Environmental theme - indicates the nature of the associated environmental activities and sectoral purposes the service is intended to support.

Information types available - indicates the nature of the documents and information products available, independent of subject matter.

Cluster - indicates a grouping of information sources into those of similar nature and user audience.

Keyword - these classify the service with respect to the subject content of the information, using a selected sub-set of the General Multilingual Environmental Thesaurus (GEMET).

Open Keyword - similar to the above, except not limited to the specific sub-set of GEMET. These terms have been used mainly to be more specific regarding species groups.

Search terms may be chosen from the pull down lists in each query box, by clicking on the term.

Thus choosing the term "Treaty text" from the Information Type box will select all information sources where the exact text of the treaty or treaties is available from the source.

Multiple choices can be made by holding down the "Ctrl" key. Such multiple choices are logically connected by an or operator. Thus choosing both "Treaty Text" and "Case studies" in the Information Type box will select all profiles that have either (or both).

The different descriptive terms are connected by a logical and operator, i.e. both must be true to select a profile. Thus selecting "case studies" in the Information Type and "species conservation" in the Environmental Theme box will select all information sources that contain case studies and are related to species conservation.

NOTE:
The query box for the Name of Service must be cleared before querying by any of the descriptive terms.

Query by geographic scope:

The "geographic scope" refers to the scope of the information holdings of the information source (not the location of the organisation), and does not necessarily coincide with the scope of the related instrument.

The geographic scope has been coded in a hierarchical scheme by Region, Sub-region and country, as well as the designation "global". The Regions and Sub-regions are those used by UNEP. The scope may be defined by combinations of one or more of the above (except where global). Thus the scope might be Europe (Region) plus the countries Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

The search at present does not automate the hierarchy - that is you must specifically indicate the country, sub-region and region of interest, and cannot assume that selecting "France" will also select Western Europe (Sub-region) and Europe (Region). The user is advised to use the "or" capability explicitly to ensure that the correct criteria are applied.

NOTE: The geographic search function is complex and may operate quite slowly on the current test-bed server.

NOTE: If used in conjunction with descriptive terms, the geographic scope query operates as an "and", thus further refining the search.

Viewing or Printing Results:

Once the list of selected profiles is displayed, any profile can be viewed by clicking on its reference number.

To view (or print or download) a number of profiles simply click on the "select" box at the right hand side of those desired, and then click "show selected profiles" at the bottom of the list. This prepares a file suitable for printing or downloading.

In this way a customized desk reference guide can be produced.

To print the selected profiles click on file/print.

Downloading Results :

To download a file of the profiles click on file/save as and choose save as type: "Web-page, html only". The resulting .html file can then be opened and printed using browsers, MS-Word®, or the like, and converted to other formats, including a Word document. Some manual editing of page breaks in Word is recommended to obtain a well formatted document.

This method can be used to obtain a complete copy of the Reference Guide if desired.