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:
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| 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. Other databases by this producer: | ||||||||||||
| Copyright | Copyright © 1978- <!--ATTN T-SYSTEMS: Sprinkle, asset ID 28885-->2012<!-- // T-SYSTEMS--> 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, Publisher, Publisher location, 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 type 4 | mt: or mt= | history and mt=juvenile history and mt=microform | ||
| Number of libraries 5 | 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.
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. |