For more on audio/video formats used in THDL and audio/video troubleshooting, please see the the Audio Video Help. Also make sure you have installed the necessary fonts and audio-video players for using audio-video within THDL by consulting Prepping Your Computer.

Objects in our online audio/video collection are referred to as titles. A completed title consists of a catalog entry, a media file (audio/video), and a transcript including translation and grammatical analysis. The video collection is growing rapidly as we process titles from our tape library and make them available online. The tape library contains over two hundred hours of audio and video material about Tibetan Medicine, Lhasa History, Tibetan Music, and other topics of interest to the general public and the Tibetanist alike.

Quick Search: If you know the name of the title you want, type it into the Quick Search area on the home page.

Advanced Search: For a more detailed search of the entire collection, go to the main search page by pressing the "Advanced Search" button on the home page.

Advanced Search Criteria: There are five types of search criteria that can be specified from the search page.

Basic Content provides fields for specifying a title and a specific collection.

THDL Classification options provide fields for specifying place and keywords information. In the future, there will be additional criteria here for Thematic classification.

Media Options filter search results based on whether or not there are media files associated with titles returned by the search. One can require video, audio, both, either, or neither.

Transcript Options filter search results based on Transcript criteria. One can require a transcript, translation, or neither. Except in very few cases, any title with a translation also will include a transcript.

Search Results Options allow you to sort search results alphabetically or chronologically based on the date a title was entered. You can also choose to view just a list of titles instead of titles with the large set of display/edit options. This feature is handy if you just need a quick view of titles for a given collection. For content contributors, there is the option to "view as guest" which filters search results based on whether the titles, transcripts, translations, and media files have been marked as "presentable" by the person managing the collection in which the title is held.

To create an account for a new staff member, log into your AVDB account and click on the "Add other content: Staff Member" link under "EDIT OPTIONS" on the AVDB home page. Fill out the "Add a Staff Member/Worker" form with the requested information and click on the "Submit" button at the bottom of the page. The new staff member is now in the system and they will be able to log into their new account.