The UCD Digital Library provides a rich environment for resource discovery, exploration and use. To best take advantage of it, please refer to the help topics below.
As we are constantly evolving and improving the features on this site, we will endeavour to reflect these changes in the Help pages where appropriate; however, there may be delays.
The Help pages have been written for the Chrome browser. There may be variations in terms of functionality when using other browsers.
UCD Digital Library publishes a variety of different types of content, such as:
The content in the UCD Digital Library is arranged into collections. This is our top level of organisation of the content. Every collection is given a full description as a whole, including history, provenance, arrangement, dates, and the source repository information, and we have many different types:
You can see the full list of collections by going to the blue navigation menu at the top of each page, and clicking on the tab for Collections.
All collections are made up of digital content called 'objects'. Objects can refer to intellectual content such as books, maps, photographs, letters, etc, or in the case of archival collections, an object can represent an archival file (which is a collection of similar intellectual content that is described as a single unit within the archive).
We describe the objects with as much detail as possible, including titles, authorised names, authorised subject headings, dates, locations (often with geographic coordinates), the reference number from the source repository, and any other descriptive information that we have.
When you go to a collection page, you will see the full list of objects available for that collection. When you click on an object, you will be presented with the description record and options to view or save the content.
The objects themselves are made up of a number of digital scans (or audio/video/dataset files), which we call 'parts'. They also have descriptive metadata, which can be viewed in the Image Viewer, when available. The main descriptive information here is the title for the part, which either gives the page number of a book, or the recto/verso of a photograph.
This is a screenshot of the Home page, which contains many navigational options for exploring the UCD Digital Library and its collections. You can return to this page from all of the other pages by clicking on UCD Digital Library in the upper left hand corner.
All of the pages are responsive and will adjust to display correctly on desktops, tablets and smartphones. The following image is a screenshot of the Home page on a smartphone. The navigation options are available on smartphones from the button with the three horizontal lines.
The navigation menu is also available from every page. Each option, which has a inverted triangle beside it, contains more options. Click on the menu option and the sub-options will appear. Click on a sub-option to go to the page.
Sometimes you will see Topic Quick Links on the lefthand side of the screen (for example, the Help page). The options in these change, depending on the context. They are usually used in conjunction with collapsing panels (see the next section).
Sometimes there is a lot of information on a page, so we have broken the text up and placed it in panels. These panels open and close, simply by clicking on the blue panel header. The panels move up and down as you navigate through them.
There are a few ways to browse through our collections.
Leave the search box blank and click the green search button. This will show all of the collections and objects in the UCD Digital Library.
Using the top navigation menu on each page, click on Collections and you can browse using one of the following options:
Using the top navigation menu on each page, click on Map and you can browse using one of the following options:
Just under the Search Box on the homepage, there are a number of 'quick browse' options to explore:
This area displays spotlight images from our newest collections. Click on the collection name to be brought to the collection.
UCD Digital Library has a wide variety of digital content and every object is accompanied by a description. This description (called metadata) includes a title, associated names and roles (using the authorised version of the name), authorised subject headings, dates, locations (often with geographic coordinates), language, physical description of the original item, abstracts, the reference number from the source repository, and any other descriptive metadata that we have. When you do a search in UCD Digital Library, this is the information you are searching.
Full text searching for printed material
UCD Digital Library has extended our technologies to include the ability to search within printed material. The scans of the printed material pages are transformed from images into searchable text. This process is time-consuming, and we are slowly converting our print collections into searchable text.
To see a list of collections with full text searching available, go to the Collections list.
To include this searchable text in your search, tick the search full text box beside the search box.
Full text searching for handwritten material
This is an area we are currently developing. To make this possible, all handwritten material would need to be transcribed by humans. We are investigating new technologies to enable us to facilitate large transcription projects, either using crowdsourcing or with dedicated researchers, and we already have the technology in place to make the transcription fully searchable. We will add information about new developments to the News page.
There are several ways to search for content in the UCD Digital Library, and these are described below. The search box is visible on all pages, with a larger search box present on the Home page.
To search, type one or more words into the search box at the top of the main page and click on the green 'search' button, or press enter on your keyboard.
When you submit a search, you will then see a page (or pages) that provide a list of results matching your search criteria.
By default, UCD Digital Library returns 10 results per page, and a short summary of the text around the terms for which you searched. If there is more than one page of results, you will see the number of pages at the bottom of the page. To move on to the next page of results, click on the next button at the top of the page, or click on the number of the page you wish to view at the bottom of the page.
You can change the number of items per page that is displayed (10, 20 or 50), and you can select the sort options available (choose between 'relevance' or 'title'), by using the dropdown menu buttons.
You can use Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT (all upper case letters) to refine your search results.
Using the AND function when searching will allow you to get results which contain both words you are searching for. To use the AND function just type the two words in the search box. The description of all of your search results will contain both words.
For example, Galway Dublin
Using the OR function when searching will allow you to find items that contain either one or other of the words for which you have searched. This search will retrieve all records which contain the words Galway or Dublin.
For example, Galway OR Dublin
You can use the NOT function to exclude words from your search. This will retrieve all the items which contain the word Galway in the description except those which also contain the word Dublin.
For example, Galway NOT Dublin
You can also combine AND, OR and NOT searches. For example, if you would like to search for results that contain the subject of education in either Galway or Dublin,you should type in the search box:
(Galway OR Dublin) education
You could also use this combined AND and OR search in the following way. To search for the terms Education or School in either Galway or Dublin you should type:
(Galway OR Dublin) (Education OR School)
Placing quotes around a phrase will search for the exact phrase.
For example, "Blackhall place"
You can search for words within 3 words from each other.
For example: dc.title:"Michael Collins"~3.
This searches for Michael and Collins within 3 words of each other in a Title field. You can raise or lower the distance between words.
You can search for a date range by using the following syntax:
dc.date:[1580 TO 1625]
Within any field, you can use wildcard matching.
dc.title:re?na napul*
If you have a specific term that you wish to eliminate from the search, you can do so by choosing the field (e.g. dc.language), choose the term, and prefix the search query with a minus symbol.
-dc.language:Latin
Equally, you can limit your search to only include a specific term.
+dc.language:Latin
dc.date:[1580 TO 1599] AND dc.coverage:Madrid
Once you have conducted a search, you can refine your results by using the Refine Search menu to the left of the screen on the results page. These menu options are called facets and refer to different types of classification elements within the collections.
Click on each Refine Search option to reveal the option subsets which can be used for refining your search results. The options are:
Click on the options to refine your search. The options will be added to the area containing the search terms. These can be deleted using the small x button on each term. You can add multiple options to each results set.
By clicking on an option subset, your results will be reduced. The following example was achieved by clicking on the still image option under the Resource type option.
UCD Digital Library has created a map explorer visualisation tool to help navigate through the various series within the large OSi Historical Maps collection.
The link to the "visual map locator" can be found on the Collection page for the OSi 19th Century Historical Maps
It can also be reached through the following link: http://digital.ucd.ie/maps/explorer/
Rectangles, or polygons, representing map sheets are displayed on this map. To view the available sheets, there are two methods available.
Zoom to your area of interest using the zoom feature on the top left hand side of the screen.
Click on the + button to zoom in. Click on the - button to zoom out. Use your cursor to manually pan around the map.
You can also enter the name of the area in the Search box. The Search box is located on the top right corner of the screen. Enter the area name, followed by the term 'Ireland'. The polygons are only available for maps of the Republic of Ireland; however, the Search mechanism searches the world. Entering the term 'Ireland' limits the map search.
Once you have zoomed into the area, you will see the polygons/sheets overlaid on the base map.
There are five series of maps, organised as visible "layers", representing date ranges:
Each layer, or series, represents a range of publication years. One area on the map might have multiple maps available, each published at a different time. Each series can be hidden or made visible as needed.
Click on the show/hide toggle button next to a date range. When clicked on, the toggle buttons change from grey to blue, and vice versa. Blue means the layer is visible. Grey means the layer is hidden.
To see a single layer, e.g. 1859 to 1870, only that layer should have a blue toggle button.
Within each layer, the publication year is represented by a different colour.
Click on a coloured rectangle/polygon. This opens an information window with two linked options. Click on the one of your choice.
Please go to the Help section on how to View images, maps, and text
You can view images, maps, and text in a variety of ways, depending on the type of collection they belong to.
Images and maps can be viewed through the Image Viewer (Mirador).
Text and archival collections can be viewed using the Page Viewer (Mirador) or as a PDF. Some text collections have full text searching available within them, and these collections can be viewed through an alternative viewer (UniversalViewer) with extended search capabilities.
This section takes you through the process of viewing the digital files.
The Viewers are available on the descriptive record page for the digital content (objects). Either go to an object directly from the Search results page, or go in via a collection.
To view the contents of any of the collections, click on the collection title. This will open a description of the collection.
For every collection, there are Description, Contents (either Archive or Collection) and Rights panels. For some image collections, there is also a Gallery option.
The default panel is the Description panel, which is open when you click to view the collection. To minimise (i.e. close) it, simply click on the blue title bar.
To see the list of digital objects (scans or audio), click on the Contents panel. Each item is usually numbered, with a truncated description, and a link to view.
To see the digital image with its full description, click on the [View...] link.
Once in the digital object record, you will find descriptive information about the object.
You will also be able to open a larger version of the digital item by either clicking on one of the thumbnail images, or clicking the 'fullscreen' link, when available. These actions will open a Viewer (Image Viewer for images and maps; Page Viewer for text and archival collections).
Text and archival collections have the Page Viewer at object level, in the descriptive record. To find it, go to the thumbnail image.
There is also a small green Download PDF button under the thumbnail image. This will open a PDF of the digital object, containing all of the digital scans. You can read or save the PDF from here. Right click your mouse to save the PDF. You can also zoom in and out, as required.
Image and map collections have many options available to view the scanned objects. Please select one of the following:
By launching the Image Viewer using the larger thumbnail, you will load all of the available images into the Viewer, which you can then scroll through.
Clicking on the individual small thumbnail views will go directly to that image in the Image Viewer. You can then continue scrolling through all of the available images.
Note: When the Image Viewer (which is the same technology as the Page Viewer) loads, you can sometimes experience a delay loading the image (the Viewer shows a screen which says "Add Item"). UCD Digital Library uses high quality digital images, and some (particularly the maps, which are very large files) can take a few seconds to load, depending on the network speed and whether the image has already been cached.
If you are interested in finding out about the Image Viewer used by UCD Digital library, visit the Mirador Image Viewer project home page
You can also view our Introduction to Mirador tutorial below:
Introduction to Mirador from UCD Library on Vimeo.
The main Image Viewer (Mirador) offers a number of different functions to allow you to view and explore the digital objects closely.
This functionality includes:
Go to the Buttons and Icons panel on this page to view a larger version of the individual icons.
Level 1: Top of the screen (black background)
Level 2: Top of the screen (white background)
Level 3: Middle panel, near the top (black background)
Level 4: Middle panel, in the middle (black background)
Level 5: Middle panel, towards the bottom of the screen (black background)
Level 6: Bottom panel (opaque)
The alternative Page Viewer (UniversalViewer) is only available for collections that can be searched as full text resources, and the 'search full text' check box has been ticked during search.
This Viewer offers the following functionality:
It is possible to save (through download) certain digital objects from the UCD Digital Library. Audio and video files are currently unavailable for download at this time.
When a selection is made, the image will be sent as a download and you will be prompted for some type of response; each browser handles downloads differently, but in general the file will be saved to your computing device and you will be prompted to view it, save it, or take some other action.
Note: Materials downloaded may be used in accordance with the Access Conditions or licence associated with an individual item. (Information specific to individual items appears at the bottom of the page describing the item; general information on usage and usage permissions is found on the Terms and Conditions page.)
Watch the video tutorial on how to save images or skip below to find detailed instructions.
Mirador: Saving and Sharing Images from UCD Library on Vimeo.
There are three options available when saving images and maps.
Maps:
The largest image size that can be downloaded automatically is 2000 pixels wide, and for most of the collections in the UCD Digital Library,
which consist of images or text, this is wonderful quality. However, the maps in our collections are extremely large, and a full map, constrained to only 2000 pixels wide, will not be of sufficient quality to see the small details. To save high quality map images,
use the Crop/Resize tool, as described in Option 1 below.
However, you can save lower resolution full maps or high resolution map portions from within the Image Viewer, as described in Option 2, or you can download images of pre-defined widths, in Option 3.
The Crop/Resize tool makes it easy to save high resolution custom images to your computer. This tool can be found in two locations:
Step 1: Select Image Area:
Step 2: Select Image Size:
Select the width of the image or map in pixels. The higher the number of pixels, the better the quality. You can select one of the pre-defined widths;
however, we suggest that when you are downloading a full map sheet, select an output image width of 8000 or higher in the Other box. There is no need to add 'px' to the end of the integer.
Step 3: Select Image Options:
Step 4: Save or Link the image:
There are three options available:
Note: Only the image or map open in the Image Viewer will be saved. You will need to save each available image seperately.
Word of caution for Option 2
If you zoom into a detail on the image or map, and then save the image, you will only be saving that small portion of the image or map, not the entire image or map, although it will be of really high quality. This is perfect for saving fine details on photographs and maps.
However, if you keep the image or map at its original size in Image Viewer and then save, you will be saving the full image or map, but only to the size of your monitor. When you zoom in on the saved image or map on your computer, it will be blurry (pixelated). This is especially problematic with maps, where a full map is required but it also needs to be high quality.
NB: Use Option 1 above to save a full map to a high quality. Option 2 should only be used for fine details.
Step 1: Open the Image Viewer (See the previous panel View images, maps, and text)
Step 2: Right click on the image or map, and you will see two options: Save image as... or Copy image.
Step 3: Select an option.
Save image as...
This option allows you to download/save the image or map to your computer. You will get a pop-up box on your screen. This image or map size will be based on the screen size of your monitor. If the image or map is 1268 pixels wide on your monitor, it will be 1268 pixels wide as a saved file.
Step 4. Create a file name for the image or map.
Step 5: Select a file format. The default file format is a PNG (Portable Network Graphics) file but you can change this to JPEG before saving. To do this, left click at the end of the filename, delete the letters 'png' and type 'jpg' in their place. Then change the file type to 'All files'.
Step 6: Select a location on your computer to save the file.
Step 7: Click save.
Copy image
This option will take a copy of the image or map and save it to Clipboard, which can be pasted into any of the Office products (like Word or PowerPoint) or saved as a JPEG in an image editing software like MS Paint or Adobe Photoshop. It will be of similar quality as the other option.
Step 4: Open your preferred software.
Step 5: Either paste the image from Clipboard, or create a new image, and then paste the copied image from Clipboard.
Close out of Image Viewer by clicking the green 'Back' button on the top left corner of the screen.
Step 1: In the object description record, locate the 'Views of this item' panel.
Step 2: Beside the word 'fullscreen' are two icons - click on the first one, which is the Download icon. This icon opens a pop-up box with various download options.
Step 3: Click on one of these JPEG Download Options. The pixel value refers to the width of the image. The image will save to whichever folder on your computer has chosen for internet downloads. The file downloaded will be of the full image.
The largest size option here is 2000 pixels wide, and this is sufficient for images, although probably not high enough quality for maps.
Text documents in their entirety can also be downloaded for local use. In general, text documents are available for download as PDF files, for which the Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed on your local computing device. In some cases, documents are available in other formats, such as Microsoft Office formats, which also require specialised applications software to view. Text documents encoded with TEI (the markup language of the Text Encoding Initiative) can be downloaded either as PDF or XML-encoded text.
Step 1: In the Object record, under the thumbnail, click the green 'Download PDF' button.
Step 2: What happens to the PDF depends on your browser and your preferences.
Note: Only the image open in the Page Viewer will be saved. You will need to save each available page image seperately.
Step 1: Right click on the image, and you will see two options: Save image as... or Copy image.
Step 2: Select an option.
Save image as...
This option allows you to download/save the image to your computer. You will get a pop-up box on your screen. This image size will be based on the screen size of your monitor. If the image is 1268 pixels wide on your monitor, it will be 1268 pixels wide as a saved file.
Step 3. Create a file name for the image.
Step 4: Select a file format. The default image will save as a PNG (Portable Network Graphics) file but you can change this to JPEG before saving. To do this, left click at the end of the filename, delete the letters 'png' and type 'jpg' in their place. Then change the file type to 'All files'.
Step 5: Select a location on your computer to save the file.
Step 6: Click save.
Copy image
This option will take a copy of the image and save it to Clipboard, which can be pasted into any of the Office products (like Word or PowerPoint) or saved as a JPEG in an image editing software like MS Paint or Adobe Photoshop. It will be of similar quality as the other option.
Step 3: Open your preferred software.
Step 4: Either paste the image from Clipboard, or create a new image, and then paste the copied image from Clipboard.
Word of caution
If you zoom into a detail on the image, and then right click to save the image, you will only be saving that small portion of the image, not the entire image, although it will be of really high quality. This is perfect for saving individual paragraphs or images within the text.
However, if you keep the image at its original size in Page Viewer and right click to save, you will be saving the full image, but only to the size of your monitor. When you zoom in to the saved image on your computer, it will be blurry (pixelated).
Close out of Page Viewer by clicking the green 'Back' button on the top left corner of the screen.
To share a page on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Pinterest, select the appropriate icon within the share menu. This is located on the right-hand side of the screen, under the search box.
To share content from within the Image Viewer, click on the Bookmark icon, and copy the URL. This can then be added to documents, webpages and blogs.
The export citation function applies to the collection description page and the page which describes an individual item.
To export a citation, first click on the drop down menu which is at the top left of the page above the description of the collection or the item. Then click on the software which you are using (Zotero, EndNote, BibTeX, Mendeley or RefWorks) and export the citation.
Information about BibTeX:
Author names and editor names are formatted according to AACR2 rules, and may not be formatted in accordance with BibTeX recommendations.
Information about RIS:
UCD Digital Library utilises a lot of buttons and icons for the variety of functionality available. Due to spacial constraints, some buttons do not have permenant label underneath them. You can see the label if you hover the cursor over the button.
Below is a legend of most the buttons used in the UCD Digital Library. More will be added over time.
| Button/Icon | What is it? | Mainly found... |
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Home | In all pages in the Header |
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Settings | In all pages in the Header |
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Search | In all pages in the Header |
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Contact Us | In all pages in the Footer |
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In all pages in the Footer | |
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IIIF: link to the IIIF Image Viewer | At object level, in the Description record |
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In Collection: informs you what collection this object is part of | At object level |
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Crop and Re-size: allows you to create custom images for download | At object level, and in the Image Viewer |
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Download: allows you to download pre-defined image sizes, suitable for blogs and presentations | At object level |
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External link: alerts you to the fact that this link will bring you out of the UCD Digital Library | Found in the webpages |
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Search terms: these are controlled vocabulary terms that can be used to link to other records containing the same terms | In the descriptive records at collection and object levels |
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Twitter: social media platform | In the Share menu in the Collection and Objects records |
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Google Plus: social media platform | In the Share menu in the Collection and Objects records |
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Google +1: social media platform | In the Share menu in the Collection and Objects records |
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Like on Facebook: social media platform | In the Share menu in the Collection and Objects records |
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Facebook: social media platform | In the Share menu in the Collection and Objects records |
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LinkedIn: social media platform | In the Share menu in the Collection and Objects records |
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Pinterest: social media platform | In the Share menu in the Collection and Objects records |
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Back to Object Record | Image Viewer |
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Help | Image Viewer |
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Bookmark | Image Viewer |
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Change Layout | Image Viewer |
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Change the view | Image Viewer |
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Add new objects to compare using a grid view | Image Viewer |
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View more information/metadata | Image Viewer |
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Annotations | Image Viewer |
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Annotations Controls | Image Viewer |
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Expand | Image Viewer |
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Forward and Back buttons | Image Viewer |
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Show/hide Thumbnails | Image Viewer |
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Zoom buttons | Image Viewer |
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Pan controls | Image Viewer |
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Image Manipulation Tool | Image Viewer |
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Rotate 90 degrees right | Image Viewer |
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Rotate 90 degrees left | Image Viewer |
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Adjust Brightness | Image Viewer |
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Adjust Contrast | Image Viewer |
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Adjust Saturation | Image Viewer |
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Toggle Greyscale | Image Viewer |
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Invert Colours | Image Viewer |
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Reset Image | Image Viewer |
UCD Digital Library has created a number of video tutorials aound the use of the Mirador Image Viewer. The videos can be found under the relevant sections above, as part of the Help icon within the Image Viewer itself, on the UCD Digital Library Vimeo channel, or listed here.
Introduction to Mirador from UCD Library on Vimeo.
Mirador: Saving and Sharing Images from UCD Library on Vimeo.
Mirador and Maps from UCD Library on Vimeo.
