Virtual Library

Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer

and Opus Dei

Centre for Documentation and Research

Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer

1

Contents

What is Pandora? 3

Some of the functions of Pandora 4

Simple search 4

Advanced search 7

1. Search boxes 8

2. Parameters 10

3. Dates 10

4. “Sorted” dropdown menu 11

5. “Results per page” dropdown menu 12

6. Buttons 12

Results 13

Details 15

Dossier 16

Authors 19

Identifiers 20

Publications 21

Keywords 22

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1 What is Pandora?

Pandora



is a document repository that contains digital images of document resources.

Pandora allows users to locate these images through advanced search criteria such as

document type, header, date or range of dates, and/or terms that appear within the

full text of indexed documents.

Pandora



is an IT product designed to meet the dissemination needs of libraries,

documentation centres and other entities with a significant amount of digitized

information.

Pandora



meets the search needs of library and archive users. In addition, its simple

and intuitive web interface makes the repository easily accessible to all users of

document resources.

Pandora therefore allows digitized document resources to be collected, stored and

disseminated through a web interface (Internet/Intranet) that can be accessed

simultaneously.

Pandora



was developed entirely by Cran Consulting, S.L. based on the Lucene Full-Text

indexing engine (public domain development under the Apache free software licence),

which allows digital files to be indexed in a document database.

Some features of Pandora



:

- It can be accessed from any standard HTML browser.

- Transportable metadata: it stores metadata from discrete documents in XML

files, one per document, and allows the content to be exported to other

systems.

- It allows the content to be disseminated through certain social networks.

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2 Some of the functions of Pandora

Search

When you access our Virtual Library (Pandora



), you can decide to perform the search

using a Search interface (simple), whereby you enter your chosen terms using any

Internet search engine:

1. The simplest search uses a single word. The search box in Pandora is not case

sensitive and does not take accents into account.

2. When several words are entered into the search box, Pandora retrieves documents

that contain all of those words. Thus, for example, if the following is entered:

holy family

● Pandora will retrieve documents that contain the phrases holy family



, family

holy



and even the family is holy



, but not documents that contain either the

word family



 or the word holy



, or neither.

3. Sometimes word order is important. In such cases, quotation marks should be

placed around the term. If the following is entered in the search box:

“holy family”

● Pandora will retrieve only documents that contain this phrase. Documents that

contain the phrases family holy and holy is the family will not be retrieved

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(since there are intermediate words). Even when quotation marks are used,

Pandora



 is not case sensitive and does not take accents into account.

4. When a word has multiple spellings, a question mark can be used in place of one of

its letters. For example:

believe?

● The search will retrieve documents that contain the words believer and believes

(as well as others, including believed



).

● Several question marks may be used in the same search.

5. If you are unsure about several letters, you can use an asterisk (*). For example:

famil*

● will retrieve documents that contain words that start with famil and end with

any number of letters (including none): family



, familiar



, families



, familiarity



,

etc. The asterisk can also be placed in the middle of the word: fa*e will retrieve

fame,



fate



 and fascinate



.

6. Pandora can also find words that are similar to others (i.e. words that may have

been typed incorrectly). This is done by entering the ~ symbol, which is obtained by

pressing AltGr + 4 + space bar (in Windows).

family~

● The degree of similarity can be indicated with a number between 0 and 1

(higher values signify a higher degree of similarity; when no number is entered,

the default value is 0.5):

family~0.8

7. To find documents that contain one word or another, the conjunction “OR” (in

upper-case letters) or the operator || (a double vertical line) can be used:

gaudí OR family

“antoni gaudí” OR “holy family”

gaudí || family

8. To find documents that contain several words, the conjunction “AND” (in

upper-case letters) or the operator && can be used:

antoni AND gaudí

“antoni gaudí” AND “holy family”

antoni && gaudí

● This operator is unnecessary, since Pandora



 inserts it if it is not entered.

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9. The operator “NOT” (which can also be written as “!” or “-”) is used to search for

documents that do not contain a certain word. It cannot be used on its own:

gaudí AND NOT family

gaudí !family

gaudí -family

10. Parentheses can be used to group terms:

(gaudí OR family) AND barcelona

11. Pandora can be used to find documents that contain words with no more than a

certain number of intermediate words. Thus, the search:

“holy family”~10

● will retrieve documents in which holy and family appear with fewer than 10

intermediate words.

12. Entering a range makes it possible to search for words located between two terms

(when they are in alphabetical order). This is very useful when searching for years.

For example:

[2007 TO 2010]

● retrieves the terms 2007



, 2008



, 2009



 or 2010



.

● It is possible to exclude the upper and lower ends of the range from the search:

Thus:

{2007 TO 2010}

● retrieves the terms 2008 or 2009



. (Since ranges are alphabetical and not

numerical, intermediate numbers such as 20080



 may also appear.)

13. Lastly, if the search box is left blank, Pandora



 will retrieve all documents.

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Advanced search

If you wish to narrow the results retrieved, you can use the “Advanced search” screen

to locate or exclude the chosen terms or required date range, or even to decide in

which sections of Pandora's content (in the case of locations and/or publications) you

want to locate the terms entered and how you want Pandora



 to arrange the results.

The items in the “Advanced search” tab are as follows:

1. Search



boxes

2. Parameters

3. Dates

4. Sorted



 dropdown menu

5. Results



per



page



 dropdown menu

6. Buttons

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1. Search boxes

The search boxes can be used to look for documents by the content of their fields or

the text they contain.

Pandora can be used to search the full text of documents. You can enter your chosen

terms in the search boxes and the fields in which you wish to find them, and combine

them with Boolean operators.

Supposing you wanted to find works containing the words Jaén Council



. You could

enter the following:

This search retrieves documents that contain the words, Jaén and Council



, in any

order. It retrieves documents about Jaén Council



, but also about the visit of the

president of Girona Council to Jaén



. You can narrow the results further by searching for

an exact phrase, i.e. “Jaén



Council”



:

When the document is still not retrieved because the phrase it actually contains is

“Jaén Provincial Council”, you can enter the Boolean operator “OR” in the second

search box, which is combined with the first by default:

Lastly, to ensure that no references to Jódar Council are retrieved, you can enter the

Boolean operator “AND NOT” in the third search box, which is combined with the

other two:

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Up to now, all of the searches have been carried out on the entire content. To narrow

the search to a specific field, you can use the dropdown menus on the right-hand side

of the screen:

Some possible options are:

● The text and the record, i.e. the text of the work (if available) and the content

of all fields.

● The text of the pages, i.e. only the text of the work (if available) will be

searched.

● The whole record, i.e. only the document fields will be searched.

● The description field, the label field, etc. A specific field will be searched.

Boolean operators can be combined in other ways by using the dropdown menus on

the left-hand side:

● If “and” is selected, the search will retrieve documents that include the text in

the previous box, as well as the text in this box.

● If “or” is selected, the search will retrieve documents that include the text in

the previous box, the text in this box, or the text in both.

● If “and not” is selected, the search will retrieve documents that include the text

in the previous box, but not the text in this box.

● In the second dropdown menu of fields, there is a further option: “and

(literal)”. This includes accents, lower-case letters and upper-case letters (which

Pandora normally disregards) in searches. This function requires a more

detailed explanation, which is provided below.

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All terms included in the same box contain the implicit Boolean operator “AND”, which

sometimes makes it unnecessary to change the dropdown menus.

2. Parameters

● The parameters summarize the content of a view of Pandora



.

● Each of the columns (each parameter) shows the possible values of a particular

field or of part of Pandora



's document hierarchy.

● The columns are interconnected. When a tick is placed against one of the items

in any column (there is no need to start from the left), the rest of the columns

present the values that match the item with the tick.

3. Dates

You can choose to search for documents using a range of dates, a specific year or all

dates.

If you select either of the first two options (“from... to...” or “during the year”), the

dropdown menu on the left-hand side is also activated. This dropdown menu allows

you to select the date to be used in the search: the date the document was created or

published, entered in Pandora



 or modified in Pandora



.

By using a range of dates, you can narrow your search to retrieve documents that were

created, entered or modified between the two dates provided. In order to search using

a range of dates, you must select the tick box on the left. This box is automatically

selected when you click in one of the date text boxes:

When you click in one of the text boxes, you can enter a number or select a value from

the dropdown menu that appears:

10

If an incorrect value is entered, the boxes turn red to alert you:

(2015 was not a leap year)

You can search in a specific year by selecting the “during the year” option:

The box turns red if you enter an incorrect year:

4. “Sorted” dropdown menu

It is possible to arrange the results in a number of different ways. The default order is

“by creation date (newer first)”, but you can choose another option:

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5. “Results per page” dropdown menu

The results of a search are divided into pages; only the first results are displayed

instead of a potentially very long list of documents. The navigation arrows (← previous

and next →) can be used to move back and forth through the list of results, page by

page.

The “results per page” dropdown menu is used to select the number of results that

should appear on each page:

6. Buttons

The buttons in the advanced search are:

1. “Search” activates the search and takes you to the results screen.

2. “In my dossier” activates the search, but restricts it to items you have added to

your dossier.

3. “Export HTML” exports the results to an HTML file.

4. “Export RTF” exports the results to an RTF (rich text format) file. RTF is

consistent enough from computer to computer to be considered highly

portable and acceptable for cross-platform use. A format such as PDF may be

preferable to ensure compatibility with more modern computers; however,

unlike RTF files, PDF files are not distributed as editable documents.

RTF files can be read in numerous programs and platforms. Although many

applications have the capacity to import Microsoft Word DOC files, some older

programs cannot import or convert newer versions of Word. This is not the

case with RTF files. All major word processing programs can read RTF files.

Desktop database applications, email clients and operating systems such as

Unix, Macintosh and Windows can also read this format.

RTF files are very easy to use. Whether you use Microsoft Word, AppleWorks,

Corel WordPerfect or another word processing program, RTF files are easy to

use. To save a document as an RTF file, select the Save as option from the File

menu and then select RTF.

RTF files do not spread viruses. Microsoft Word macro viruses pose serious

Internet security threats. Emailing RTF files rather than DOC files ensures that

harmful macros are not accidentally sent to other users, while preserving

12

virtually all of the original formatting. Because RTF does not use macros, it is

impossible to hide macros that may contain viruses.

5. “Reset” returns the form to its original state: it clears the text boxes,

deactivates the range of dates, etc.

6. “Restore” returns the form to the state prior to entering the search tab.

7. “Export” allows you to download a text file (called “consulta.txt” by default)

that contains the information required to rerun this search later.

8. “Import” allows you to select a previously downloaded text file. Pandora uses

this to fill out the form with the search information that was previously saved.

Results

Once you activate the search by clicking on the “Search” button, or simply by hitting

the Return key, Pandora



will present a list of results similar to the one shown below.

Pandora summarizes the search in the header and, for each of the results, presents a

thumbnail of the document and the context of the search terms found, which are also

highlighted:

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Below is an example of how Pandora



 presents the results of a search:

The page contains the following items:

1. The title and summary of the search provide a reminder of how the results

were retrieved. These show the words that were entered in the “Search” or

“Advanced search” tab.

2. A search can retrieve thousands of results. These are presented on pages

containing 15 documents each (the number of results per page can be changed

in the “Advanced search” tab). The summary of results indicates how many

documents have been retrieved and what page is shown.

3. The “sorted” dropdown menu allows you to change the order of the results

without having to return to the “Advanced search” tab.

4. The presentation mode setting allows you to choose to view the results as a list

or as a mosaic.

5. The navigation interface allows you to navigate between the results pages (or

even jump directly to a page by entering the page number).

6. The results themselves.

7. Export the results of the search to an HTML list.

8. Export the results of the search to an RTF list.

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9. “Return to search” returns you to the “Search” or “Advanced search” tab

(wherever you started).

10. “New search” does the same as above, but also clears the search boxes.

11. The “previous” and “next” navigation arrows and the text box showing the

current page number appear again at the bottom of the page.

Alongside the results, Pandora offers a list of possible actions for each result. For

example, you can access a PDF preview of the item. As with the results list, Pandora

highlights the search terms found.

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Details

The “Details” tab presents the fields of a document in Pandora



. It expands on the

summarized information that appears in the “Results” tab.

The details of a folder contain the following items:

1. The title, breadcrumb trail and search summary have the same appearance and

objective as in the “Results” tab: they provide a reminder of how the results

were retrieved.

2. Links to social networks.

3. The results summary, “sorted” dropdown menu and navigation interface have

the same meaning as in the “Results” tab, with which they are synchronized. If

you are viewing a document in the “Details” tab and you click on the “Results”

tab, the list will jump to the page that contains this document.

4. The document type reminds you that you are viewing a folder. It also indicates

the number of documents it contains.

5. The details of this document are shown.

6. The fields of the document (i.e. the record) are shown on the right-hand side of

the tab.

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Dossier

The dossier is Pandora's clipboard. You can add documents to your dossier so that you

can consult them at a later date or share them with other users.

To add documents to the dossier, click on “Add to my dossier”:

You can also add a document to your dossier by clicking on a thumbnail in the mosaic

view.

When a document is in the dossier, the interface changes to allow you to remove it.

The “Dossier” tab shows the documents you have selected so far:

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The “Dossier” tab presents the documents in a similar way to those of the “Results”

tab.

1. You can arrange the documents by using the “sorted” dropdown menu.

2. You can change to mosaic view by clicking on the presentation mode setting.

3. Clicking on “Remove from my dossier” (or the button in mosaic view)

removes the document from the dossier. As long as you do not refresh the

page, it is possible to undo this action by clicking on “Add to my dossier” (or the

 button).

4. The content of the dossier is lost once you exit the browser. If you wish to

recover the content of your dossier at a later date, you can save it on your

computer by clicking on the “Save” button (the default name of the file is

“consulta.txt”).

5. The “Upload...” button allows you to select a file that has previously been

downloaded. The dossier file does not contain actual documents, but

information that allows Pandora



to locate them at a later date. It is possible to

send it to another Pandora



 user.

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Authors

This is a list of creators of literary or academic works, editors of publications,

translators, etc.

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Identifiers

These are the proper names of people, institutions and entities, and significant literary

works that are related to the document.

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Publications

This section includes publications that specifically address some aspect of St. Josemaría

Escrivá, Opus Dei, its prelates and its faithful, and the apostolic works promoted by this

institution.

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Keywords

This is also known as the Thesaurus. It is a structured vocabulary of terms that are

linked in semantic, equivalence, hierarchical and associative terms. Its purpose is to

convert the natural language of documents into a controlled language that represents

their content in a unique way and allows them to be indexed and located.

Our thesaurus is a terminology tool. It catalogues and retrieves documents relating to

research on St. Josemaría Escrivá and Opus Dei from all those included in an

automated information system.

Since the thesaurus uses combinatorial language, it allows you to: (1) use any

descriptor as the indexing term independently, and (2) combine them with each other

using Boolean and syntactic operators when searching the database.

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