How can I search HOLLIS using a non-Latin script (character set) such as Arabic, Cyrillic, Devanagari, Chinese, Japanese, or Korean?

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Materials in non-Latin scripts are tricky to search for. If you are doing extensive searching in a vernacular script, please contact the library and ask to be connected with an expert for that script or language.

HOLLIS accepts non-Latin scripts

You can type non-Latin scripts directly into HOLLIS’s search boxes. HOLLIS generally ignores accents and other diacritical marks: you should get the same results whether you include them or not. 

If your searches are not working as you expected, you may want to check for a discrepancy in unicode values.

Results are limited by available data

If you search in the original script, your results are likely to skew toward more recently cataloged materials and more “Articles” items. 

Many older HOLLIS records, especially Library Catalog records cataloged prior to 2009, use romanization only. Original-script search terms will not find these records. Most Harvard catalogers recommend searching first with romanized terms.

Related FAQs

What is romanization? Does HOLLIS use it?

Do punctuation and diacritics (accents) matter when searching HOLLIS? 

Have another HOLLIS question? Our HOLLIS User Guide provides an overview of HOLLIS's features and functions.

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