MENAsearch is the discovery system of the FID Middle East, North Africa and Islamic Studies for your literature research. It is a bibliographic search system based on modern search technologies. It not only offers the holdings of its own library, but also searches various data sources so that journal articles or full texts from licensed databases as well as electronic Open Access texts can be found.
Hints on how to use:
General information
Confirm searches by clicking the search button or pressing the Enter key after typing the term.
Search terms
Autocomplete helps you choose the right search terms, even for terms in non-Latin scripts.
Narrow down results
For a fast and efficient search, it is advisable to narrow down the search results as much as possible. The desired number of hits can be limited to a selected period using the slider. Click on the year to enter it manually. Search results can also be limited to a type of publication (e.g. printed) and/or media format (e.g. book).
Search queries and results
The search for terms entered is carried out in all fields (person, title, subject, etc.). Click on Score to sort by relevance. Use the two arrows directing to the year to sort the results in ascending or descending chronological order.
Access to licensed electronic resources
For a number of electronic resources with MENA content, the library offers access to the electronic full text. Follow the links provided for this purpose. Members of the Martin Luther University can also access licensed electronic resources from outside the university via Shibboleth or VPN. The FID tries to negotiate national licences where possible, to which members of other universities/libraries can have access via their home institutions.
Wildcard
Wildcards are special characters that can be used to replace unknown characters in a text, and are useful when searching for multiple items with similar but not identical data.
The ? character replaces exactly one character. It can be placed anywhere in the search term.
For example:
– B?irutfinds Beirut und Bairut
– B??rut finds Beirut, Bairut, Bayrut and Beyrut etc.
The asterisk „*“ replaces any number of characters within words and phrases.
For example:
– comput? finds computer, computing
– ‚a midsummer * dream’ finds also ‚a midsummer night’s dream’
Search for phrases
When searching for exact names, phrases and quotes, it is recommended that you enclose the search term in quotation marks:
"Carl Brockelmann"
Search for original text
MENAsearch allows you to search in the different scripts of the MENA region as well as in transcriptions. It does not matter whether you use diacritics or the basic letters (e.g. Aḫbār or Ahbar). Knowledge of the current DIN transcription rules is helpful in general and necessary to be able to find older titles (before 2012).
Various operating elements
Setting the search area
- The default search scope is “Search also community libraries”.The search is done in the whole K10plusZentral. You can also limit your search to the holdings of the FID in Halle. To do this, go to Preferences and deselect “Search also community libraries”.
- A link to the catalogue of the Gemeinsame Bibliotheksverbund is provided for all holdings of the Fernleihkatalog Fernleih-Katalog GVK, including the FID.
- It is recommended to activate phonetic search, to allow a certain tolerance in spelling.
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Selecting the menu language (German or English) |
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Select to display the results list in one to a maximum of four columns |
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Show all titles in the checklist |
Login, access to your account
- Display of loans, orders, available and reserved items, reservations and fees
- Extending the loan period
- Cancel a reservation
- Change password
Search for experts
The search field can be used to enter various search terms. For example, you can search by language, keyword or place of publication.
The following search syntax is possible:
<internal commandl>:value e. g.: year:2005
<internal commamnd>(value1, value2, etc.) e.g.: year(2012, 2013)
Languagecode ISO 639-2
sprachcode(arm) armenian titles/media
langcode(geo) georgian titles/media
Language
language(Persian) persian titles/media
Subject
subject(Sufismus) Titles associated with the keyword Sufism
Subject area FID Nahost Fachsystematik
class('ssg 2.6') Titles on “Islamic law”
class('ssg 3.2.2.2.3') Titles on „history/politics in Iran“
Keyword Basisklassifikation des GBV
topic('BKL 11.81') Titles on Koran
topic('BKL 15.68') Titles on „history/politics in Turkey”
Year
year(2005) Titles published in 2005
Publisher
publisher(al-Markaz al-ʿArabī li-l-ʾAbḥāṯ wa-Dirāsat as-Siyāsāt)
publisher(HH GAA patmowt̕yan institowt) Can only be used in captions/inscriptions.
Note: In both cases, it is also possible to search by land registry letters.
Series
series(Nûbihar yayınları) all publications in the “Nûbihar yayınları” series
Note: Search terms only in transliteration and latin script
Country
land(XC-EG) publications from Egypt
Hinweis: Codes nach DIN ISO 3155
Combination of search keys
It is also possible to combine searches. The search keys can only be separated by spaces (no Boolean operators).
year(2005) langcode(ara) topic(BKL 11.81) Arabic titles on the Koran published in 2005
langcode(tur) subject(Sufism) Turkish titles on Sufism
Wildcard & surrounding operators
"Iran Ägypten“~3 a maximum of 3 words are displayed between terms
Ägypten Politik^200 value of second term increases by a factor of 200
Rossander~ fuzzy search finds hits such as Rossanda, Roßauer or Rößner
"Geheim~ Wüste"~3 Combined search finds e.g. “In geheimer Mission durch die Wüste” (maximum 3 words between the terms)
Islam -Sufismus excludes results with the term “Sufism” aus
İsmâil -“İsmâil Hakkı” -“İsmâil Paşa” Ismail” does not appear when combined with “Hakki” or “Pasa”
Zazaki OR Kurdisch finds results containing at least one of the search terms you entered
Zazaki UND Kurdish both search terms must be present
+Kairo +Islam +Arabisch all terms must be present
View all search criteria
Here is an overview of the internal commands you can use to narrow down your search. You can enter the terms in English or German. If two terms appear in the same line, the search term is available in both English and German:
| Search criteria | Search key - german | Search key - english |
|---|---|---|
| Author/Writer | autor | author |
| Subject areas / keywords | sachgebiet | class |
| Local subject areas / keywords | classlocal | |
| Corporation | koerper | corporation |
| DOI | DOI | |
| PPN/ID | id | id |
| ISBN/ ISSN | isn | isn |
| Country | land | country |
| Language | sprache | language |
| Languagecode | sprachcode | languagecode |
| Location | standort | location |
| Provenience | prov | prov |
| Publisher | verlag | publisher |
| Series | reihe | Series |
| Signature | signatur | signature |
| Keyword | schlagwort | subject |
| Keyword | topic | |
| Title | titel | title |
| Year | jahr | year |