BARDWeb Help

The library is owned by the Random House Group and contains the archives belonging to Random House, Transworld, Andersen Press, Egmont UK Limited and Octopus Publishing Group Limited.

It is located at 1 Cole Street, Crown Park, Rushden, Northants NN10 6RZ and offers a wide range of research and library services. Click here to view a short presentation on the facilities and services available.

If you cannot find the information you are looking for, please contact Jean Rose, the Library Manager, on 020 7840 8801 or email jrose@randomhouse.co.uk

Help Contents

Do I Need to Log In?

Public Access is available to all users. Bibliographic records are only available for titles that have been published. No password is required to enter as a public user.

Restricted Access is available to employees of Random House, Transworld, Andersen Press, Egmont Books Ltd., Octopus Publishing Group, and Methuen Publishing Ltd. Bibliographic records are company specific and are available for published and not-yet-published titles. A password is required to view company specific information. Please contact Jean Rose, the Library Manager, on 020 7840 8801 or jrose@randomhouse.co.uk for information on how to obtain a password.

Searching

Type query criteria
If you fill in more than one box, results must meet all criteria
Example: Find documents that contain the word "marketing" AND have a publication date of 1998 November.
Click Submit Query
Documents that meet your criteria are displayed as a report

Finding words and phrases

Type the word you want to find (grisham). To find variations of word stems, type an asterisk at the end of one or more words (gri*). Use the symbols & / ! between words or phrases to represent Boolean AND, OR, NOT. Include a space before and after the symbol.

Finding a Date

To find a date, use any reasonable format, including but not limited to the examples shown below:

31-Dec-98

Dec 31, 1998

1998 Dec

Dec 98

December 1998

12-98

Do not use a forward slash to separate date elements unless you surround the date with quotation marks ("12/31/98").

You can use the symbols & / ! between dates to do AND-OR-NOT searches. For example, May 1998 / June 1998 finds all dates in May or June 1998.

Finding a term (exact, complete match)

A term is a complete item, with no additional text before or after. To search for a term, precede it with an equal sign (=). For example, =john grisham finds only that complete term (does not find just "john" or just "grisham" or that phrase embedded in other text).

Case and Punctuation

Case in query criteria is usually ignored (a search for john grisham finds John Grisham). Punctuation is also ignored, except for the and-or-not symbols (& / !). If you want these characters to be interpreted literally, use quotation marks ("Smith & Wesson") or replace the punctuation with a space (Smith Wesson).

Reset Button

Submit Query Button

Displaying Records After a Search

A successful search finds one or more records, which are displayed in your web browser as a report. The following basic bibliographic information is displayed:

Click on [COPY BLOCK DETAILS] to view all the copies of this title held in the library.

Borrowing Items from the Library for users with passwords

You can borrow items from the library when viewing full bibliographic and copy information.
a) Click 'Borrow This Item' to add the current item to the basket
b) To add additional items to the basket go 'back' to the full results and choose a different title or do a new search and add items using the "Borrow This Item" button
c) You can click "View Item(s)" at any time to see the number of items currently in your basket. Select "Remove" next to an item to remove that item from the basket. You can safely close this window without losing the contents of the basket
d) When you have finished selecting items click the 'Submit Item(s) Request' button to send a request for the items to the library
e) You must fill in relevant details about yourself then click the "Send Now" button

Note: Items in your basket will be unavailable if you log out or your session remains inactive for approximately 15 minutes or longer.

Items may be borrowed from the library for a period of 1 Month. Please make every effort to return items as soon as possible within this period so they can be made available to others. If you wish to extend the loan period please contact Jean Rose, the Library Manager on 020 7840 8801 or jrose@randomhouse.co.uk.

Troubleshooting: Searches

Having trouble with a search? Some of the most common problems are listed below.

I got the message "Unable to recognize as a correctly formed query."

- Typographical errors
- Mismatched quotes or parentheses
- Extra Boolean search symbols (e.g., you should have typed car / auto instead of car / auto / )
- Missing quotation marks around symbols that can be misinterpreted.

If you cannot determine what caused the error, try a simpler search (e.g., just a word in a box) to see if it works.

I found too many records.

If you used an asterisk, omit it and try an exact search instead (search for computer technology instead of comp*).

Try using a Boolean symbol (& / !) between words to construct more precise queries. For example, to find articles about mythology, not cartoons, search for hercules ! cartoon.

If the item you're searching for includes punctuation, substitute spaces for punctuation (search for customers com, not customers.com) or surround the item with quotation marks ("customers .com").

If you're searching for a date, don't use a forward slash between date components (for example, search for 12-12-98) or else surround the date with quotation marks ("12/12/98").

I didn't find any records.

Examine the contents of the search form to verify that you don't have query criteria left over from a previous search.

If you are not sure of the spelling, use an asterisk after the first few characters (colo*) or separate several possible spellings with a forward slash (search for color / colour).

If your search includes Boolean symbols (/ & !) put spaces around the symbols.

Do not use words (and, or, not) for Boolean operators. You must use symbols (& / !).

Try using / instead of & between words. Using / means either word can be present (john / paul finds John or Paul). Using & means both words must be present (john & paul will not find just "John" or just "Paul").

When I try to display records or change forms, I get the message, "Your current query has expired. Perform the search again."

The query set file that stored your search results has expired, so you'll have to do your search again. If this message occurs frequently, contact the Library Manager.

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The Random House Archive and Library