Tips for your research
MENAsearch is the discovery system of the FID Middle East, North Africa and Islamic Studies for your literature research.
Discovery systems are library search systems based on modern search engine technologies. Not only the holdings of one’s own library are offered under one search interface, but heterogeneous data sources are searched so that, for example, journal articles or full texts from licensed databases as well as electronic texts in open access can also be found.
Notes on the use:
Search terms
You can enter one or more terms in the search slot. The “autocomplete” function supports you in selecting search terms even for terms in non-Latin scripts.
Narrow down search resultcitationscitationscitationscitationscitationscitations
Period, type, format
The number of hits can be narrowed down to a selected period of time using the slider. In addition, the search result can be limited to a publication type (e.g. printed) and a media format (e.g. book).
Search queries and search results
You can confirm search queries by clicking the search button or by pressing the Enter key after entering the term. The search for the entered terms runs through all fields (person, title keyword, keyword etc.). Search results are sorted according to a relevance ranking. The hit list can be re-sorted chronologically in ascending or descending order using the year arrows.
Access to licensed electronic resources (still under construction)
For a number of electronic resources with MENA content, the library offers access to the electronic full text. Follow the links provided. For members of Martin Luther University, access to licensed electronic resources is also possible from outside via Shibboleth or VPN. Wherever possible, the FID endeavours to negotiate national licences to which members of other universities/libraries can also access via their home institution.
Wildcard ?
The ? character can be placed anywhere in the search term or at the end of the search term. It replaces exactly one character.
Example:
– B?irut findet Beirut und Bairut
– B??rut findet Beirut, Bairut, Bayrut und Beyrut etc.
Attention! Occasionally unexpected side effects (no hits) occur with search entries that actually contain question marks. Mask the question mark here with a preceding back slash, e.g.: What is the question\?
Search by person, phrases, citations
When searching for a specific person or citations, it is advisable to enter the name or citation in inverted commas.
"Carl Brockelmann"
Search in original script
MENAsearch allows you to search in the various scripts of the MENA region, but also in transliteration. It does not matter whether you use diacritics or the basic letters (e.g. Aḫbār or Ahbar). Since titles in original script (Arabic, Cyrillic, Armenian, Georgian, Latin with special characters) have only been recorded since about 2012, knowledge of the applicable DIN transcription rules is necessary in order to find older titles.
Various controls
Setting the search space
- By default, the search space is set to “Search in all libraries”. The search is carried out in the entire K10plusZentral. You can restrict your search to the holdings of the FID in Halle. To do this, switch off “Search also community libraries” under Settings.
- A link to the GVK interlibrary loan catalog is provided for all holdings from the joint library network, including the FID (service still under construction)
- You can enable a phonetic search to allow some tolerance in spelling.
 |
Selection of language (german or english) |
 |
Selection of colums displayed |
 |
Show your checklist |
Login, access to the user account (still under construction)
- Display of loans, orders, media that can be picked up and made available, reservations and fees
- Extension of the loan period
- Canceling Reservations
- Change Password
Expert search
Various search keys can be entered in the search field to search specifically for e.g. language, keywords, place of publication.
You can use the following search syntax:
<command>:value e.g.: year:2012
<command>(value1, value2, …) e.g.: year(2012, 2013)
Language code (sprachcode, langcode) ISO 639-2
sprachcode(arm) armenian Title/Media
langcode(geo) georgian Title/Media
Language (sprache, language)
language(Persian) persian Title/Media
Subject (schlagwort, subject)
subject(Sufismus) Titles associated with the keyword Sufism. What keywords are available?
Classification/Systematics (sachgebiet, class ) FID Nahost Fachsystematik
class('ssg 2.6') Title on the topic “Islamic Law”
class('ssg 3.2.2.2.3') Title related to “History/Politics of Iraq”
Topic (topic) Basisklassifikation des GBV
topic('BKL 11.81') Title related to the topic Koran
topic('BLK 15.68') Title related to the topic History/Politics Turkey
Year (jahr, year)
year(2005) Titles with publication year 2005
Editor / Publisher (verlag, publisher)
publisher(al-Markaz al-ʿArabī li-l-ʾAbḥāṯ wa-Dirāsat as-Siyāsāt)
publisher(HH GAA patmowt̕yan institowt) (Only transcription/latin script possible)
Hint: in both cases, of course, it is also possible to search using the basic letters
Series (reihe, series)
series(Nûbihar yayınları) all publications of the series Nûbihar yayınları
Hint: Search term: Only transcription/latin script possible
Country (land, country)
country(XC-EG) all publications from Egypt
Hint: Codes follow DIN ISO 3155
Combination of search keys
Combined search queries with these keys are also possible. The individual search keys are only to be connected with blanks (no Boolean operators!).
year(2005) langcode(ara) topic(BKL 11.81) Titles in Arabic language on the subject of the Qur’an published in 2005
langcode(tur) subject(Sufismus) Titles in Turkish on the subject of Sufism
Distance search, Ranking, Fuzzy, Wildcard, Exclusion
"Iran Ägypten“~3 a maximum of 3 words between the terms
Ägypten Politik^200 Value of the second term higher by a factor of 200
Rossander~ Fuzzy Search find matches like Rossanda, Roßauer or Rößner
K?n? Wildcard search finds e.g. Kind, King, Kino
Rafsand* Wildcard search finds e.g. Rafsandjani or Rafsandschani
"Geheim~ Wüste"~3 combined search finds e.g. “In geheimer Mission durch die Wüste” (a maximum of 3 words between the terms)
Islam -Sufismus excludes hits with Sufism
İsmâil -“İsmâil Hakkı” -“İsmâil Paşa” Ismail, but in combination with Hakki or Pasa not
Zazaki OR Kurdisch logical OR Verknüpfung
Zazaki AND Kurdish logical AND Verknüpfung
+Kairo +Islam +Arabisch all words must be present
All search terms
Overview of the internal commands with which you can further restrict your searches in Lukida. If there are 2 terms in one line, the search term is available in both English and German:
* acqdate erwdatum (date of acquisition)
* author autor (author)
* call abruf (call sign)
* class sachgebiet (subjects)
* client mandant (Mandant in MultiLBS-Systems)
* collection
* collection_details (Packages (smaller units within collections))
* contents inhalt
* corporation koerper
* foreignid (foreign key)
* format (https://wekan.gbv.de/b/nxtTWgQd4eEumm9Sn/lukida-doku/ffE3HayePeTrmkAuW)
* format2 (https://wekan.gbv.de/b/nxtTWgQd4eEumm9Sn/lukida-doku/v3stFxJQGXL3szMsR)
* genre
* id ppn (PPN / ID)
* isn (ISBN und ISSN)
* language sprache (Language (English langguage like: German, French, Italian etc.))
* langcode sprachcode (Language-Code (3 letter like ger, ita, fra etc.))
* norm (Associated authority records to given ID)
* ppnlink (Childs of ID)
* prov (provenance)
* publisher verlag
* series reihe
* signatur signature
* subject schlagwort
* title titel
* topic
* year jahr