Searching Tips for OCLC Z39.50 Authorities

Introduction

This document provides information about searching for library staff who help plan the configuration of the library's Z39.50 client. It also helps those who train or supervise staff who will use the OCLC Z39.50 Cataloging service's OCLCAuthoritiesLC database.

For OCLC Z39.50 Authorities, searching methods are determined by the capabilities of the OCLC server and by the implementation of the capabilities in your library's local system client. For example, the server makes several indexes available for searching. The library decides which indexes its client will support and how staff will use them.

The Z39.50 Configuration Guide for OCLC Z39.50 Cataloging also contains information about the server's searching capabilities.

For information describing MARC record structure, character sets, and exchange media formatting, see OCLC-MARC Records at: <  http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/worldcat/records/subscription/ >.

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General Search Tips

Databases available

In addition to OCLCAuthoritiesLC, you can use the OCLC Z39.50 Cataloging service to search these OCLC databases:

Depending upon your client, separate sessions may be required for each database.

Indexes available

The indexes provided by the server are listed in the section below about MARC fields and subfields indexed.

Word and phrase indexes

Indexes in OCLC Z39.50 Authorities are word or phrase indexes. The following examples highlight the differences between them. See Index-specific search tips below for more information and examples.

Phrase search

For a phrase search you enter the exact phrase, including data across subfields (such as ‡d Dates or ‡v Form). Omit initial articles. You can use right truncation if you know only a part of the phrase.

• Catholic Church.  If you search for the Catholic church as a corporate name using a phrase search, entering catholic church retrieves records that contain the exact text catholic church (15 characters) in a searchable field/subfield.

• Emma Fielding Mystery.  If you search for the Emma Fielding mystery series as a title using a phrase search, entering emma fielding mystery retrieves records for the exact title emma fielding mystery (21 characters) in a searchable field/subfield.

Note: The Root/Expanded results structure supported in OCLC Connexion is not available within Z39.50 searching.

Word search

Omit articles and prepositions from word searches.

• Catholic church.  If you search for the Catholic church as a corporate name using a word search, entering catholic church retrieves records that contain both catholic and church somewhere within all the searchable fields/subfields.

• Emma. If you search for the Emma Fielding mystery series as a title using a word search, entering emma retrieves records that contain the word emma anywhere within the title, including: Emma Fielding mystery, Emma and her friends and Nelson and Emma trilogy.

Index browsing

The OCLC server supports the Z39.50 Scan Service capability. If your client supports that capability, you can browse indexes to view a list of the words or phrases included. When you want to use a phrase index, OCLC recommends browsing it first to verify the phrase before searching.

Stopwords

Stopwords are words that are not included in word indexes because they occur frequently and do not add to the content of the indexes. There are no stopwords in Z39.50 authority searches.

Punctuation and symbols

Include the following letters, digits, punctuation marks, and symbols in searches:

• Letters, a-z
• Digits, 0-9
• - (hyphen) within words
• & (ampersand) within words

You do not need to capitalize names or other proper nouns in searches. All letters are treated as lowercase whether you enter them as lowercase or uppercase.

Exclude hyphens when they are preceded and followed by blank spaces. Include them within words, such as high-energy. Search for hyphenated words in various ways. For example: post operative, post-operative, postoperative.

When an ampersand (&) is preceded and followed by blank spaces, exclude it in word indexes but include it in phrase indexes. Include ampersands within words in word or phrase indexes. For example, enter at&t.

Substitute a space for a / (slash). For example, enter men women instead of men/women.

You may search with or without diacritics. For example, enter André Gide or Andre Gide.

Exclude other punctuation marks and symbols. Do not substitute a space for them. For example, to search for O'Hara, enter ohara.

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Index-Specific Search Tips

ISSN, ISBN, LCCN

When searching for International Standard Serial Numbers (ISSNs), International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs), and Library of Congress Control Numbers (LCCNs), use the following rules:

• Enter an ISSN with or without a hyphen. For example, to search for ISSN 0833-1871, enter: 0833-1871 or 08331871
• Enter an ISBN without hyphens. For example, to search for ISBN 0-316-08275-9, enter: 0316082759
• Enter an LCCN with or without a hyphen. Type the year portion (2 or 4 digits), hyphen (optional), and the control number. Leading zeros in the control number and alphabetic prefix are also optional. For example:
  • to search for the LCCN 78-5201, enter: 78-5201 or 785201 or 78-05201 or 7805201
  • to search for the LCCN 2001-12345, enter: 2001-12345
  Use the phrase search only. Word search is not supported for the LCCN.

OCLC ARN

Enter all digits. Leading zeros are optional. For example, enter 01450635 or 1450635.

Topicals Phrase

The complete phrase is indexed. For example, to search for: Adventures and adventurers ‡v Fiction enter:

• adventures and adventurers fiction or
• adventures and adventurers and set right truncation

Title phrase

The complete phrase is indexed. For example, Complete sonatas for violin and piano is indexed in its entirety. You can enter complete sonatas with right truncation set to retrieve this title and others beginning with complete sonatas.

Omit initial articles ( a, an, the, and the non-English equivalents) from your title search.

Personal name phrase

The complete phrase is indexed. For example, for Johannes Brahms enter:

• brahms, johannes 1833-1897 or
• brahms, johannes with right truncation set

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MARC Fields and Subfields Indexed

Introduction

For each index, the table below lists the combinations of Use and Structure attributes used to access the index through the OCLC Z39.50 server. The table also lists the MARC fields and subfields covered by the index. Where "word" is valid as a structure attribute, "word list" is valid as well.

OCLC provides a Test Server to assist users and system vendors with Z39.50 client configuration.

Z39.50 Attribute Map for OCLC Z39.50 Authorities Indexing

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MARC-8 Note

Note: When the MARC-8 default is retained, UTF-8 characters that cannot be converted to MARC-8 are displayed as hexadecimal numeric character references (view example).