If you type in numerous search items into a field and separate them with a blank, the terms will be searched with an AND operation.

You can generate AND, OR, NOT AND operations of several input fields by selecting the selection fields left of the search input field (drill down menus) in advanced search.

The operators OR, AND (Standard) as well as NOT can also be used in the standard search box.

The use of the operators has diverse effects on the number of hits:

You use truncation to expand the search to all terms that

• start with a specific (part of a) word: right-truncation.
  example: state*
• end with a specific (part of a) word: left-truncation.
  example: *roplane
• that begin and end with specific (parts of a) word: middle-truncation.
  example: col*r

Truncation is mainly used to take multiple spellings and word variations of search items into account, e.g. singular and plural forms, British and American English.

Touchpoint uses the following Wildcards for truncation:

You may display an individual hit by selecting it from the hit list. In the detailed view below you will find the complete bibliographical information of a title.

With the functions “print“, “send“ and “save this record“ you can process hits in different formats. In order to save hits on your PC, you have to enable the opening up of pop-up windows on your computer permanently or non-recurring. Click on “save this record“, which will open a new window that offers this function.

With the function “permanent link to this title“ you can bookmark a hit. With “bookmark and share“ you can link a hit list in the listed social networks.

Here you search in all data fields available, i.e. not only the fields keyword, author/ed., subject (heading), year, ISBN/ISMN/ISSN are searched, but also the texts in lists of contents and catalogues. The entered items are linked with AND.

• You can choose which fields should be searched.
• The search box “Everything“ includes all data fields in the search.
• Keyword, author/ed., subject, year and ISBN/ISMN/ISSN can be searched specifically.
• If you enter numerous search items into a field and separate them with a blank, these terms will be searched with an AND operation.
• You can generate AND, OR, NOT AND operations of several input fields by selecting the selection fields left of the search input field (drill down menus).

In the field “previous searches“ you can send past inquiries anew and combine them with new terms.

With descriptor research you can find documents based on their description (or “tagging“) with items from the thesaurus, a keyword index with numerous levels.

The thesaurus of the Gnomon Bibliographical Database currently contains over 25,000 descriptors; in its function (albeit not its content), it is comparable to the systematics of iDAI.bibliography/ZENON respectively »Dyabola«. The thesaurus‘ emphasis lies on Ancient History and Classical Philology. Based on library-oriented rules for the acquisition of ancient authors, the author names have been Latinized; for Greek authors, the number in the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae has been added for better orientation.

For research in the thesaurus you can choose several options:

1. First of all, a direct search in the thesaurus tree is possible. Here, you tag the respective descriptor. Upon access into the search, only the highest levels of the thesaurus are shown. By clicking “+“, you enter the level below. There are also multi-level hierarchical subdivisions. You can tag all relevant descriptors on each level. You can also choose several of them at the same time. This causes an OR operation. Other operations can be realized manually via advanced search.
2. Moreover, the thesaurus tree can be searched by clicking on “filter on input“ and by typing an item into the search box. Then, the respective descriptors in the thesaurus tree are tagged in colour as you type. You may also click on the field “filter tree“ after you’ve entered a search item; you will subsequently obtain the tagging of the respective descriptors.  

By choosing “show matching titles“ you will obtain the hit list of search items in both cases.

There is also the possibility of combining the thesaurus search with the search boxes “basic search“ and “advanced search“. An already conducted search with a descriptor will automatically be applied the box “subject (heading)“. Like this, a selection according to year of publication becomes possible.

The hit list provides you with an overview over the literature found for your search item. The results are shown in a joint hit list, sorted according to relevance. It shows you all relevant bibliographical data for any title.  

• Display of author or editor, title, year.
• The symbols on the left show you which type of media a hit contains: book; article; journal; internet ressource; sound storage/AV-medium; other
• Above the hit list, the ascending or descending sorting according to author, title, and year of publication is displayed.
• If search items are found with a full-text search in lists of contents and blurbs, ‘teasers‘ will be shown containing the search terms.
• The available hits in the list can be printed in different formats for further processing, saved, or sent as an e-mail. For saving, you will need to enable the opening of pop-up windows in your browser permanently or non-recurring. Click on “save this record“, which will open a new window offering this function.

With the button “read online“ you’ll be linked to the full text in the hit list and the display of individual hits.  

With the button “get“ you will receive different offers:

1. Your institution has an inventory of a journal in printed format.
   Here you’ll be directed to Journals Online & Print (JOP).
2. Are you looking for libraries (WorldCat) owning this?
   If you share your current location in your webbrowser you can search location-dependent. On the individual hit page, you receive an overview of world-wide libraries that own this item – with a link to the respective catalogue in WorldCat. Please not that not every library is a WorldCat member. The overview of world-wide libraries may therefore contain gaps.
3. Karlsruhe Virtual Catalogue
   You can start a search in the Karlsruhe Virtual Catalogue.
4. Availability in Germany – inter-library loan
   With this service, you will ascertain whether a hit is part of the collection of a library of your choice in Germany. You will be directed to the so-called “OpenURLGateway“ of the Hochschulbibliothekszentrum North Rhine-Westphalia (hbz). The allocation to your home library is effected by the means of the ip-address. If this is not possible, you may enter the name of a library or a city where the library can be found.
   You will be connected to the SFX-service of this library that will check, with the help of ISBN, ISSN or other data of your title, whether it is part of the collection. If the title is not available, you may place the request for an inter-library loan.
   Please note: The service is based on the automatized forwarding of research data. In part, this is less exact than a manual search in a library catalogue. If you do not obtain results via this means in your library or a library network, it may still make sense to check the collection directly.
5. Order via Subito
   Subito is a service that allows for a delivery of copies of essays in printed journals and which is liable to charges.

With the service Journals Online & Print (JOP) you may determine where printed issues of a journal are available and where you may be able to access a searched for journal article online. With the button “read online“ within a hit list or an individual hit, you will be directed to an article‘s JOP-service, if it is open access to you. If this is not the case, choose the button “get“ after which you’ll receive further offers (see “Availability“).


In the page’s header you will see which insitution you’ve been allocated to.

If an automatic allocation is not possible, you’ll have the option to check the availability in another library. In that case, please choose a library from the displayed list. Note that access to subscription-based journals is only possible for signed in users of a library.

In the second segment you can check the data that has been searched.

In the third one, information on availability for your library or the library selected by you is displayed.  Online-availability shows you whether you have access to the electronic journal or an article. As the case may be, you can access a full text via a link. Print-availability shows whether a printed edition is present in the respective library.

The following symbols are used in JOP: The arrow ( ) symbolizes the online edition, the sheets ( ) symbolize the print edition. The colour green (= open access), gelb (= licensed) and red (= not licensed) show degrees of availability.

• Are generated by selecting the respective hits and the button “save this record“
• Is displayed after selecting the tab "bookmark"
• Bookmarked hits can be saved, sent or printed in short and full format
• Bookmarked hits can be deleted singually or entirely
• The bookmarked hits can be printed in different formats for further processing, be saved on your computer, or be sent as an email. In order to save a title, pop-ups have to be enabled in your browser settings permanently or non-recurring. Select “save“, which will open a new window with the “save“-option.

If you want to learn of new entries in the GBD for a certain search item immediately – free of charge and without registration – you should subscribe to our atom feed. Drop a respective search request in the tab “Search“ in order to do this.

Subscription in Firefox

• Above the hit list on the right you’ll find the option “subscribe to atom feed“. By clicking the button you’re redirected automatically to the respective feed page.
• Choose "subscribe now".
• In the dialogue box “subscribe to dynamic bookmark“ you can rename the feed – it will be listed under the chosen name under “bookmarks“. You have the choice whether you want to save it in the “flip-menu“ or comfortably in the “bookmark icon bar“. 
• Confirm by clicking on “subscribe“.
• From now on, all new entries related to your search appear with every click on the feed icon.
• If you don’t need the feed anymore, right-click on it. In the opening context menu, you can choose “delete“.

Subscription in Internet Explorer

Above the hit list on the right you’ll find the option “subscribe to atom feed“.  Click on it.

• Choose “subscribe to feed“ in the opening window.
• Then, enter a name for the feed, and choose the file in which you want to create the feed.
• Tick “Add to favorites bar“ and click on “subscribe“.
• From now on, all new entries related to your search appear with every click on the feed icon in the favorites bar.
• If you don’t want the feed in your favorites bar, you can find a list of the saved feeds via the menu “view“ – “explorer bars“ – “feeds“ and click on the respective one. Like this, all new entries to your search appear after a click as well.
• If you do not need the feed anymore, you can call up a list of the atom-newsfeeds in the menu under “view“ – “explorer bars“ – “feeds“. Right-click on the feed you want deleted. In the context menu now opened, you can choose “delete“.

The search history enables you to get an overview of all of your searches during a session and the number of hits in the chosen data. You can select the search history in the header with the tab “previous searches“.

• Like this, you can reactivate already conducted searches.
• You have the option to combine already conducted searches with new terms to narrow down the number of hits.
• If you want to take over an already conducted search, choose the button “select for search“. The search request will then appear in the drop-down menu in the last input field of the advanced search.