Temasek Polytechnic Library InfoWise January 2007

Chinese in OPAC
By Debby Wegener
I am sure you all know that the quickest and easiest way to
find a book in the TP Library is to use the Online Public Access
Catalogue or OPAC. There is nothing difficult about it - you just
type in an English keyword or two, look for the Call Number and
the Location, and you're away. But how many of you will have
noticed that we now also have Chinese characters in OPAC
INSERT:
To set up your Windows PC to allow for Chinese language
characters, go to:
>>Start
>>Settings
>>Control Panel
>>Regional and Language Options
Select the tab for Languages and then the Details button
Next, select the ADD button and Chinese (PRC) from the list.
Select the OK button when you see this popup
Recent enquires have revealed that, with the Library's small but
growing collection of books written in Chinese, many of our
patrons now want to search this collection using hanyu pinyin
or Chinese text. So we have taken those books with Chinese
characters appearing on the title page or the cover and given
them Chinese text cataloguing. This means that you may now,
with a few minor changes to your PC's language settings, search
for these books using the language in which they were written.
So, to find books on all sorts of subjects from Traditional Chinese
Medicine and massage therapy to ancient Chinese maxims and
classics, just follow these simple steps:
1. Open OPAC using the search button on
the Spark Library Portal at http://spark.
tp.edu.sg
When you see that Chinese (PRC) has been added, select the
APPLY button
2. Change the language settings on your PC [Please see insert
on how to change the necessary setting]
3. Enter your keywords in pinyin, for
example, "tui na". Depending on
your PC, the corresponding Chinese
characters will either appear for your
selection, or get inserted into the search box when you press
the enter button.
4. Select the "GO" button for your list of
results
5. Don't forget to change your language settings back to English
when you are done!
Now select the OK button twice to close all the popup windows.
6 •