HELP

How the site is organised
Help with searching
Where can I see the real thing?
PDF Files

How the site is organised

The main body of material on Collections Online consists of database records for museum objects containing information and images ('object records'). These records are grouped into different categories to introduce and guide you through the material.

Each category has a home page which presents a short introduction, a Showcase area highlighting up to 6 key objects and links to:

all the object records in the category
a Glossary explaining any specialist terms used
a Finding Out More page providing contact details, a bibliography and suggestions of other sources of information about the subject area
articles giving background information

Large categories are split into thematic sections.

When you select the browse option you will be taken to a list of the categories. From there you can go to a category home page, which will act as a base from which you can explore the rest of the material. If this is your first visit we recommend this route as the most straightforward way of getting to know the site and the collections.

The object records themselves are split into 3 sections:

Summary: a short piece of text telling you about the object
Details: a table of detailed information about the object (who made it, when, where etc)
Resources: a series of links to all other relevant pieces of information (the category and section home pages, glossary, background articles etc).

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Help with searching

Using the search facility you can look for material that relates to your own specific interests. The search has 3 stages:

Select up to 3 areas of object information to search with
Enter the value(s) for each of these areas. Depending on the piece of information, critetria can either be selected from a list provided by the database or entered by yourself.
Run the search

For example, to find all toys that were made in Leicestershire:

Select Object Type and production place from the list
Select 'toy' from the Object Type list and enter 'Leicestershire' into the production place input box
Run the search

You may enter more than one value for a particular area of object information. For example, to extend the above search to include games, go back to the Object Type list and select 'game' as well.

The search facility is not case sensitive
'Wildcard characters' are placed automatically at either end of what you type, so you only need to enter the singular version of the word you are searching for . For example, typing 'bead' into the Description field will automatically find records with the words 'bead', 'beads' and 'beading' any where in the object description.
Where multiple values are entered for the same area of information, they are treated as alternatives. For example:
Object Type = toy, game, aeroplane
is equivalent to find either 'toy' or 'game' or 'aeroplane'
Where more than one area of information is used, a match in both is necessary. For example:
Object Type = toy
Description = blue

is equivalent to 'find only toys that are described as blue'

Finding an Object by the reference number

If you have a favourite object you can return to its record quickly by making a note of the Reference number in the Details part of the record and then entering it in the Refernce Number search next time you visit the site.

Object Records Without Images

Although our aim is to provide both information and images for all object records published on the site, with some collections, where there are many objects, there may be records where no image is currently available. However, we have included the information about these objects because it may still be valuable for research purposes.

The search facility automatically excludes any records without images, so to include them click in the 'Exclude Objects With No Image' box to remove the tick and proceed with your search.

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Where can I see the real thing?

Many of the objects presented on this website are on display in permanent or temporary exhibitions in the County Council's museums and at some other venues. by looking under Availability in the Details section of an object record you can find out whether an object is on display and where it is.

However, one of the main aims of this site is to provide access to objects that are not currently on display. If you have a strong interest in a particular item or collection and would like to find out more about it please get in touch and we will do our best to arrange a visit to one of our stores and to answer any questions you may have.

To do this please use the Contact Form on this website or to find the contact details of the relevant members of staff use the Find Out More pages (accessed via the Resources section of an object record or the Collection Category Home page). If you have specific questions about any of the objects please refer to the Object Type, Production Date and Reference from the Details section of the object record.

We hope that you will also find the bibliography and contact sections of the Finding Out More pages provide a good starting point for further research.

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PDF Files

PDF files are used for viewing, printing and presenting scanned information, images and forms.

To view a PDF file, you will need to have either Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader installed on your computer. If you do not have the necessary software installed, you can download Adobe Reader free of charge from the Adobe website.

Get Adobe Reader

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