The Sculpture Center / OOSI

Hints on Searching OOSI

You can search the OOSI database in a wide variety of ways to find the pieces that interest you.

Browsing OOSI

To see all of the OOSI inventory in alphabetical order by artist, click the Browse OOSI link. Your screen will show the first 10 sculptures in the OOSI database. Click the Next Page button near the bottom of the screen to see the next group of 10.

For each sculpture, you'll see the title, artist name, date, and location of the piece. In many cases, a thumbnail image of the piece appears as well. Click on the thumbnail image or on the title to get a larger image and more information about the work.

When you are done viewing the detail information about a particular piece, use your Web browser's BACK button to return to the sculpture list.

Searching OOSI

Click the Search OOSI link for additional searching options. You can browse the OOSI inventory in order by Artist, Date, Media, Subject or Location by clicking on the appropriate link. Each link presents you with additional options for narrowing your search.

If you make a mistake, or if you simply want to change your search, use your Web browser's BACK button to return to a previous screen. To start over from the beginning, click the "Ohio Outdoor Sculpture Inventory" logo at the top of any page.

Advanced Query

Our Advanced Query screen lets you narrow your OOSI search using any of 12 search criteria. To perform an advanced query, enter information in the fields that are of interest to you. (It is not necessary to fill in every field; a blank field means that any sculpture will match that criteria). Then click the button marked Search.

Some fields on the Advanced Query screen require that you type information directly into the field. For others, you can pick a specific response from a picklist (use your mouse to activate the picklist by clicking the arrow to the right of the input box).

For the Date Range option, type in a beginning and ending year (for example, 1992 and1996).
Searching by Subject allows you to search a sculptures primary subject field. A specific sculpture may be categorized under a number of different subjects. For example, depictions of Johnny Appleseed may be found under History, Portrait Male, or Occupation.
In some cases the name of the artist is unknown which is so indicated in the Last Name field.
When searching by Owner, you may have to try a number of formats before recovering the information you are looking for. As a guideline, most cities are in the format, "City of Cleveland" whereas counties are listed, "Cuyahoga County." Individuals, institutions, corporations, organizations, etc. are listed by their full names.

When using Advanced Query, try to be as specific as possible. A narrower search will usually produce more effective results. If your search criteria are too wide, your search may yield too many results to be useful. Use your browser's BACK button to return to the search criteria screen and narrow your search.

You can choose to display Advanced Query results in a single-line or multi-line listing. Choose the single-line listing to save time when you expect a large number of results. The multi-line listing shows more information about each result, but takes longer to display. (Regardless of which option you choose, you can still display all the information about each piece by clicking on the title).

Advanced Queries can sometimes take a few seconds to process, so please give our computer some time to return your results.

Printing OOSI Pages

Your browser has a built in "Print" function that can be used to make print your OOSI query results on your printer. The print option is often available on your browser's toolbar or on the "File" menu. If you are having trouble printing, check the "Page Setup" function on your "File" menu. In particular, if your are using Netscape, you may need to check the "Black Text" option.