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OCLC WorldCat (WorldCat)

OCLC catalog of books, web resources, and other material worldwide

Why select this database?

  • Contains all the records cataloged by OCLC member libraries.
  • Offers millions of bibliographic records.
  • Includes records representing 400 languages.
Database details
Subjects

All material cataloged by OCLC member libraries including:

books manuscripts
websites and internet resources maps
computer programs musical scores
films and slides newspapers
journals and magazines sound recordings
articles, chapters, papers videotapes
Sources OCLC member libraries
Number of records See WorldCat facts and statistics for the latest information.
Dates covered Before 1000 BC to present
Updated Daily
Producer information

OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
6565 Kilgour Place
Dublin, Ohio 43017-3395
USA
Phone:1-800-848-5878
Fax: +1-614-764-6096
Web: http://www.oclc.org
E-mail: support@oclc.org

Other databases by this producer:
Copyright

Copyright © 1978- 2009 OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.

Index labels and examples of an expert search in WorldCat® Database, the OCLC Online Union Catalog

Use a colon after an index label (for example, au:) when you are not certain of your search terms. Use an equal sign after an index label (au=) for an exact match search. You can search with an index label from any search screen. The information you type overrides any default menu selections. The following examples show sample rather than actual searches.

Search indexes Labels Examples
Keyword kw: coffee or tea and house+
[keyword searches, publication year, ISBN, geographic codes, map data, and all the information found in the Author, Title, Notes and Subject indexes]
Access Method am: www oclc org [or] oclc
[omit http://, and use spaces instead of periods or slashes]
Access Restrictions rs: unrestricted
Access Restrictions Phrase rs= unrestricted online access
Accession Number no: 37993343
[OCLC number]
Author au: saint-arroman
(use single quotes around 'le' and other words that are operators;
operators supported in FirstSearch: Boolean search operators, parentheses, proximity operators, wildcards; operators included are le, ge, it, gt, n, near, w, with, and, or, not)
Author Phrase au= saint-arroman auguste
(use double quotes around exact phrases; omit single quote from 'le' operator when the double quote is used to search for an exact phrase)
Corporate and Conference Name cn: canad*
Corporate and Conference Name Phrase cn= canadian acoustics week
Country of Publication cp: Norway
Country of Publication Phrase cp= Nova Scotia
Descriptor de: voice disorders
Descriptor Phrase de= voice disorders in children
Dewey Class Edition d2: 19
(edition used to assign Dewey Class Number)
Dewey Class Number dd: 998.900
[index deletes and collapses spaces and punctuation, except periods]
Genre/Form ge: solo piano
Genre/Form Phrase ge= screenplays
Geographic Coverage gc: cape
Geographic Coverage Phrase gc= capetown
Gov Doc Number gn: y4p9610w292
[omit spaces and punctuation]
ISBN nb: 3196311821 or 31-9631-182-1
9780763625894 or 978-0-763625-89-4
[search with or without hyphens]
ISSN sn: 0000-0019
[use hyphens]
LC Control Number nl: ne64-2560 or ne64002560 or ne642560 or
64-2560 or 64002560 or 642560
(prefixes can be immediately connected to the number or removed; hyphens can be included or removed; the number is searchable as it is stored, with the year and then six digits with leading zeros for unused digits, or as it is often displayed, without zeros)
Library and Archives Canada Class No. ca: sf209.5
[index deletes and collapses spaces and punctuation, except periods]
Library of Congress Call No. lc: hd9000.6
[index deletes and collapses all spaces and punctuation, except periods]
Material Type mt: vhs
Material Type Phrase mt= vhs tape
Musical Composition mc: jazz
Musical Composition Phrase mc= folk music
Music Number mu: has19832
[concatenates all punctuation and spaces up to a dash or double hyphen]
Named Corporation and Conference nc: world conference on women
Named Corporation and Conference Phrase nc= intel corporation
Named Person na: mandela
Named Person Phrase na= mandela, nelson
[last name first with first comma retained]
Natl Ag Lib Call No. ag: sf223.w47
[index deletes and collapses spaces and punctuation, except periods]
NLM Call Number lm: hv4915
[index deletes and collapses spaces and punctuation, except periods]
NLM Call Number Phrase lm= hv4915g461999
[index deletes and collapses spaces and punctuation, except periods]
Notes/Comments nt: translation-adaptation
Personal Name pn: lemaire
Personal Name Phrase pn= lemaire gerard-georges
[use last name first with or without the first comma retained]
Publisher pb: mcgraw-hill
Publisher Phrase pb= new star media inc
Publisher Location pl: china
Report Number rn: nofhwap179012
[omit spaces and punctuation]
Series Title se: emb report
Series Title Phrase se= emb evaluation report
Standard Number sn: 1097461x or 1097-461x
9780763625894 or 978-0-763625-89-4
1550463160 or 155-0463-160
64002560
(for all searches, hyphens can be included in the search or removed; for the LCCN number, only the number used for storage, with the year and then six digits with leading zeros for unused digits, is indexed; many other standard numbers are included in this index)
Subject su: coffee and tea house+
Subject Phrase su= coffeehouses in art
Subject All sa= authors american biography
[for the subject "authors, american - biography"
phrase search of complete subject heading]
Subject Headings, LC hl: biography
[only subject headings noted as US Library of Congress]
Subject Headings, LC Phrase hl= authors american
[only subject headings noted as US Library of Congress]
Subject Headings, LC Children's Lit hc: parties
[only subject headings noted as US Library of Congress Children's Literature]
Subject Headings, LC Children's Lit phrase hc= childrens writing
[only subject headings noted as US Library of Congress Children's Literature]
Subject Headings, MESH hm: optometry
[only subject headings noted as MESH/US National Library of Medicine]
Subject Headings, MESH phrase hm= vision low
[only subject headings noted as MESH/US National Library of Medicine]
Subject Headings, NAL ha: fruit
[only subject headings noted as US National Library of Agriculture]
Subject Headings, NAL phrase ha= fruit trees
[only subject headings noted as US National Library of Agriculture]
Subject Headings, Canadian he: photography
[only subject headings noted as Library and Archives Canada in English]
Subject Headings, Canadian phrase he= landscape photography
[only subject headings noted as Library and Archives Canada in English]
Subject Headings, RVM hr: indiens
[only subject headings noted as Repertoire des vedettes-matiere (Library and Archives Canada in French)]
Subject Headings, RVM phrase hr= politique sanitaire
[only subject headings noted as Repertoire des vedettes-matiere (Library and Archives Canada in French)]
Subject Headings, Sears hs: legends
[only subject headings noted as Sears]
Subject Headings, Sears phrase hs= jewish legends
[only subject headings noted as Sears]
Subject Headings, Other ho: fiction
gsafd
(includes the MARC codes for the classification type indexed)
Subject Headings, Other Phrase ho= historical fiction
Title ti: music w3 british w3 enlightenment
Title Phrase ti= music theory in the british isles during the enlightenment
Uniform title ut: bible
Uniform Title Phrase ut= selected poems 1930-1972
Unique Serial Title tk: renew annual report
Unique Serial Title Phrase tk= service & innovation
Universal Decimal Class No. ud: 101-051
[use periods and hyphens]
Update Date up: 20010101
Vendor vn: libros
Year 2 yy: 1997
(all unknown digits are searched as 9s; however, if all four digits are unknown, they are searched as 0000)

Refine your results by adding these labels to your search terms:

Refine by Label Example
DLC restrictor dl: ti: anything and dl:y
Document type¹ bks (books) mix (mixed material) dt= (history and dt=map)
com (computer) rec (recordings)
map (maps) sco (scores)
vis (visual media) ser (serials)
url (internet resource) art (articles)
int (continually updated resource)  
Language² ln= ln=spa or ln=spanish
Library holdings³ li= li=ocl
Material type4 mt: or mt= history and mt=juvenile
history and mt=microform
Number of libraries5 cg: history and cg:31-
Year(s) of publication yr: yr:1996-1998

¹ Use these limits only in combination with another search statement.
² Valid values for the language limiter include both the MARC three-letter language code and the english spelling of a language. For example, Spanish can be searched using ln=spa or ln=spanish.
³ For a list of library symbols, visit the Participating Institutions List Web site
4 A number of specific searches are available with the material type index can make an excellent method for limiting records. For a complete list of material type indexes see Material types.
5 For a complete list of codes for the Number of Libraries index, see Number of library holdings.

MARC Record index fields for WorldCat

Indexes based on Local Holdings (Union List) data included in WorldCat.

Search indexes Labels Examples
Local Holdings - present L7: ti:libraries and L7:yes
Yes is the onliy valid search: limits results to records with local holdings information.
Local Holdings - by state/province phrase L2= ti:libraries and L2="or"
ti:libraries and L2=Oregon
Limits the results to records with local holdings held by an institution in a state, province, or area.
Local Holdings - by city phrase L3= ti:libraries and L3="columbus oh"
Limits the results to records with local holdings held by an institution in a specific city and state, province, or area.
Local Holdings - by institution symbol L4: ti:libraries and L4:ocl
Limits the results to records with local holdings held by an institution's symbol.
Local Holdings - by groups L5: ti:libraries and L5:oglu
Limits the results to records with local holdings held by members of profiled GAC and/or UL groups.
Local Holdings - by 4-character local holding symbol phrase L6= ti:libraries and L6="oclc ocl
ti:libraries and L6="oclc"
Limits the results to records with local holdings held by an institution's 4-character local holding symbol.

Note: The same 4-character symbol may be used by more than one institution. For those 4-character symbols, use the institution symbol after the 4-character symbol.

Also, any 4-character symbols that include a percentage sign (%) should include both the 4-character symbol and the institition symbol to retrieve the specific information.