Help

1 - Facets

For a quick access to the indexed data and for limiting your search, you can use facets.
On the main page, there are five different facets to start with:

• Collection

  The research data published on Discover is arranged in collections.

• Creator

  The main researchers involved in producing the research data.

• Faculty

  The faculties of LMU Munich to which the research data can be assigned.

• Hierarchy

  The description level to which a research data object belongs.
• Show only latest version
  By clicking the checkbox you can choose to exclude previous versions of the indexed research data and consider only the latest version for your search.

On the results list page there are - depending on the completeness of the metadata - eight more facets for limiting your search:

• Contributor

  Persons or Institutions responsible for collecting, managing, distributing or otherwise contributing to the development of the research data.

• DDC

  Notations of the Dewey Decimal Classification, a tool for organizing knowledge

• Format

  The format of the research data file (e.g. text/html, image/png)

• Keyword(s)

  Subjects, describing the content of the research data.

• Language of the resource

  The primary language of the research data.

• Location

  Spatial information about the research data, for example where a photo has been taken or a sensor is located.

• Rights

  The conditions for reuse of the research data.

• Year of Publication

  The year, when the research data was first published on research data platforms of the University Library of LMU Munich.

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2 - Search

Another way to start your search is to use the query field:

You can search for research data by typing a keyword, DDC notation, location, person, institution, PID (e.g. Wikidata, GeoNames), title or abstract term in the query field. It is also possible to query a research data item directly by one of its identifiers (lmUB, DOI, project-specific identifier).

2.1 - Query Examples

2.1.1 - Simple Queries

Search for word:

Search for phrase:

Search for identifier:

2.1.2 - Use of Boolean operators

Search for phrase AND word:

Search for word OR word:

Search for word NOT phrase:

2.1.1 - Wildcard matching

Search for everything in the index:

Search for any word that starts with "sch" and ends with "stall":

2.1.4 - Proximity matching

Search for words "gefäss" and "transport" within 3 words from each other;

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3 - Relationship Information

Discover supports the presentation of different types of relations between research data object and other resources.

3.1 - Versions

To switch between different versions of a research data object, regardless of the description level, click on the “Previous Version” or “Next Version” button on the result page, below the title.

On the result page there is a section "RELATIONS". Here you`ll find all the relationship information, apart from the version information.

3.2 - Granularity

You can also switch/navigate between the different levels of description.


If you look at a research data object of a level greater than level1, e.g. a dataset, there is the option to search for all research data objects / projects, to which the dataset belongs.

Is Part Of:

start search

The same applies for the opposite direction. If there is a level lower than the level of the result, you can start a search for all objects that are part of the result object.

Has Part:

start search

3.3 - Identical research data objects on other platforms

In some cases, you can download a research data object also from another website. To get to this page, click on the “Is Identical To” link:

Is Identical To:

Download CSV from Verba Alpina

3.4 - Variant forms

If there is a specific presentation of a research data object, e.g. on a project website, you can get there via the “Is Variant Form Of” link:

Is Variant Form Of:

Find Record @ Verba Alpina

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4 - Authority Data

Discover uses authority data wherever possible. You can see whether a person, keyword or location has a match with an entity of a relevant controlled vocabulary by the corresponding icons.

If you click on an icon, you will be directed to the corresponding entry in the standard data vocabulary.
If you click on the name, you start a new search for the uniquely identified entity.
“Uniquely identified” means that your search for e.g. will only return hits containing the same person, not persons with merely the same name “Lücke, Stephan”.

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5 - Request DOI

Not every research data object on Discover has a DataCite DOI. Only level1 objects receive a DataCite DOI by default. If you want to cite an object that does not have a DataCite DOI yet, you can request a DOI for that specific object via a web form:

Enter your name and your e-mail in the corresponding fields and click on “Send Message”. As soon as the DOI is registered, we will send you the DOI information by mail and activate the DOI on Discover.

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6 - Glossar

6.1 - Granularity

We speak of (fine) granular data when there is more than one level of description (see below).

6.2 - Level of Description

There can be more than one level of description. For example: A research project consists of several items. In addition, these items are aggregated into (different types of) datasets. As we describe both the project, the datasets and the items with metadata, there are three levels of description: The project-level (“level1”), the aggregation-level (“level2”) and the item level (“level3”). The information, to which level a research data object belongs, is stored in the element Hierarchy.

6.3 - lmUB [identifier]

Every research data object in Discover has a global identifier, called lmUB. It is a universally unique identifier (UUID), consisting of 128 bits.
Example:

6.4 - Metadata

In general, metadata is “data about data”. In the case of Discover, the metadata provides information about a research data object, for example its title, creator, keywords, etc. - information needed for discovery and identification. Discover’s metadata format is an application profile of DataCite, called rdUB. More information about rdUB can be found here.

6.5 - Versioning

There can be more than one version of a research data object, regardless of its description level. Each version has its own identifiers and set of metadata. The latest version of a research data object is marked as “current version”.