Index labels and examples of an expert search in WorldCat
- You may type an index label with your search terms rather than a selection from the list of indexes to search on any search screen. The information you type overrides all default menu selections.
- Use a colon after an index label (as in au:wang) when you are not certain of your search terms.
- Use an equal sign (=) after an index label (as in au=saint-arroman, august) for an exact match search.
Text string searching
The following are sample rather than actual searches.
| 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 any punctuation or special characters) |
| Accession Number | no: | 37993343 (OCLC) |
| Action Note | io: | digital master |
| 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: | canadian |
| 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 &Lang.index.dewey;.) |
| 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 |
| GeographicCoverage Phrase | gc= | capetown |
| Gov Doc Number | gn: | y4p9610w292 (omit spaces and punctuation) |
| Institution Record Call Number (for libraries that have enabled searching Institition Records) | nu: | E185.61.B79141988 E185.61*(omit all spaces and additional text except periods for each subfield of data provided; sometimes the data displayed actually comes from more then one subfield; truncating the search can make sure all types of data entry are retrieved; this index does not support browsing) |
| Institution Record Call Number Phrase (for libraries that have enabled searching Institition Records) | nu= | E185.61 .B7914 1988 E185.61*(searches the data as it is displayed for each subfield of data provided; sometimes the data displayed actually comes from more then one subfield; truncating the search can make sure all types of data entry are retrieved; this index does not support browsing) |
| ISBN | nb: | 3196311821 or 31-9631-182-1 9780763625894 or 978-0-763625-89-4 (search with or without hyphens) |
| ISSN | ns: | 0000-0019 (use hyphens) |
| Language Phrase | ln= | kw:coffeehouse* and ln=japanese (browse the index for a complete list of languages) |
| Library and Archives Canada Class Number | 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) |
| 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) |
| Material Type | mt: | vhs |
| Material Type Phrase | mt= | vhs tape |
| Music Number | mu: | has19832 (concatenates all punctuation and spaces up to a dash or double hyphen) |
| Musical Composition | mc: | jazz |
| Musical Composition Phrase | mc= | folk music |
| 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 (last name first with or without first comma retained) |
| Publisher | pb: | media |
| Publisher Phrase | pb= | new star media inc |
| Publisher Location | pl: | china |
| Report Number | rn: | epa 000275057 (omit punctuation and retain spaces) |
| Series Title | se: | emb report |
| Series Title Phrase | se= | emb evaluation report |
| Standard Number | sn: | 1097461x or 1097-461x 1550463160 or 155-0463-160 9780763625894 or 978-0-763625-89-4 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= | medical fees canada (phrase search of complete subject heading with all parts, so "medical fees-canada" is searched as a single phrase) |
| 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 Canadian National Library in English) |
| Subject Headings, Canadian | he= | landscape photography (only subject headings noted as Canadian National Library in English) |
| Subject Headings, RVM | hr: | indiens (only subject headings noted as Repertoire des vedettes-matiere [Canadian National Library in French]) |
| Subject Headings, RVM Phrase | hr= | politique sanitaire (only subject headings noted as Repertoire des vedettes-matiere [Canadian National Library 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 |
| Univeral Decimal Class No. | ud: | 101-051 (use periods and hyphens) |
| Update Date | up: | 20080101 |
| 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) |
Refining your results
Refine your results by combining these labels with your search terms:
| Refine by | Labels | Examples | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 this limit 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. Browse the index for a complete list of languages.
³ For a list of library symbols, visit the Find an OCLC Library 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.
See also: US-MARC fields and subfields in WorldCat FirstSearch indexes and US-MARC fields displayed in a WorldCat Detailed Record.
Derived key searching
You may enter derived key searches with or without the index label.
Omit the following:
- Articles a, an, the, and non-English articles when they are the first word of a title
- Punctuation
- Diacritics
- These additional characters: - / + = ±
Include the following:
- Articles found within titles
- Letters
- Numerals
- These additional characters: & $ * % @ £ flat (music notation)
Hints:
Use a circumflex (^) to make the search precise. For a name with only two words, enter a circumflex in the third segment.
Example: To search for Harvey, Henry enter harv,hen,^.
If a personal name begins with Mc or Mac followed by an uppercase leter, enter the m and omit the c or ac.
Example: To search for MacDonald, Marion B.. enter mdon,mar,b.
If a personal name begins with Mc or Mac followed by a lowercase leter, enter the name as is.
Example: To search for MacDonald, Marion B. enter mdon,mar,b.>
Enter corporate names beginning with Mc or Mac as they appoear, whether or not the following letter is upper- or lowercase
Example: To search for McDpmme; Aorcraft enter =mcdo,air,^.
| Index label | Format | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Derived title ( td:) Note: Do not include subtitles in derived title searches. | 3,2,2,1 | Realism in Modern Literature The Complete Circuit Training Guide I Believe in Unicorns Roots Miracle on 34th Street Canterbury Tales: | rea,in,mo,l com,ci,tr,g i,be,in,u roo,,, mir,on,34,s can,ta,, |
| Derived personal name ( pd:) | 4,3,1 | Becker, George Joseph Sobey, Edwin J. C. cummings, e. e. De Groot, Adriaan Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth | beck,geo,j sobe,edw,j cumm,e,e degr,adr, kubl,eli, |
| Derived corporate name ( cd:) | =4,3,1 | Hershey Foods Corporation American Rock Garden Society Adrian College Symposium on a New International Order | =hers,foo,c =rock,gar,s =adri,col, =new,int,o |
| Derived name/title ( nd:) | 4,4 | Hailey Hotel Clarke 2001: a space odyssey | hail,hote clar,2001 |
Limiting derived key searches
You can limit or qualify the results of your derived key search using the qualifier labels and associated qualifiers shown in the table below. You may use a maximum of four qualifiers, but you may use only one qualifier of each type.
| Labels | Description/Qualifiers | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mt | Format (type of material), including books, computer files, maps, mixed materials, serials, scores, sound recordings, and visual materials).
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| yr | Year(s) of publication
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| mt | Microform or not microform
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| dl | Cataloging Source
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Guidelines and examples:
- You may use one or more qualifiers.
- You may type multiple qualifiers in any order.
- You may separate multiple qualifiers with slashes (/) or you may use qualifier-label-and-qualifier pairs separated by and.
These examples illustrate how to use multiple qualifiers to search for works by author James A. Mitchner.
| Qualifier Type | With slash | With qualifier label |
|---|---|---|
| Type of material ( mt) | mich,jam,a/bks | pd:mich,jam,a and mt:bks |
| Year(s) of publication ( yr) | mitch,jam,a/1953 | pd:mich,jam,a and yr:1953 |
| Microform ( mt) | mich,jam,a/mf | pd:mich,jam,a and mt:mic |
| Cataloging source, Library of Congress/Program for Cooperative Cataloging ( dl) | mitch,jam,a/dlc | pd:mich,jam,a and dl:y |
Indexes based on Local Holdings (Union List) data included in WorldCat:
| Indexes | Labels | Examples/Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Local Holdings — Your holdings | L7: | ti:libraries and L7:yes Yes is the only valid search; limits results to records with local holdings information. |
| Local Holdings — State or province (name or abbreviation) | 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 — City | 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 — OCLC institution symbol | L4: | ti:libraries and L4:ocl Limits the results to records with local holdings held by an institution's symbol. |
| Local Holdings — OCLC group symbol | L5: | ti:libraries and L5:oglu Limits the results to records with local holdings held by members of profiled GAC and/or UL groups. |