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WorldCat

Why select this database?

• WorldCat is the OCLC Online Union Catalog, containing more than 35 million records describing items owned by your library or libraries around the world; each record contains library holdings.
• It is produced by the OCLC Online Computer Library Center and describes these types of items:

      books*                       manuscripts
      computer data files          maps
      computer programs            musical scores
      films and slides             newspapers*
      journals*                    sound recordings   
      magazines*                   videotapes 
     
      *Does not include individual articles, stories in journals, magazines,
       newspapers, or book chapters.

Subjects included

• Thousands of subjects

Coverage/update frequency

• Covers from about 1000 A.D. to the present
• Adds new records daily

Indexes and Labels

The following indexes and labels are available for use in this database.

Basic searches

Search               Search example
Subject*             su:freedom of speech
                     su:thomas jefferson
Author               au:saul bellow
Title*               ti:cider house
Accession number     an:13792106
Gov doc number       gn:nas126172399
Notes*               nt:vhs
Publication place    pl:melbourne
Publisher            pb:koala farlag
Report number        rn:tp968
Series               se:early english
Standard number      sn:0894261460
Subject headings*    sh:tapestry
Uniform title        ut:concerto
Vendor               vn:casalini and medicine

*Type + at the end of a word to search for the word and its plural (s or es
only) and possessive forms., +

Exact-phrase searches

Exact-phrase Searches            Searches for
Author                au=        The FULL title, author, etc., have
Title                 ti=        to appear EXACTLY as you type      
Subject Heading       sh=        it.  We recommend that you find        
Conference Name       cn=        your term in the Wordlist first.      
Corporate Name        co=        Then follow the HINTS on that     
Music Number          mu=        screen to search it.      
                                        

Searching tips

Subject (su:) search. The su: label is not required for a Subject search. FirstSearch uses su: if you type a search with no label. The Subject search finds information in these fields: subject headings, titles, and contents notes.

Subject headings. Subject headings are listed in Library of Congress Subject Headings and MeSH, which your library may have. Use the Subject heading (sh:) search to find records that contain particular subject headings. For example, type sh:california and sh:history to find records that have those controlled subject headings.

ISSN, ISBN, LCCN. Use the Standard Number (sn:) search for International Standard Serial Numbers (ISSNs), International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs), and Library of Congress Card Numbers (LCCNs).

• Type an ISSN with a hyphen. For example, to search for ISSN 0043-5651, type sn:0043-5651
• Type an ISBN without hyphens. For example, to search for ISBN 0-316-08275-9, type sn:0316082759
• Type an LCCN as an eight-digit number without a hyphen. The first two digits represent the year; the remainder of the number has six digits including leading zeros. For example, to search for the LCCN 86-3211, type sn:86003211

Government Document Number index (GN:) or Report Number index (RN:). To search the Government Document Number index (GN:) or the Report Number index (RN:), delete all punctuation and spaces. For example, to retrieve the Government Document Number Y 4.P 96/10:W29/2, type gn:y4p9610w292. To retrieve the report number FAA-AM-79-22, type rn:faaam7922.

Subject heading exact-phrase (sh=) search. Search each part of a subject heading with multiple parts separately. For example, this subject heading appears in the SUBJECT field of a record:

Ireland--History--Civil War, 1922-1923

To search, combine the parts using AND. Type sh:ireland and sh:history and sh:civil war 1922-1923.

Or, you could use parentheses to link the phrases because they all have the same label: sh:(ireland and history and civil war 1922-1923).

Title exact-phrase (ti=) search. When you use the Search action for a Title exact phrase, type the entire title, enclose AND, NOT, N, or W in quotation marks, and exclude a, an, or the when it is the first word of the title. For example, to search for The Owl and the Nightingale, type ti=owl "and" the nightingale.

When you use the Wordlist action to look up a Title exact phrase, type the beginning of the title and exclude a, an, or the when it is the first word of the title. For example, type ti=owl and the nightingale.