Creating and Tailoring Search Profiles

Navigation: Content > Search Profiles >

If you are a registered user and have logged in you can create and edit your own search profiles in order to group together targets and databases that reflect your searching requirements.

To Create a New Profile

1.From the Standard Search or Advanced Search page click the profiles button at the top of the page.

2.A new page is displayed showing any profiles you may already have together with a list of shared profiles that you have access to.

3.Click the create button.

4.A new page is displayed. Enter a name for the new profile in the Name field and optionally a brief description in the Description field.

5.Below this you can see a list of available Collections. Use this list to select the Collections you want for your profile. To view details about any Collection click on its name. Use the Legend also to decide whether a Collection should be included. Choose a Collection by selecting the appropriate tick box.

6.On completion press the Create button.

Collection Hierarchy

Collections may be presented to you in regional or subject Hierarchies with Parent and Child collections depending on the configuration. In a hierarchy Collections describing other collections (searchable or otherwise) are grouped together in a hierarchical structure. In this relationship each collection has only one parent record.

It is not necessary to select a Child collection if its Parent is already selected. If a child and its parent are both selected the same site will be searched twice.

Meta-data, such as Subject information, contained in each Collection entry is important in helping users to identify suitable resources to include in any personal profiles that they create.

Accessibility and the Legend

Accompanying the Collections list is a legend that explains the current accessibility status of each of the available collections. Accessibility information is provided by the VDX Status Robot in the Windows Admin Client. This checks the accessibility and availability of database resources by running automatic, configurable searches and reporting back on the success rate of the searches. This is configured and run by OCLC NRE/VDX Suppot.

Access to a Collection (i.e. whether it is available to users or not) is controlled by OCLC NRE/VDX Support.

Collections marked as 'accessible' are searchable through VDX (subject to accessibility of the remote database determined by the Status Robot).

A Collection marked as 'non-searchable web site' might be a web site that is unsuitable for searching through a portal or one that has tight controls on access due to license restrictions. By creating this Collection the System Administrator is identifying it as a useful and available resource, and by adding the URL to its meta-data, making it available to VDX users. They appear under 'Other Collections' in VDX search profiles.

You can create new personal profiles as above using the Web Admin Client but you cannot create new shared profiles. Shared profiles are created by the OCLC NRE/VDX Support . However new personal profiles that you create in the Web Client are visible to the System Administrator and they may decide to configure an existing personal profile so that it can be shared by other users.

Editing Your Profile

1.From the Standard Search or Advanced Search page click on Profiles button at the top of the page.

2.In the Search profile select the profile to be edited.

3.Click edit to access the list of available Collections.

4.To add or remove a collection from your profile use the legend to make your choice and check or un-check the relevant boxes.