This is a brief guide to searching OCLC's Online Union Catalog. For more complete information, consult Searching WorldCat on the web or the looseleaf publication Guide to Searching the Online Union Catalog.
Search Key: Syntax: Example:
Title 3,2,2,1 gon,wi,th,w
Name/Title 4,4 mitc,gone
Personal name 4,3,1 copp,fra,f
Corporate or
conference name =4,3,1 =nort,uni,e
(see also the stoplist below)
ISBN complete number without hyphens (cannot be used
if an index or record is displayed; press F3
to get to a blank screen)
9211211999
ISSN complete number without hyphen (cannot be used
if an index or record is displayed; press F3
to get to a blank screen)
0257-2184
OCLC number #<number> #12345678
LC card number number as presented on card, without
alphabetic prefixes or suffixes
47-23833
8-3175
Name authority [4,3,1 [kenn,joh,f
Uniform title [3,2,2,1 [gon,wi,th,w
Title phrase sca ti <title phrase to be searched>
sca ti gone with the wind
NOTE: The title phrase index costs more to use than the search keys, and is recommended only when the search keys are expected to retrieve too many hits.
Append qualifiers to your search key, preceding each with a slash (/)
Mixed materials mix
Books bks
Maps map
Visual materials vis
Computer files com
Musical scores sco
Serials ser
Sound recordings rec
Microform mf
Not microform nm
Library of Congress
cataloging dlc
Dates/Years of publication:
Single year (1981) 1981
Decade (1980-1989) 198?
Century (1900-1999) 19??
No date, or Date 1 in fixed field contains at least one
"u" or fill characters
????
Inclusive years
(1981-1984) 1981-4
(1981-1990) 1981-90
(1890-1928) 1890-928
(1890-1928) 1890-1928
Up through a year -1981
Since a year 1981-
Begin a corporate or conference name search key with the first word not on the stoplist. Include any stoplist words thereafter. Stopwords are words on this list, initial articles, and states in the U.S.
a Congress Institute State A. Council Institution Subcommittee American Department International Symposium an Dept. Joint the Association East National U. N. Australia for North U.N. Bureau France of United Nations Canada Great Britain on United States Colloquium Gt. Brit. Seminar University Commission Gt.Brit. Senate U. S. Committee House Society U.S. Conference India South West
Keyword searches should be used sparingly (they cost much more than search keys).
Format of a keyword search:
fin <index> <term> and <index> <term>
Example: fin ti vertigo and au hitchcock
Index labels:
au personal, corporate, or conference name
la language
nt notes
pb publisher
pl place of publication
se series
su subject
ti title
ut uniform title
Stoplist for keyword searches (do not use these words in a keyword search):
a as by have in of the with
an at for he is on this which
and be from her it or to you
are but had his not that was
Sending a search key, etc. F11 Page down F4 Page up F5 Next record in index F9 Previous record in index Shift-F9 Go back to index Ctrl-F9 Export record to NOTIS F1 Print screen Ctrl-F8
Created Dec. 20, 1995 (KMR)
Last revised Mar. 30, 2001 (KMR)