Variations Metadata

To retrieve container records and instantiations tied to a specific work or contributors, catalogers should search for such items through either the Basic or Advanced search tabs on the Variations Search Window.

The Basic tab allows individuals to search by any combination of the following:

• Creator/Composer
• Performer/Conductor
• Work Title
• Key
• Media Format

In addition to the criteria listed above, the Advanced tab further allows search combinations incorporating the following:

• Recording/Score Title
• Other Contributor
• Publisher
• Subject Heading

For more information on Basic and Advanced searches, consult the search page from the online Variations User Guide.

Catalogers may retrieve the following information and do the following tasks from the Admin Tab search window:

• Retrieval of records by Variations or NOTIS/Variations1 IDs
• Reports of records of different types and statuses as created or updated on specific dates
• Lists of contributor records matching partial or complete search terms, regardless of role or whether the contributor is linked to a record
• Lists of existing Variations work records associated with specified creators

For more information, see Admin Tab searches.

Containers to which no instantiations have been added are not searchable in the Basic or Admin Tabs. To retrieve such records, select one of the following options:

1. Retrieval through the Recording/Score Title Field (Advanced Tab)

   Entering keywords from the recording title in the Recording/Score Title Field will retrieve all records in which the specified words are found in the 245 field. If the desired record does not appear, either the item has not been digitized or the bibliographic record did not import to the container record.

2. Retrieval through the Keyword Tab

   Keyword searches retrieves information found throughout the container record. As container records for items that have not been cataloged (but have been digitized) contain only some of the fields from the original bibliographic record, it is best to search by unique identifiers found in most recordings or scores. Specifying either important words from the 245 field or the plate/matrix/catalog number found on the record or score provide the best results.

3. OPAC URLs

   If access to digitized scores and recordings is provided through links in OPAC records, it is a good idea to include media object IDs (e.g. "VAA1234") as part of the URLs. One reason for this is that catalogers may search for items in their online catalogs, quickly copy the media object ID from the link, then go to the Admin tab in Variations and search the number through the Edit by ID field. Searching through Edit by ID will automatically open the container record.