Searching and Retrieving Documents

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Searching and Retrieving Documents Using The Document Management System

The Clerk of the Board of Supervisors launched a new online search database for official Board of Supervisors records that now includes archived microfilm records from 1877 to today.  Documents that are searchable include Board agenda indexes, Minute Orders, Statements of Proceedings, Board Letters (a report to the Board from another elected official or staff seeking direction from the Board), and supporting documents.

Documents are classified into different types based on the functionality involved in the Board Meeting process.

  • All Documents: This will search all documents in the directory.
  • Agenda Index Documents: This will search Agenda Indexes.
  • Archived Microfilm Record: This will search only for digitized microfilm records.
  • Board Letter Documents: This will search through Board Letters.
  • Minute Order Documents: This will search Minute Order Documents.
  • Statement of Proceeding Documents: This will search for Statement of Proceeding Documents.
  • Support Documents: This will search for Supporting Documents of Board Letters.

View a brief instructional video on conducting online research.

 

Searching for Documents

To Perform a Search for Documents:

  1. Go to the Document Management System Search page.
  2. You can search by a variety of criteria.  The more criteria you specify, the fewer results will be returned. The following table provides a description of the most commonly used fields.  A detailed Help guide is available for all Search criteria.  Simply click on the field name.

     

    Description

    Contains

    If you are looking for a specific word, number, or a phrase in the document subject or title, type the word in the box “Contains.”  The search word will be highlighted in your search results.

    Date

    If you know the date the document was created or the meeting date, you can search through documents by dates you choose.  If you are not sure about the dates, or are interested only in recent documents, you can select one of the options in the “Anytime” drop down box, such as “Within the previous week.” If you want a more specific period, you can enter starting and ending dates (format MM/DD/YY) or select dates from the calendar.

    Properties

    You can further narrow your search by using the “Properties” fields. The first drop down box provides information about the properties of the documents.  Depending on the type of the document you selected from the “Document Type” drop down box, the values in the “Properties” will vary.  The second drop down box provides the conditions for search like “=,” “contains,” “begins with,” etc.

     

    For example, if you are looking for Board Letter documents with a subject that begins with “budget,” click on the "Document Type" drop down box and select "Board Letter,” then in the “Properties” section, select “Subject” and enter “budget” in the text box.
    Microfilm Records

    In June 2010, the Clerk of the Board digitized its microfilm records of official Board actions dating back to 1877.  You can now search over 130 years of County records.

    To find a specific microfilm record based on the reel and frame number, select “Archived Microfilm Record” as the Document Type, then select “Reel” or “Frame” in the Properties drop-down box.  Enter the reel or frame number in the Properties search box.

    To search for a microfilm record using keywords and/or a meeting date, select “Archived Microfilm Record” as the Document Type and then enter search criteria in the “Contains” search box.  You can also select a time period using the “Date” fields.
  3. Click on the Search button at the bottom of the search screen to perform the search.  Please note that the search results are limited to the first 400 records.  If you receive 400 records, you may want to narrow your search criteria.  
  4. The Search Results page will appear with the list of documents that meet the criteria you specified.  Double click on a document to open it.  Users can view the documents as well as save them into their local drives. Users need to have Microsoft Word installed on their local machine in order to view or download the documents.
  5. To go back to the Search page from the Results page, click on the Back to Search button.

Hints for Entering Search Criteria

  • The asterisk (*) is a wildcard that can be used to represent one or more characters. For example, if "*Letter" is used in the Subject field, search will return all the documents with a Subject that ends with "Letter" (i.e. Board Letter), regardless of what the other preceding letters may be.
  • The question mark (?) can also be used to represent a single letter. For example, if "Letter" is used in the Subject field, search will return all documents with a Subject that ends with "Letter" but the first letter of the subject could be anything, (i.e. Better, Letter, etc.).