The Guardian 1996-1999
(including The Observer) on Stand-Alone CD-ROM PC
- Introduction
- Access to The Guardian
- Help
- Toolbar Icons
- Conducting your search
- Saving your results
- Printing your results
- Leaving the database
Introduction
The Guardian (including The Observer) on Stand-Alone CD-ROM PC provides computerised access on CD-ROM to the text of back issues of the final London edition of these two newspapers. It contains all features and articles but excludes advertisements, sport statistics, Stock Exchange and unit trust prices, radio, television and entertainment listings, weather information, and certain copyrighted information. In addition to text, there are selected graphics, tables and charts. The Guardian includes issues from 1996 to 1999.
Access to The Guardian
The period 1996-1999 for this title is only accessible from the stand-alone CD-ROM PC in the JB Morrell Library.
- Select the 1996-99 disc
- Insert The Guardian CD into the CD drive
- Wait until the drive light stops flashing, then click on The Guardian from the menu provided
- At this point you will be presented with a prompt, choose Run this program from its current location
- A security warning will appear, ignore this and click on Yes
Help
Help is available at any time by pressing the F1 key, or by clicking on Help in the menu bar at the top of the main window, and is context sensitive.
Toolbar Icons
At the top of the main window there is a toolbar containing a number of icons. These can be used to activate the various operations of the database. To activate an icon, point the mouse at it, and click once. If you are unsure what an icon means position the pointer over the top without clicking, and an explanation will appear.
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Help Icon which displays help relevant to whatever you click on. |
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Save Icon allows you to save your results or articles to a text file. |
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Printer Icon allows you print a list of results or full articles. |
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Search Icon maximises or opens the search window. |
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Reuse Searches Icon allows you to combine and repeat previous searches. |
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Previous/Next Keyword Icon jumps to selected keywords within an article. |
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Previous/next match icon moves you through the article list. |
Conducting your search
To search the database you need to type in your keyword or phrase into one of the keyword text boxes on the Search Window. If you are unsure that your keyword is to be found anywhere in the database then you can make use of the index function available by clicking once on the Index Icon 
at the end of any relevant line.
Typing a word into the index will display whether or not it is present in this field, and if so how many references contain it. To retrieve the articles that include this word double click on your selected keyword and it will be added to the appropriate search box.
Once you have entered your keywords and selected any restrictions to your search (date, section or paper etc) then click on Search.
Limiting search by publication, headline or byline
It is possible to search both The Guardian and The Observer together or to search only one of them. Click on the Index Icon at the end of the Publication line and a menu screen appears that allows you to select the paper you wish to search. You can elect to only search only within article Headlines or the author Bylines. Enter names or keywords or use the Index Icon to check their existence.
Limiting search by section
It is possible to search only within one or more Sections of the two papers. To select a section to search within click the Index Icon at the end of the Section text box and double click on the section you wish to select. To search within more than one specific section press the Index Icon and select additional sections to include.
Limiting search by date range
Stories may also be searched within a particular date range. You can elect to search for stories From, To, Only or Between specific dates. Select an option from the Date drop down menu. The current start or end date is displayed. These dates may be amended by using the arrow keys 
to increase or decrease the day, month or year.
Limiting search by images (search options)
You can also elect to retrieve only those articles with an image or only those without. The default setting is all documents. Click on the drop down Search Options menu to change this setting.
Combining search terms
To combine search terms select your first search term (etc) as detailed above. If you enter your next search term and type AND or OR, you will notice that as you type on these become an icon. Linking terms using AND means that both your keywords must appear in any articles to be retrieved. Linking with OR means that articles containing either term will be retrieved.
Combining Previous searches
It is possible to combine previous searches you have carried out on the database. To do this click the Reuse Searches Icon. Your searches carried out on the database will be displayed and numbered. In the text box at the bottom of the window type the number of the first search you wish to use (# is added automatically) and then link it with AND or OR, as explained above, and then type the number of the second set of results you wish to combine. e.g. entering #1 AND #3 will combine the first and third searches you have carried out.
Using truncation
When entering your search terms the * character can be used to retrieve articles containing words which begin with a given stem. e.g. problem* will retrieve articles which contain the word Problem, Problems, Problematic, etc.
Viewing headlines and stories
Whenever your search retrieves articles the search screen minimizes and a summary screen with a list of headlines and dates appears on the screen. A count of the total number of articles retrieved is visible in the top left hand corner of the window. To view the full text of an article double click on it in the list. A window opens with the full text of the article.
You can move through the article as you would any Windows document using the scroll bar at the side or the PgUp or PgDown keys, or you can use the keyword icons to move to relevant sections of the story (see below). You can mark articles of interest using the Bookmark options. See the online help for details of how to do this.
If a picture is included there will be a little icon at the top of the document. Click on this to view the image associated with the story. Close the window once you have finished looking at it. When you close the article window you will be returned to the list of articles found and can select another one to read. Alternatively use the Previous/Next match icons to move backwards or forwards through your results.
Keyword Navigation
Keywords in documents retrieved will be highlighted in red. It is possible to move through articles to the text containing keywords using the Previous/Next Keyword Icon. Clicking on the icon will move you to the next or previous keyword highlighted in the current article window. This can be very useful for quickly locating the relevant section of the text within a page.
Saving your results
You can save either the list of articles you have found or the full text of any article(s) you have found. Click on the Save Icon to bring up the Save Menu. If you are in an article select Current Item to save the story. If the results window is open selecting Complete List will save the list of headlines, though not the stories themselves. Select the Drive and Directory you wish to save to (see below) and type in a File Name and click OK.
Each time you save to disk in any session it is important that you change the filename to avoid overwriting previously saved articles. You will be prompted for a filename each time you save.
Available drives
You may save either to a floppy disk (drive A:) or to a zip disk (drive E:).
Printing your results
The CD-ROM PC is not attached to a printer. You will need to take your downloaded files on your floppy or zip disk to a networked classroom or office PC to print.
Leaving the database
Select Exit from the File menu and click on OK.
Remove the CD from the drive by pressing the eject button under the CD drive. Wait while it opens, then carefully remove the CD and place it back in the container.
