|
Constitutional Court Virtual Library |
|
iSalpi Search Guide |
In this guide
1. Introduction
2. Getting started
3. Simple Search
4. Search Results
5. Moving around
6. Print, Save or Email Results
7. Advanced Search
Need help ?
iSalpi Search Guide: Hyperlinks you to the e–copy of this guide
iSalpi Journal List: Hyperlinks you to a copy of the alphabetical iSalpi Journal List containing information on the journals that were indexed
Webmaster: webmaster@concourt.org.za
The Library: library@concourt.org.za
The iSalpi database contains references to articles from the South African legal periodical literature. Coverage is mainly from the early 1980’s to current, although there are a few citations earlier than 1980.
1. Introduction
Constitutional Court Library
iSalpi:
South African Legal Periodicals Index
The South African Legal Periodicals Index includes citations to major articles published in most South African legal journals during the past 20-30 years. This index will be known as iSalpi.
The articles of the journals were indexed and maintained by the Johannesburg Bar Library on a manual card catalogue. The data from the cards was captured and developed for computer access by the Constitutional Court Library and will be made available on the Constitutional Court Library website free of charge.
iSalpi will provide lawyers, legal researchers, court personnel and law librarians with in-depth access to the wealth of legal research within the legal periodical literature.
iSalpi covers citations to articles published from the 1980’s to the current period and contains approximately 17 000 + article titles indexed from approximately 43 journal titles.
The database will be updated and maintained on a continuous basis by the Constitutional Court Library and the Johannesburg Bar Library.
Users can retrieve the legal information through a variety of search terms – author, article title, subjects, cases cited, legislation cited, citation and journal name, etc.
Hyperlinks are also available to search related authors, subjects, cases and legislation.
2. Getting Started
Go to the Constitutional Court’s website (http://www.constitutionalcourt.org.za
- Click on The Library then Library Catalogue
(No Login or Password is required)
The Library Catalogue Search Screen appears
- Click on iSalpi
· To view the Help Lists applicable to iSalpi click on the Help function in the rootbar: 2 hyperlink lists appear for your perusal:
3. Simple Search
- Enter the search term in the field you require eg. Subject – trees
- Click on the Search button
4. Search Results
· The citation, i.e. (2004) 11 SAJELP 159 is available on the Search Results
screen. The citation denotes the year, volume, abbreviation of the journal title and page numbering and facilitates the easy finding of the printed article in the journal.
· However, to view the specific record click on Details on Search Results screen
Some records may have hyperlinks to other articles about the same subject, and or referring to the same cases and legislation.
Example: Click on the hyperlink: Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 s. 38
to view other articles dealing with this section of the South African Constitution
5. Moving around iSalpi
- To locate the reference (citation) to the article, click on the Catalog Record Tab
- To find other articles on a related subject, click on the selected Subject eg. the hyperlink : Environmental protection
- Search Results screen of the hyperlink search displays with the related subject list: environmental protection: 80 titles
- To Search again Click on iSalpi (to remain in the iSalpi search screen)
6. Print, Save or Email Results
1. Click Mark to select the items to e-mail, print or save
(The button changes to Unmark. Click Unmark if you wish to remove item from selected list)
2. Then click Marked at
the top of the screen to preview
the list of items
In the Sort By box, choose to sort by author, title
Choose the Brief or Full View of Records
To peruse the Results List click on VIEW then click Back to go back to marked screen
Click on Print Formatted to Open or Save the Results to your PC
Specify a single e-mail address to e-mail the result
N.B. Click on Remove all titles to clear selected references (Selected references will be saved even when you proceed with a new search)
7. Advanced Search
· Select field to search from the search menu (Words or phrase, author (of article), article title, subject, cases cited, legislation, journal name, article citation). Click Search.
· You may combine searches across more than one field by selecting (AND, OR, NOT) from the drop down lists). Within a single field AND is implied. You must type the words OR, NOT.
Advanced Search Basics
|
truncation |
manag$ finds manage, management, manager |
|
wildcard |
organi?ation finds organisation, organization |
|
phrase (enclose in single quotes) |
‘interim constitution’ finds interim constitution ‘marriage act’ finds Marriage Act |
|
punctuation: #,%,&,+, =, - treated as a space when searching |
pro bono dienste finds pro bono-dienste |
|
punctuation: omit commas, fullstops, apostrophe when searching |
peoples finds people’s, peoples’ Africas development finds Africa’s development |
|
numbers |
2,000 or 2000 finds 2000 |
|
numbers (list) |
3 4 finds 3 4 |
|
boolean operators: and, or, not |
To combine searches between fields select (AND, OR, NOT) from the drop down lists Within a single field you do not need to type AND, but you must type OR, NOT |
Advanced Search Terms
|
words or phrase Enter word(s) or phrase from any single field. |
juvenile justice finds Juvenile justice and constitutionalism (Title of work) finds The business of child justice (Subject of work is “juvenile justice” ) |
|
author: Enter the (last) name of an article’s author
|
corder finds Article(s) by H. Corder
okoth obbo finds Article(s) by G. Okoth-Obbo |
|
article title Enter title (Stopwords, e.g. and, the, of, for) will be ignored |
Law justice Africa finds Law and justice in Africa |
|
subject
Enter subject terms in any order |
judges finds Judges – Appointment, qualification, tenure, etc Judges – Education Judges – Salaries, pensions, etc.
Education judges finds Judges – Education |
|
cases cited Enter one or more of the parties names – you may omit “v” or Enter the case citation – brackets may be omitted – supply as much detail as possible |
Paterson exhibitions knights advertising finds Article(s) discussing the “paterson exhibitions v knights advertising” case
1991 3 SA 523 A finds Article(s) discussing the “paterson exhibitions v knights advertising” case
|
|
Legislation Enter words from legislation in any order |
Basic conditions employment finds Articles discussing the act specified in the search term field
|
|
journal name Enter the name of the journal (in any order) |
De rebus finds All articles indexed on this database appearing in De Rebus |
|
Citation Enter the citation Note: Brackets may be omitted Supply the citation with as much detail as is available in order to retrieve the exact journal article |
1998 115 SALJ 439 finds Article published in South African Law Journal, in Vol. 115 on page 439 1998 115 SALJ finds All articles published in South African law journal Vol. 115 2006 Jan Feb DR finds All articles published in De Rebus during Jan/Feb 2006 |
Proximity Operators
|
with (for both terms in the same sentence)
|
Rastafarian with drug finds Freedom of religion v drug traffic control : the Rastafarian …
Copyright with act finds Copyright and the act of 1978 etc. |
|
near (for terms next to each other (in any order)
|
reform near constitutional finds Perspectives on Canadian constitutional reform
act near copyright finds Interaction between constitutional reform and family law
|
|
adj1 (for term within one word of another term – same order) |
copyright adj1 law finds Location of the parody defence in copyright law … |
|
adj(#) (for terms within # of words from each other and in the order specified). |
marriage adj2 act finds Customary Marriage Act ; Transkei Marriage Act … |
Limit search terms
|
language |
Use default ANY to search all languages or select language from the drop down list |
|
jurisdiction: Select jurisdiction from drop down box |
Law firms - Limit to JURISDICTION = Great Britain finds works about law firms in Great Britain only |
|
date Year of Publication or Year of Judgment |
2000 (published in 2000) <2000 (published before 2000) >1996 (published after 1996) <=1996 (published in and before 1996) >=1996 (published in and after 1996) 1999-2003 (published between 1999 and 2003 (inclusive) |
|
Sort by |
Sort by Box: choose to sort by author, subject, title, relevance, Old to New (publication year), New to Old (publication year) |