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Guidance on Using Item-level Catalogues

A catalogue is arranged to provide information about a collection as a whole at the top level, becoming more specific to individual items at lower levels of description.

Each catalogued collection has a reference number (an alpha-numeric code), e.g. LHB1, all records within that collection will have a reference number beginning LHB1/

Please quote the relevant reference number if you contact us with a request to view a record.

Each catalogue begins with a top level entry, for example:

LHB1, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh; this entry describes the whole collection and will include historical and biographical information and a contents page

Within the catalogue you will find more specific levels of description, for example:

> LHB1/1 Managers Minutes, 1728-1948; this entry describes a series of records of the same type

> LHB1/1/1 Minutes, February 1728 –December 1741; this entry describes an individual record within that series

To View the Catalogues

The catalogues are available to view as Adobe PDF documents, to view them you will need the Adobe Viewer software which is free to download.

Get Adobe Reader

Search Tips

Each item-level catalogue is available in pdf format; you can browse the pdf or search it for a specific word or date.

To search the pdf, follow these instructions:

  • Click on the search button (also indicated by a pair of binoculars).
  • A search box appears on the right-hand side of the screen.
  • You can search by a particular date, by department or person, by place name or other key words. Once you have entered a search term, click on the search button.
  • You will be directed to the appropriate area of the catalogue or informed that what you are searching for does not exist within the pdf document. Please note that a certain name or phrase may appear more than once.