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Search the catalog.
Even when the name escapes you.

Type an exact method name, a misspelling, an acronym, or a description of what you are trying to do. The index is built for all four.

Open search

What can you search?

One thing, deeply: method pages. Names, full names, known aliases and the text of the page itself are all indexed, one row per method per language. Each of those parts carries its own weight, so a name match outranks a mention buried in the body.

That focus is what keeps the ranking honest. Search is not a web search that happens to know some methods; it is a catalog index that knows exactly what a method page contains.

  • Names, full names and aliases carry the most weight.
  • The body of the page is indexed too, at a lower weight.
  • Author names are searchable as text on the method they belong to.
One query over the catalog, with the matching card lifted out.

What if you spell it wrong, or only know the acronym?

Exact matches rank first. When full text search returns nothing at all, the query falls through to trigram matching, so a mistyped name still lands. The result then carries a fuzzy label, and a hit found by meaning carries a related one, so you always know which door you came in through.

Acronyms expand from a curated list, and only where the expansion is unambiguous. Accents are folded, so a term typed without its diacritics finds the same page.

  • An exact name or slug match takes the top rank.
  • Typos fall through to fuzzy matching, and say so on the result.
  • Unambiguous acronyms expand to their full names before the query runs.
  • A description of the problem is matched by meaning, not only by words.
Open search
A line typed wrong still lands on the right method page.

What does the index add over plain matching?

The fallbacks above are not separate modes you switch between. They run on the same query, in order, and the result tells you which one found it.

  • An exact method name
    Catalog index
    Included
    Plain keyword match
    Matches, as long as the spelling is exact
  • A misspelled name
    Catalog index
    Falls through to trigram matching and says so on the result
    Plain keyword match
    Not included
  • An unambiguous acronym
    Catalog index
    Expands to the full name before the query runs
    Plain keyword match
    Not included
  • A term typed without its accents
    Catalog index
    Diacritics are folded, so it reaches the same page
    Plain keyword match
    Not included
  • A question phrased as a description
    Catalog index
    Matched by meaning and labeled as related
    Plain keyword match
    Not included
  • A name against a mention in the body
    Catalog index
    Names and aliases carry the heavier weight
    Plain keyword match
    Every field counts the same
46
languages in the interface, with the index stored per language. Results come back in the language you are reading, and accent folding means a term typed plainly still matches.

How do you narrow a long list?

Filters and sorts act on the result set, and none of them drop a method quietly. When a list comes back empty, the page says which kind of empty it is.

Field, family, subfamily. Three nested facets, each showing how many results sit behind it before you commit.
Year range. Set a lower bound, an upper bound, or both, and the range applies to every candidate.
Four sorts. Relevance, newest, oldest, or A to Z, with relevance as the default.
A field lens. Pick a discipline and results reorder toward it without anything leaving the list.
Labeled results. A result found by fuzzy or semantic matching carries a short label saying which one it was.
Honest empty states. No word matched, no result survived the filters, or the index is unreachable: three different sentences.

Where does a search result take you?

Search is the front door, not the destination. The route from a half remembered name to an answer you can cite runs in three steps.

Search

One query across every method page in the catalog, narrowed by field, family or year.

Method page

What the method is, the family it belongs to, and the open records the page was built from.

Cited answer

Method pages carry a link into the Library assistant, where an answer names the pages it stands on.

If you would rather wander than search, the atlas maps fields and families, and browse walks the catalog family by family. Open the atlas, Browse the catalog.

Questions about the index

Methods. The index holds one row per method page per language, with names, aliases and page text. Papers appear inside method pages, as the open records those pages were built from.

No. Search and method pages are public. An account is needed only for the parts that write something down, such as a bookshelf, or that run provider work, such as the Library assistant.

For a curated set of unambiguous acronyms, yes: the query quietly expands to the full name as well. Ambiguous ones are left out on purpose, because expanding those would bury the reading you actually meant.

The page says so, and says which kind of nothing it is: no method matched the words, no method survived the filters currently on, or the index is not reachable. Browse suggestions appear instead of a blank screen.

The interface reads in 46 languages and the index is stored per language, so results come back in the one you are using. Accent folding means a term typed plainly still matches.

Try a half remembered name.

The index is built for the version you actually type, not the tidy one you would look up afterwards.

Open search