The main way to search for and access content in the three series of TDGNHAS is by means of TDGNAS cards. These are digital record cards based on the records of the database developed by James Williams for indexing the Transactions. However, these only cover Volume 1 of Series I up to Volume 85 (2011) of Series III, though work is ongoing to cover Volume 86 up to the last volume available online to the general public, currently Volume 91 (2017).
The fields on the cards are:
- Author(s)
- Title
- Topics
- Volume and page number
- Abstract (if one exists)
Search using cards (i.e. up to Series III, Vol 85)
- If searching for a particular author's work, then use Authors index and enter the surname to search for, or pick from the alphabetical list. Search Transactions can also be used to get a listing of the author's works.
- If searching for a particular thing or subject that might have appeared in a title or abstract (such as a place-name, person or object), then Search Transactions can be used to get a listing of results.
- If searching for articles relating to a particular topic (such as ornithology), then use Topics index and enter a topic to search for, or pick a topic from the alphabetical list.
If a search is successful, then the outcome is a sequence of TDGNHAS cards, each giving details of the found item with a precise link to open the volume at the required page. Note that the volumes up to Volume 67 (1993) were produced by scanning the printed volumes and are either large, or very large. Retrieval of stuff found may not be practical with a slow connection or on a mobile device. The files for Volume 68 (1994) are small, being PDF files produced for typesetting.
Searching the Transactions not yet indexed by cards (i.e. Vol 85 onwards)
There is no structured or precise way of doing this, but using the site-wide search facility that appears on every web page may yield useful results. It can also lead to relevant material not appearing in the Transactions.