Guide to International Index
to the Performing Arts (IIPA)

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What is IIPA?

The International Index to the Performing Arts (IIPA) is an interdisciplinary index to periodicals in the performing arts. Topics covered by this database include theatre, dance, music, television and film. The IIPA includes citations from over 100 popular and scholarly journals in the performing arts, as well as from national newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post. Abstracts are available for citations to materials published beginning in 1998. For further assistance conducting research in these areas, see also the "Library Guide to Dance," the "Library Guide to Drama Criticism," the "Library Guide to Film Studies," the "Library Guide to Music," and the "Library Guide to Theatre."

To Begin Searching

Open IIPA by selecting it from the list of "Online Databases" available on the library Website http://library.umkc.edu/

Select "Search"

Note: you may choose to conduct either a "standard" or an "advanced" search at any point during your session simply by choosing the desired search setting from the choices given in the navigation area at the top of the screen

Entering Your Search (Standard Search)

The Standard Search screen allows you to enter words or phrases in a number of standard categories, including Keyword, Title Keyword, Author, Subject Category, Subject Term, and Journal Title. Enter your search terms in one or more of the pre-defined search fields and then select "Search."

Note: The Standard Search does not support "Boolean searching" (i.e., using the terms "and," "or," and "not" to link phrases or concepts into a single search phrase). Word combinations entered into any Standard Search field will be treated as a single phrase (e.g., searching for "duncan and russia" in order to find material on Isadora Duncan's work in Russia will only retrieve records in which "duncan and russia" appear in that order as an exact phrase). If you want to do a "Boolean search," you must use the Advanced Search screen.

Note: If you wish to see a listing of all valid terms in a Standard Search field (e.g., "subject category," "journal"), leave the text box blank and select "Browse." You may then select terms for searching by checking the box provided next to each search term (e.g., "circus arts," "american drama"). If you wish to find a specific term in the list, enter your search term in the text box provided at the top of the page and select "Look For." Once you have chosen a term for searching, select "Paste" and the term will be entered into the correct search field text box on the Standard Search screen.

Entering Your Search (Advanced Search)

The Advanced Search screen includes two areas for searching:

A "natural language" area at the top that allows you to enter search terms, either singly or in combination using Boolean operators ("and," "or," "not"). Author, Title, Journal, and Subject "keywords" can all be searched in this area of the search screen.

Note: The Advanced Search does not support phrase searching. All search terms must be entered singly, or in combination using a Boolean operator. If you want to do a phrase search, you must use the Standard Search screen.

A "controlled vocabulary" area at the bottom that allows you to "Browse" valid search terms and "Paste" them into place (as described in the "Standard Search" section above)

Once you have entered all of your search terms, select "Search."

Search Hints

You can always select more than one term for searching from the lists you see when you select "Browse" on either search screen [e.g., if you "Browse" journal titles and see more than one relevant term, for example, "dance magazine," "dance research," and "dance research international," all can be selected using the check boxes next to each term, and all will be entered into the appropriate text box(es) when you select "Paste," as described above].

Use general terms when searching the "keyword" fields, but use the "Browse" feature whenever you are searching one of the "controlled" fields (e.g., journal title or subject category).

Sample Search (on the Advanced Search screen): If you want to find reviews of theatrical productions in Chicago, enter "theatre or theater" in the first keyword text box, "review" in the second keyword text box, and "chicago" in the third keyword text box. To further limit your search, you might combine all those keyword search terms with a journal title such as "american drama" in the controlled vocabulary field below.

Limiting Your Search

IIPA provides a number of options for "limiting" your search through a series of drop-down menus on either search screen. Options for limiting include by date, by document type, by language, and by whether or not a record includes an abstract.

Displaying and Printing Search Results

After you select "Search" in either the Standard or Advanced Search mode, IIPA will display a list of records that match your search request. Each record will contain "Brief Citation" information, but a full citation for each record can be viewed either by selecting the "Full Citation" option listed under each record, or by using the "Selected/All Citations" option provided at the bottom of each page. There are no full-text records available in IIPA.

In order to print a list of citations, simply use the "Print" button on your Web browser while the "Brief Citation" list is displayed. In order to print the "Full Citation" for individual records, use the "Selected/All Citations" option once you have selected the individual records in which you are interested and then use the "Print" button on your Web browser.

For further assistance, please contact the
Miller Nichols Library Reference Desk. (816) 235-1534