World Almanacs
Revised 8/14/2002
Database name: WorldAlmanac
Short database name: WALM
Available on: FirstSearch Test Server and Production Server
Why select this database?
The World Almanacs database includes the contents of:
- Funk & Wagnall's New Encyclopedia
- The World Almanac and Book of Facts
- The World Almanac of the U.S.A.
- The World Almanac of U.S. Politics
- The World Almanac for Kids
Funk & Wagnall's New Encyclopedia is a comprehensive general encyclopedia for students, families, and researchers seeking authoritative, up-to-date information on thousands of topics. Its nearly 26,000 articles and more than 9 million words cover countries, states, and cities, science and technology, the arts and entertainment, world and U.S. geography and history, economics, sports, and more. The encyclopedia includes thousands of biographies and in-depth bibliographies for further information.
The World Almanac and Book of Facts, first published in 1868, is a single reference source that covers arts and entertainment, information about U.S. cities and states, people in the news, the nations of the world, sports, the environment, vital statistics, science and technology, computers, taxes, economics, national defense, historical anniversaries, and much more.
The World Almanac of the U.S.A. provides essential facts about all aspects of American life as well as historical milestones, in-depth profiles of all fifty states and U.S. territories, Web sites for every state, comprehensive rankings comparing the 50 states with one another in key areas, and much more information about the U.S.A.
The World Almanac of U.S. Politics is a guidebook to federal, state and local governments that provides such information as addresses and phone numbers for federal government agencies, information about key federal and state elected government officials, how to get help from government agencies online, major recent Supreme Court decisions, a political glossary, and much more.
The World Almanac for Kids covers information and facts in thirty-five subject areas of interest to lower-middle-school children and their teachers, including such topics as Amazing Facts, People in the News, Animals, Computers, Inventions, Space Travel, Sports, Weather, Puzzles, and Games.
| Subjects included | ||
|---|---|---|
| arts and entertainment | computers | economics |
| the environment | historical anniversaries | national defense |
| nations of the world | people in the news | science and technology |
| sports | taxes | U.S. cities and states |
| vital statistics | and much, much more | |
Coverage/update frequency
Updated annually.
List of FirstSearch fields for World Almanacs and the MARC fields to which they correspond
Note: Some records in the World Almanacs database may exceed the 99,999 byte limit imposed by the MARC standard. These records include but are not limited to such titles as "United States of America," "United Nations," and "California." We strongly suggest SUTRS record syntax be used to display records in this database because SUTRS does not mandate a record size limit. When the MARC record size limit is exceeded, the following error message will appear: "Unable to return records in the requested record syntax." To avoid receiving this error message, use SUTRS record syntax to display records in World Almanacs.
| Field Name | MARC field(s) |
|---|---|
| Date | 008/<date> |
| Attlist ID Number | 035/a |
| Title | 245/a |
| Abstract | 520/a,8 |
| Name of Book | 904/p,v |
| Title of Part | 904/Q |
| Titles | 904/r |
| Attlist ID Numbers | 904/s |
| Title of Sub-part | 904/t |
| Source | 904/u |
| Cross Reference Text | 904/w |
| ID Number | 904/x |
| Marketing Defined Date | 949/g |
| OCLC Display Type | 949/x |
Indexes
What follows is a list of FirstSearch indexes and the combination of USE and STRUCTURE attributes that can be used to access them.
- For any FirstSearch label where multiple USE attributes are listed all the attributes will provide the exact same search result sets.
- Any USE attribute that is not marked as a restrictor is available via the SCAN service.
- Restrictors are specially implemented indexes and are not available for scanning. Terms for these must be ANDed with other terms to limit the size of the result set. See the table provided for each restrictor to determine valid terms and their associated meaning.
FirstSearch Indexes and USE and STRUCTURE attributes used to access them:
| Index | Description | Use Attribute | Structure Attribute | Indexed Fields and Subfields |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keyword (kw) | Any | 1016 | 2 | Includes fields in the Title index and 904/p,q,s,t. |
| Accession Number (no) | Control number-local | 12 | 2 | 035/a |
| Part (pt, pt=) (Also called Subject (su) in the list of indexes.) | Subject | 21 | 1,2 | 904/q |
| Source (so) | Title-host-item | 1033 | 2 | 904/u |
| Title (ti, ti=) | Title | 4 | 1, 2 | 245/a |
| Text (tx) | Body of text | 1010 | 2 | 520/8 |
Restrictors
The following restrictors can be used only in conjunction with an index search. They must be added to an index search with the Boolean AND in order to receive results:
| Restrictor | Type | Input | Use Attribute | Structure Attribute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book | All Books Funk & Wagnall's New Encyclopedia The World Almanac and Book of Facts The World Almanac of the U.S.A. The World Almanac of U.S. Politics The World Almanac for Kids | — | 5901 | 2 |
Sorting
Search results in the World Almanacs database can be sorted by Title (4), Part (21), and Book (5901).
General punctuation rules
(exceptions are made, but these are generally correct):
| Punctuation | Rule | Punctuation | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| " | Delete and collapse | $ | Delete and collapse |
| ' | (apostrophe) Delete and collapse | % | Delete and collapse |
| . | Delete and collapse | * | Delete and collapse |
| , | (comma) Delete and collapse | + | Delete and collapse |
| ; | Delete and collapse | > | Delete and collapse |
| : | Delete and collapse | < | Delete and collapse |
| () | Delete and collapse | @ | Delete and collapse |
| <> | Delete and collapse | ? | Delete and collapse |
| {} | Delete and collapse | -- | Delete and collapse |
| [] | Delete and collapse | / | Substitute a space |
| = | Delete and collapse | - | Retain and index |
| ! | Delete and collapse | & | Retain and index |
| # | Delete and collapse | ||
Searching tips
Keyword searches (1016): The Keyword search finds information in these fields: 245/a, and 904/p,q,s,t.
Using limiters: You can limit searches by Book (5901).
Copyright
Copyright 1998- <!--ATTN T-SYSTEMS: Sprinkle, asset ID 28885-->2012<!-- // T-SYSTEMS--> World Almanac Education Group. All rights reserved.
Although this database was formulated with a reasonable standard of care, World Almanac Education Group makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, merchantability, or fitness for use of this database. This database may not be reproduced, stored in machine-readable form, or transmitted by any means without prior permission of World Almanac Education Group, except that limited reproduction of printed outputs is permitted for private research or for distribution within the user's internal organization. Under no circumstances may copies produced under this provision be offered for sale or resale.
The Funk & Wagnall's New Encyclopedia, The World Almanac and Book of Facts, and The World Almanac for Kids are registered trademarks of World Almanac Education Group.