When you first load the CGKN Metadata Catalogue you will see the following screen:
You must select which Available Host(s) you wish to search, such as BCGS Publications. The default search criterion is set to Bounding Coordinates, however, you have several search criteria to choose from. Use the pull-down menu to select criterion and pull down rewrite to refine. Click the Search button to start. The most effective search criterion for BCGS publications are Theme Keyword, Place Keyword, Title, Originator/Author, Abstract, any of the Bounding Coordinate choices and Publication Date. The rest are fairly ineffective for searching BCGS publications, due to lack of data.
When searching by Publication Date try to use the >, <, => and <= options. Remember that when a date is entered it must be in the format YYYYMMDD (i.e. 20020426) otherwise you will get an error message. Since the publication date for the BSGS publications are only inputted as YYYY there is no use in searching for specific days or months. You can simply put in zeroes for MMDD (i.e. 20020000)
When searching the BCGS publications by title it is best to use one keyword otherwise it will return results for publications that match any of the words that were entered. It does not return results that contain all of the words. You can also search for a particular string in the title, for example, “Vancouver Island” will return all publications with that string in the title. Search criteria can be added using the "Add a Criterion" button.
Once you have entered your search parameters and clicked search you will see a screen similar to the following:
View Results
This page will update every ten seconds until the search is complete. The number in parenthesis (in this example it is 646) is the number of matching publications; this will show a maximum of 1000 records. The number to the left (25) is the number of publications whose metadata you can view immediately, the rest will appear once the search is complete, up to a maximum of 100. If the search is stopped at the maximum value you may want to refine your search. Click the number on the left to view a list of reports that are available, this will open in a new window while the previous window will continue to refresh every ten seconds until the search is complete.
As the main window refreshes records will continue to become available. To view the metadata about a particular publication simply click on the Record Id and another new window will appear.
The new window will display all available metadata connected to that record. The window will look like the following image:
All of the fields are linked to the FGDC definitions. If the publication you are viewing is available online then you will see a link to the right of “Online Linkage,” in this case the link is simply labeled “View File.” This link will take you to the main page of that publication. From the main page you will be able to view the publication in PDF or another format and, where applicable, associated data.
View Bounding Box
If you would like to
view the area represented by the bounding box coordinates on a map you will need
to click on the image of the blue globe 
located
beside the Record Id on the list of search results. This will open a map
interface window showing a map of Canada. Use the zoom controls to zoom into
the area where your publication is located to view its bounding box.
As an alternative to viewing a list of available matches you can click on the blue globe located to the left of that record number.
This will open a map interface window of Canada with the bounding boxes of all available publications based on your search.
You can use the zoom tools to zoom
in and out of various locations. When you have found an area that interests you
click on the Info button 
and
click inside a box on the map. A new window will appear with a list of
publications, similar to the one earlier, whose bounding box contains the point
where you clicked.
Refined Search
If you would like to refine your search to be more specific you can click on the “Add a criterion” button. You can then search the results you just viewed based on another criterion. This is a good choice if you would like to use multiple keywords for a title search. Now all the publications will have to contain both search parameters in the title. Additional help is available through the various Help links on the screens.
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