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Latin America and the Caribbean (English) Change

Connexion: Searching WorldCat Quick Reference

Judy Barnes
Last revised (PDF only): February 2008

OCLC Connexion Interfaces

Use the Connexion client or browser interface

  • To open Connexion client Windows-based software, go to Start > Programs > OCLC Connexion, or double-click the client icon on the desktop.
  • To use the Connexion browser, open your Web browser and go to: <http://connexion.oclc.org>.

Enter command line or guided search/browse

Note on scripts: Only the Connexion client supports using these non-Latin scripts in WorldCat searches (not supported in browsing): Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Cyrillic, Devanagari, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Tamil, and Thai.

Search–Client or browser

Open the Search WorldCat client window or browser screen:

  Action
1 Client: Click Cataloging > Search > WorldCat, or click , or press <F2>.

Browser: Click Cataloging tab > Search > WorldCat, or press <Ctrl><Shift><W>.

2 Enter a full syntax search or browse in a single string in theCommand Line Search box. Include index labels, punctuation, (Boolean operators, and qualifiers. Type any of these search types:
  • Numeric
  • Keyword
  • Derived
  • Browse (scan an index)

Or

Enter a guided search in boxes and lists:
In any Keyword/Numeric Search for box, enter a numeric, keyword, or derived search term (no browse), and select an index from the adjacent list. Optional:

  • Combine up to 2 other search term(s). Enter a term and select a Boolean operator and a different index from the adjacent list.
  • Select or enter qualifiers in lists or boxes.

Tip: Expand or collapse the Search Worldcat window or screen: In theclient:, click Expand/Collapse. In the browser, click the plus or

minus button: or .

Quick search entry: Client only

Use the WorldCat Quick Search box on the toolbar to enter a command line search or browse:

Browse–Client or browser

Open the Browse WorldCat client window or browser screen to enter a guided browse:

  Action
1 Client: Click Cataloging > Browse > WorldCat, or click , or press <Ctrl><F2>.

Browser: Click Cataloging tab > Browse WorldCat, or press <Ctrl><Shift><B>.

2 Enter a browse term in the Browse for box. Select an index from the adjacent list.

See guidelines for entering command line versus guided searches in the next section, "Guidelines."

Batch process searches–Client only

Open the Enter Bibliographic Search Keys window to enter a list of searches in command line (full-syntax) format for batch processing:

  Action
1 Click Batch > Enter Bibliographic Search Keys, or press <Alt><B><B>.
2 Select a local file to store searches (default: DefaultBib.bib.db).
3 Enter a numeric, keyword, or derived search in the Query box, using full search syntax (same as command line search syntax).
4 Click Add or press <Enter>.
5 Repeat steps 3 and 4. As you add searches, the client displays them in a list.
6 When finished, click Save.
7 When ready, run batch processing (Batch > Process Batch).

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Guidelines

Command line (full syntax) search or browse

  • Include the Scan command (sca) for a browse term.
  • Include index labels followed by correct punctuation to search for words, phrases (subfield data) or whole phrases (field data).
    • Use a colon (:) for word indexes (example: ti:nexus).
    • Use an equal sign (=) for phrase or whole phrase indexes (example: ti=connected islands new and selected*).
    • Index labels ending in the letter w indicate whole phrase indexes (example: pnw=woolf, leonard 1880-1969).
    • Exceptions. Index labels are optional for:
      • Derived search if it is the first or only search term
      • ISBN search if it is the first or only search term
      • OCLC number search, if preceded by an asterisk (*) or number sign (#)
  • Options:
    • Type Boolean operators and, or, or not to combine multiple terms in different indexes.
    • Type proximity operators with (w) or near (n) with numbers (1 to 25) to find multiple terms in one index that have a specified number of intervening words.
    • Add qualifiers preceded by slashes or index labels:
      • Use slashes or index labels for format, year, microform, or source qualifiers
      • Use index labels only (cannt precede with a slash) for Internet/non-Internet or language qualifiers
      • Include only one qualifier of any one type.
    • Type symbols for wildcards (# or ?) and truncation (*) in place of characters to retrieve different forms of a word. (Available for Latin script searches only.)
      Note: Precede symbols by at least three characters.
  • Client only—no separate indexes for non-Latin script search terms: Use the same indexes, operators, and qualifiers as for Latin script searches. Enter them in Latin script.

Guided search or browse

  • In the Search WorldCat window or screen, type a keyword, numeric, or derived search term in any Search for box.
  • Optional. Type multiple search terms in a single box to combine a search in a single index. Between terms, type:
    • Operators and, or, or not
    • Operators with (w) or near (n). Optional: Add numbers (1 to 25) to specify the number of intervening words
  • Select an index from the adjacent list.
  • Options:
    • Type search terms in additional Search for boxes and select and, or, or not from lists to combine a search in a different index.
    • Type symbols for wildcards (# or ?) and truncation (*) in place of characters or endings in a search term to retrieve different forms of a word.
      Note: Precede symbols by at least three characters.
    • Select or enter qualifiers in lists or boxes.
  • Tip: Switch between long and short selection lists:
    Client: Click plus () or minus () to expand or shorten index, material type, or language lists.

    Browser: Click More Indexes or Fewer Indexes or click More Material Types or Fewer Material Types to expand or shorten index or material type lists.

Note: All examples and guidelines in this Quick Reference are for searches in command line format (full syntax) only.

Words, phrases, and whole phrases

Index Searches for Examples
Word Word or number anywhere in a field pn:stansbury
dd:151
Phrase Words in a single subfield from the beginning, in sequence, including all subfield data pn=james, henry
pb=Pearson Addison Wesley
Whole phrase All words in a field in sequence from the beginning, including all data across indexed subfields. pnw=james, henry 1843-1916
sew=poetry in public places
Notes:
  • When using a word index, to find records with an exact sequence of multiple words, enclose in quotation marks. Example: ti:"asian crisis"
  • Omit initial articles in titles for phrase and whole phrase searching.
  • Truncate a phrase or whole phrase using an asterisk (*), or use browsing for automatic truncation.
  • The truncation symbol (*) is available for Bengali, CJK, Devanagari, Tamil, and Thai script searching but not for other non-Latin script search terms.

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Search Types

Numeric searches

Numeric search guidelines

  • Command line: Always precede search term with an index label and punctuation (a colon (:) for numbers or an equal sign (=) for number phrases).
    Exception: ISBN does not require label if it is first or only search.
  • Type all numbers and letters, including ISBNs, government document numbers, and publisher numbers (formerly music publisher) .
    Tip for entering ISBNs ending in x: If you use the number keypad, truncate the number using the asterisk (*) key.
  • Omit spaces.
  • In class number searches:
    • Include periods. Example:dd:616.46
    • Omit all other punctuation in class numbers.
    • Omit spaces.
  • See notes in the following table on the treatment of hyphens in ISBN, ISSN, and LCCN searches.

Numeric search examples

Index (label) Number on item You type
ISBN (bn:) 0-85109-130-x 085109130x or
bn:085109130x
0-8247-7142-7 0824771427 or
bn:0824771427

Notes:

  • Use index label if number is not first search in command line.
  • Omit hyphens if no index label; either omit or enter hyphens with index label.
ISSN (in:) 1234-5678 in:1234-5678
0018-165x in:0018-165x

Note: Always include hyphens.

LCCN (ln:) map32-14 ln:32000014 or
ln:32-14
2002-580246 ln:2002-580246 or
ln:2002580246

Notes:

  • Enter with or without hyphen.
  • Include year portion (2 or 4 digits).
  • Use a circumflex (^) to exclude LCCNs that have prefixes.
Government document number (gn:) a 1.2:R31/14/984 gn:a12r3114984
NAS 1.2:SP1/46 gn:nas12sp146

Notes:

  • Enter all numbers and letters.
  • Omit punctuation.
OCLC control number (no:) 10998406 no:10998406 or
*10998406 or
#10998406

Notes:

  • Command line/full syntax search: Precede with index label, asterisk (*), or number sign (#).
  • Keyword/Numeric guided search: Optional. Precede with * or # instead of selecting an index.
Publisher number (mn:) CO 1979-AB5-1 mn:co1979ab51
Note: Formerly called music publisher number.
Publisher number phrase (mn=) BBC 001 mn=bbc 001

Note: For a phrase index, you can include spaces in the search term.


Keyword searches

Keyword search guidelines

  • For searches of the Access Method index (am: or am=)
    • Omit http: and https:.
    • Treat punctuation marks as word divisions.
    • Include stopwords for this index.
      Example: am:his
  • Internet qualifier (mt:) Limits results to:
    • Internet-only resources: Records with field 856 and second indicator values <blank>, 0, or 1. In the Command Line, type mt:url
      Or
    • Non-Internet resources: All other records. Type not mt:url

Stopwords

The system ignores these common words in a keyword search:

a
an
and
are
as
at		 be
but
by
for
from
had		 has
have
he
her
his
if		 in
into
is
it
its
not		 of
on
or
she
so
than		 that
the
their
there
this
to		 was
were
when
which
with
would		 you

Enclose any stopword in quotation marks to include it in a search.

Example: To search for the title And Then There Were None, type ti:"and" then "there" "were" none.

Keyword search examples

Index Label Example
Corp/Conf Name cn: cn:enron
Corp/Conf Name Phrase cn= cn=enron corp
Corp/Conf Name Whole Phrase cnw= cnw=enron corp board of directors special investigative committee
Name au: au:kahlo
Name Whole Phrase auw= au=kahlo, frida 1910-1954
Personal Name pn: pn:salinger j d
Publisher pb: pb:thousand oaks
Series se: se:ergonomic
Series Phrase se= se=ergonomic management series
Subject Phrase su= su=aquatic ecosystems
Title ti: ti:gerontological
Title Phrase ti= ti=gerontological nursing

Derived searches

Derived search key limits

Derived index Label Minimum key Maximum key
Personal Name pd: 4,1,blank 4,3,1
Corp/Conf Name

cd:

 =4,1,blank =4,3,1
Name/Title nd: 4,4 4,4
Title td: none 3,2,2,1
Notes:
  • For records without 1xx fields, the minimum search key can be blank,4.
  • Even if data has fewer than the required number of words, type all required commas. Example: To find Roots, type td:roo,,, or roo,,,
  • For Corp/Conf Names, precede with index label or equal sign (=).

Derived search guidelines

  • Omit index label if first or only search in the command line.
  • Omit initial articles (a, an, the, and non-English equivalents).
  • Include articles within titles.
  • Include letters and numbers.
  • Exclude all other characters, including diacritics and punctuation.
  • Use a circumflex (^) to narrow a search. (Do not use the circumflex in a derived title search.) Example: pd:harv,hen,^ or harv,hen,^
  • For names beginning with Mc or Mac followed by an uppercase letter, type m and omit c or ac. If followed by lowercase letter, include c or ac.
    Examples: For MacDonald, Marion B., type pn:mdon,mar,b.
    For Macdonald, Andrew T., type pd:macd,and,t.
  • For compound or hyphenated surnames, treat all parts of a name up to the first comma as the first derived search element. Example: For Li-Marcus, Moying, type pd:lima,moy,.
  • For forenames only, treat each part as separate segments. Treat each part of a hyphenated forename as separate. Examples: For White Bull, type pd:whit,bul,. To find Li-Min Tau, type pd:li,min,t..
  • Do not use non-Latin scripts in derived searches.

Stopwords

Omit these words from the first segment of a derived corporate/conference name search for cd: and nd: indexes. Otherwise, include them.

&

a

A

American

an

and

Association

at

Australia

Board

Bureau

Canada

College

Colloquium

Commission

Committee

Commonwealth

Conference

Congress

Council

Department

Dept

Division

East

Federal

for

France

Great Britain

House

in

India

Institute

Institution

International

Joint

Meeting

National

North

of

Office

on

Organization

Parliament

School

Seminar

West

Senate

Society

South

State

Subcommittee

Symposium

the

U.N.

United Nations

United States

University

US

U.S.

West

Workshop

All names of U.S. states


Derived search examples

Index (label) To find You type
Personal Name Derived (pd:) Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus pd:moz,wol,a or moz,wol,a
De Groot, Adriaan pd:degr,adr, or degr,adr,
Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth pd:kubl,eli, or kubl,eli,
Corp/Conf Derived (cd:) American Rock Garden Society cd:rock,gar,s or =rock,gar,s
World Energy Conference cd:worl,ene,c or =worl,ene,c
Name/Title Derived (nd:) Bergson, The creative mind nd:berg,crea or berg,crea
Clarke, 2001 : a space odyssey nd:clar,2001 or clar,2001
Title Derived (td:) Realism in our time td:rea,in,ou,t or rea,in,ou,t
Hotel td:hot,,, or hot,,,
Miracle on 34th street td:mir,on,34,s or mir,on,34,s

Browse (scan an index)

Browse guidelines

  • Include up to 60 letters, numbers, spaces, or these characters: ( ) # &
  • Omit initial articles (a, an, the, and non-English equivalents) from browse terms.
  • Include hyphens or substitute a space.
  • Begin a phrase or whole phrase with the first word in a field or subfield (exclude initial articles). The system matches the exact term, beginning with the first word in sequence across indexed fields/subfields.
  • Type any word to browse a word index (need not be the first word); the system matches any instance of the word in indexed fields/subfields.
  • Browsing provides automatic truncation. Type only as many characters or words as needed. Example: For the title Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, type sca tiw=let us now praise
  • Use the title whole phrase index (tiw=) to browse for a title proper, or cataloger-constructed title access point. The index excludes 245 ‡b.
  • Use the title phrase index (ti=) to browse for title/subtitle combinations. The index includes 245 ‡b.
  • Do not combine terms or use qualifiers, truncation, or character masking for browsing.
  • If you copy text across subfields in a record and paste as a browse term, remove delimiters, subfield codes, and punctuation.
  • If you are unsure of an exact browse term, use a keyword search instead.

Browse examples

Index Label To browse, type
Corp/Conf Whole Phrase cnw= sca cnw=hershey chocolate
Dewey Class Number dd: sca dd:151
LC Class Number lc: sca lc:z5063.2.a2
Name Whole Phrase auw= sca auw=dewey, melvil
Personal Name Whole Phrase pnw= sca pnw=james, henry 1843-1916
Publisher Phrase pb= sca pb=macmillan
Series Whole Phrase sew= sca sew=literacy 2000
Subject Whole Phrase suw= sca suw=library science
Title Whole Phrase tiw= sca tiw=birds and beasts
Uniform Title Whole Phrase utw= sca utw=concertos f 44 f major

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Qualify, Combine, Expand Searches

Use qualifiers, Boolean and proximity operators, and wildcard and truncation symbols to qualify, combine, and/or expand searches.

Qualifers

Add qualifiers to searches to limit results.

Qualifier (label) You type
Type/Format (mt:) /bks or mt:bks (Books)

/com or mt:com (Computer Files)

/cnt or mt:cnr (Continuing Resources)

/map or mt:map (Maps)

/mix or mt:mix (Mixed Materials)

/sco or mt:sco (Scores)

/rec or mt:rec (Sound Recordings)

/vis or mt:vis (Visual Materials)

Note: You can also use:

  • /ser or mt:ser(Serial)
  • /int or mt:int(Integrating resource)
    The broader continuing resources qualifier index (cnr) includes serials and integrating resources.
Year(s) of publication (yr:)

Single year (example: /1980 or yr:1980)

Decade (example: /198? or yr:198?)

Century (example: /19?? or yr:19??)

Single year and all following years (example: /1980- or yr:1980-)

Single year and all previous years (example: /-1980 or yr:-1980)

Range of years (examples: /1980-3 or /1980-93 or
/1880-921 or /1990-2005 or precede with index label instead of slash)

Unknown dates (code u) (example: for Date1 value of 19uu, type /1900 or yr:1900)

No date: Enter zeroes (example: /0000 or yr:0000)

Microform/not microform (mf:) /mf or mf:mic (microform)

/nm or mf:nmc (not microform)

Source (dl:) /dlc or dl:y (records contributed by Library of Congress/Program for Cooperative Cataloging)

Note: Use Cataloging Source phrase index (cs=) and OCLC symbol to find records contributed by another specific library.

Internet/
non-Internet (mt:)		 mt:url (Internet resources only)

not mt:url (exclude Internet resources)

Language (la:) Index label followed by name or MARC code (example: la:english or la:eng)

Qualifier guidelines

  • Use slashes or index labels for format, years, microform, or source qualifiers. Use index labels only for Internet/non-Internet and language qualifiers.
  • Use only one qualifier of each type per search.
  • Slash qualifiers must appear at the end of a search. Qualifiers with index labels can appear anywhere in a search.
  • Type qualifiers in any order.

Operators

Use Boolean and proximity operators to combine search terms.

Operator What it does
and Finds records containing combined terms in the same record.
or Finds records containing any or all terms.
not Excludes records containing the term following not.
with (w) Finds records containing both terms, in the order typed, or if followed by a number (1 to 25), finds records with no more than the specified number of words between the terms.
near (n) Same as for with, except that the words can be in any order.

Operator guidelines

  • Do not use and, or, not, with, or near for browsing.
  • Do not use with or near for derived searching.
  • To use and, or, not, with, or near as a keyword in a search, enclose the word in quotation marks to prevent the system from treating it as an operator.

    Example:     To search for the title Neighbors Near and Far, type ti:neighbors "near" "and" far.
  • Type the maximum number of characters in the segments of combined derived searches (see table on p. 4).
  • Qualifiers apply to all parts of combined searches.

Truncation and wildcard symbols

Use truncation and wildcard symbols to expand or focus searches.

Truncation How to use
* Place at the end of a word to retrieve variant endings
Example: invest* retrieves investor, investment, investment fraud, etc.

Wildcard How to use
# Replace one unknown character in a word
Example: wom#n retrieves woman and women
? Replace multiple unknown characters in a word
Example: emp?e retrieves empire, empale, emphasize, and emplace
?n Specify the number of characters to replace (n=number of characters, 1-9) Example: str?3 retrieves street, stream, streak, stride, strait, string, etc.

Truncation and wildcard guidelines

  • Limitation: Precede symbols by at least three characters.
  • Non-Latin script searches: Truncating searches is supported for Bengali, CJK, Devanagari, Tamil, and Thai script search terms only, not for other non-Latin script searches. For other scripts, use browsing for automatic truncation.

Examples

Searches in both keyword/numeric and derived search format:

Keyword/numeric search Derived search
au:rendell, ruth or au:vine, barbara rend,rut, or vine,bar,
Or
pd:rend,rut, or vine,bar,
au:cervantes/1970-80/vis
Or
au:cervantes and mt:vis and yr:1970-80		 cerv,mig,d/1970-80/vis
Or
pd:cerv,mig,d and yr:1970-80 and mt:vis
au:camus and ti:etranger and la:french pd:camu,alb, and td:etr,,, and la:french

Qualified, combined, and/or expanded keyword/numeric searches:

su:wom?n and history and new york/1990-
su:civil and war not battle/1970
ti:aluminum w2 wiring
dd:880 and la:eng/bks/1960-70

Qualified and combined derived searches:

gon,wi,th,w/bks/19??/mf/dlc
Or
td:gon,wi,th,w/bks/19??/mf/dlc
=adri,col,/bks/1970-90
Or
cd:adri,col,/bks/1970-90
hemi,ern, not far,to,ar, and yr:2000-
Or
pd:hemi,ern, not td:far,to,ar,/2000-

Qualify by specific material types

Type the qualifier mt: or mt= followed by the 3-letter code or name.
Example: To find The Sound of Music in CD audio only, type:
sou,of,mu, and mt:cda or sou,of,mu, and mt=cd audio

Note: For Serial and Integrating resource material types, you can also add to the end of a search as a slash qualifer (/ser or /int).

The following table of available material type codes and names lists material types alphabetically by name within groups:

Code Name   Code Name
Universal types - Books (bks) and Mixed Materials (mix)
shs Adolescent   lgp Local government publication
arc Archival material mss Manuscript
acp Article mmc Master microform
bio Biography mcd Micro-opaque
brl Braille mfc Microfiche
cnp Conference publication mfl Microfilm
elc Electronic ngp National government publication
fic Fiction ejh Pre-adolescent
gpb Government publication pre Preschool
igp International government publication pri Primary school
jau Juvenile (no specific age) sgp State or province government publication
juv Juvenile (includes all juvenile types) deg

Thesis/dissertation

lpt Large print web Web access
Sound recordings (rec)
45s 45 rpm   msr Musical recording
78s 78 rpm nsr Non-musical recording
cas Cassette rll Roll
cda CD audio rtr Reel-to-reel tape
dva DVD audio wxc Wax cylinder
lps LP wrr Wire recording
mp3 MP3
Visual materials (vis)
ngr 2-D image   oar Original artwork
art 3-D object pal PAL
Visual materials (vis), continued
anm Animation   pan Partial animation
rep Artwork reproduction   pht Photograph
bta Beta   pic Picture
cht Chart   pgr Projected image
dio Diorama   rbj Real object (realia)
dvv DVD video   scm SECAM
mot Film   sld Slide
flm Filmstrip   tch Technical drawing
crd Flash card   toy Toy
gam Game   trn Transparency
grp Graphic   vhs VHS
kit Kit   vca Videocassette
msl Microscope slide   vdc Videodisc
mdl Model   vid Videorecording
Maps, cartographic materials (map)
atl Atlas   mcm Manuscript map
cgl Celestial globe mmp Model map
egl Earth globe pgl Planetary globe
gsc Geological section pcm Published map
glb Globe rsi Remote-sensing image
Musical scores (sco)
mmu Manuscript music   pmu Published music
Continuing resources (cnr)
int Integrating resource   ser Serial
new Newspaper upd Updating database
per Periodical upl Updating loose-leaf
mse Series upw Updating website
Computer files (com)
312 3.5 in. disc   fnt Font
514 5.25 in. disc imm Interactive multimedia
bdt Bibliographic data ndt Numeric data
cdc CD for computer oss Online system or service
cgm Computer game pgm Program
cig Clipart images graphics snd Sound effect
dct Document

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More Information

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Support

  • Contact your OCLC regional service provider. See provider information on the OCLC Web site.
  • Contact OCLC (support in English, Spanish and Portuguese).

    Hours: 7:00 am—9:00 pm U.S. Eastern time, Monday-Friday.
    • Telephone number in USA: 1-800-848-5800
    • International telephone number: 1-614-793-8682
    • Fax number: 1-614-764-2694
    • E-mail: support@oclc.org
      Or
      From within the Connexion client or browser:
      • Client: On the Help menu, click Contact Support.
      • Browser: In the OCLC Connexion title bar, click Contact.
    • Support form on the Web.

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