Cataloging Procedures Manual

Appendix 25: Searching

Contents:

1. Searching on OCLC

2. VIRGO Searching

I. Searching on OCLC

For more detailed instructions on searching OCLC or help with particular problems, see Guide to Searching the Online Union Catalog.

1. SEQUENCE OF SEARCHES

   Each type of material will require a different approach when searching. However, some general guidelines should be followed. A numeric search is the most specific and retrieves the fewest records. Therefore, the most efficient search will make use of the ISBN or other numeric search key. If none of these is available or retrieves no record, search by Author/Title, Title, Scan Title, or Author. Generally, two unsuccessful searches are enough to determine that there is no record in the OCLC system for the material in hand.

2. DESCRIPTION OF SEARCH KEYS
   1. ISBN (International Standard Book Number)

      Type the number as a single string of characters without the hyphen. Press [F11].

      Example:

      0-8069-4592-1 Type: 0806945921

      ISSN (International Standard Serial Number)
      
      

      Type 8 digits with hyphen after fourth digit. Press [F11].

      Example:

      0360-5809 Type: 0360-5809

      LC Card Number

      Type number exactly as it appears on the card (include hyphen). Press [F11]. Ignore letter prefixes and revision symbols at the end of the number, when searching by LC card number.

      Example:

      76-16983 Type: 76-16983

      Author/Title Search (4,4)

      Type the first four letters of the author's last name. Type a comma. Type the first four letters of the first significant word of the title [To determine the first significant word, disregard the initial article (see list attached), punctuation, and mathematical symbols. "Words" in the title may include numbers (eg. 100) or the ampersand (&)]. Press [F11].

      Example:

      Andrew Davis. Type: davi,tudo

      Tudor church music.

      Cotham, Perry C. Type: coth,poli

      Politics, Americanism, and Christianity

      A title main entry may also be searched using the author/title search. Type a comma. Type the first four letters of the first significant word in the title. Press [F11].

      Example:

      Speak easy, speak free. Type: ,spea

      Title Search (3,2,2,1)

      Type the first three letters of the first significant word in the title [see instructions in 4. above]. Type a comma. Type the first two letters of the next word in the title (even if the next word is an article). Type a comma. Type the first two letters of the third word in the title. Type a comma. Type the first letter of the fourth word in the title. Press [F11].

      Example:

      The roar of the twenties Type: roa,of,th,t

      Politics, Americanism and Christianity Type: pol,am,an,c

      Scan Title Search (using sca ti)

      A new feature of PRISM is the title browse search. This is a useful feature for searching titles which are difficult to find using a derived title search.

      At the home position type: sca ti (or use F7) [full title][F11]

      For example: sca ti journal of the american med[F11]

      Do not include the initial article in a title browse search.

      The system displays a Title Browse Index list with the title entered (or its closest match) at the middle of the screen.

      Personal Author Search (4,3,1)

      Type the first four letters of the author's last name. Type a comma. Type the first three letters of the author's first name. Type a comma. Type the author's middle initial, if known. Press [F11].

      Example:

      James A. Michener Type: mich,jam,a

      Cotham, Perry C. Type: coth,per,c

      Corporate Author Search (=4,3,1)

      Type an equal sign (shift =). Type the first four letters of the first significant word in the corporate name. The first significant word is the first word that occurs following initial articles and stopwords (see section C.3.d.). Type a comma. Type up to three letters of the word that follows the first significant word. Type a comma. Type the first letter of the next word that follows (Optional). Press [F11].

      Example:

      Lunar Science Conference Type: =luna,sci,c

      Music Library Association Type: =musi,lib,a

      Government Document Number

      Type prefix "gn:" followed by 1 or 2 alphabetic characters and up to 10 numeric characters (The system does not index any alphabetical characters that follow the first numeric character, nor does it index blank spaces or punctuation). Press [F11].

      Example:

      Y 4.G74/9:N88/4 Type: gn:y4749884

      GA1.13:MWD-76-109 Type: gn:ga11376109

      Music Publisher's Number

      Type the prefix "mn:" followed by 1 or 2 alphabetic characters and up to 10 numeric characters (spaces and punctuation are not significant). Press [F11].

      Example:

      WST 17035 Type: mn:ws17035

      S 36482 Type: mn:s36482

      OCLC Record Number

      Type # (shift 3) or * on the numeric keypad and OCLC number (one to eight digits). Press [F11].

      Example:

      21556761 Type: #21556761

3. QUALIFIERS

   Qualifiers are used to limit searches which would otherwise be too broad.

   All derived search keys can be qualified by type of material or year of publication.

   To use qualifiers, type the search key followed by a slash and the qualifier. Multiple qualifiers may be used (order of qualifiers doesn't matter). Precede each qualifier with a slash.

   Example:

   gon,wi,th,w/vis/1939-[F11]

   Note: Qualifiers use information in the fixed fields of the bibliographic records. If the fixed field information is incorrect, qualifying the search will exclude usable records.
   
   
   
   

   QUALIFIERS FOR TYPES OF MATERIAL
   
   

   Qualifier	Definition
   bks	Books (including original monographic microform publications)
   ser	Serials (any type of material cataloged as a serial, except map serials and some computer files)
   vis	Media materials (films, filmstrips, slides, video recordings, etc.)
   rec	Sound recordings (musical or non-musical)
   sco	Music scores
   amc	Archives and Manuscripts (language manuscripts, single or collection)
   map	Maps (monographs or serial, printed or manuscript)
   mf	Microform reproduction
   nm	Non-microform reproduction
   com	Machine-readable data files (computer files)
   mix	Mixed media

   
   
   
   
   

   QUALIFIERS FOR YEARS
   
   

   Qualifier	Example
   Single year	1993
   Decade, Ex: 1980-1989	198?
   Century, Ex: 1800-1899	18??
   Later years, Ex: 1985 to present	1985-
   Earlier years, Ex: up to and including 1900	-1900
   Span of years, Ex: 1970-1976	1970-6
   Ex: 1980-1992	1980-92
   Ex: 1889-1920	1889-1920
   No date	????

   
   
   

   ADDITIONAL SEARCHING INFORMATION

   Most searching can be done based on the information already provided. See Guide to Searching the Online Union Catalog for additional information. The following information will help with specific types of searches:

   1. Manipulating screens:

      1. Selected function keys:
         
         

         Function key	Command	Explanation
         F3	RET	Return to the empty desktop; return to previous display menu; or exit from help
         F4	PDN	Pagedown--display the next page of record or next page of list
         F5	PUP	Pageup--display the previous page of record or previous page of list
         F9	FOR	Forward--move forward one page in a list or forward one record
         Shift-F9	BAC	Back--move back one page in a list or back one record
         Ctrl-F9	GOB	Go back--move back to a higher-level menu or previously viewed list
         F10		Send--use whenever end-of-message symbol already present
         F11		End-of-message Send--use to send commands; may also use Shift-F10

      2. Other commands--remember to type commands at the home position. Follow each command with [F11].

         Command	Explanation
         END	Move to the end of a list or record
         HOM	Home--move to the start of a list or record
         HLP	Help--display online help
         REV	Review--display search history

   2. Miscellaneous search instructions

      1. Exclude initial articles, hyphens, slashes, the number sign and mathematical symbols from searches (except where required by numeric search keys).

      2. Searching initials: If there are no spaces, search as one word. If there are spaces, search as separate words. It is generally better to search both ways since it may be difficult to know how the record has been entered.

      3. Hyphenated words: Search as one word.

   3. Rules which apply to specific types of searches.
      1. Numeric Search Keys

         Some numeric searches cannot be entered when a bibliographic record or a list of entries is displayed. To return to the empty desktop, press [F3], then issue the search. Alternatively, use stacked commands. Type RET[semi-colon]number.

         Example:

         ret;72-4519[F11]

         Searching personal names.

         1. If the name consists of a forename only, the search would be the first four letters of the name followed by 2 commas.

            Example:

            Henry VIII Type: henr,,

            Ignore hyphens but include initial articles and prepositions. If either of these do not appear at the beginning of the surname, treat as a middle initial.

            Mc and Mac:

            Macdonald is searched Macd.

            McDonald is searched Mdon.

            (For corporate bodies, search these types of names as spelled).

         Stopwords. The following is a list of the words to be omitted when they appear at the beginning of a corporate or conference name. The stoplist should be used for both corporate body and author/title searches. If all the words in the name of a corporate body appear on the stoplist, they can be used in a search key. After the first significant word (i.e. the first non-stopword), other stopwords may be included in the search key. If a stopword is part of a hyphenated word, it may be included in the search key.

         All states in the U.S. are stop words
         
         

         a	East	State
         A.	for	Seminar
         American	France	Senate
         an	Great Britain	Society
         Association	Gt. Brit.	South
         Australia	Gt.Brit.	Subcommittee
         Bureau	House	Symposium
         Canada	India	the
         Colloquium	Institute	United Nations, U.N., U. N.
         Commission	Institution	United States, U.S., U. S.
         Committee	International	University
         Conference	Joint	West
         Congress	National
         Council	North
         Department	of
         Dept.	on

         
         
         

         Examples:

         Corporate Name	Search Key
         Conference on Urban Planning Information Systems and Programs	=urba,pla,i
         Louisiana. Insurance Dept.	=insu,dep,
         Texas A & M University	=&,m,u
         University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.	=wisc,cro,
         University of Virginia.	=univ,of,v

         
         
         

         For special instructions on searching headings which include the terms United States, United Nations, Great Britain, or their variants, see Guide to Searching the Online Union Catalog.

II. VIRGO Searching

This section contains a summary of VIRGO commands.

1. CLICK ON LIBRARY CATALOG. From the Search VIRGO by screen, select the type of search.

   1. Keyword

      Looks for the term anywhere in a field. Names can be entered last name first or first name last. Boolean operators can be used (and, or, not). Truncation symbol is $; wildcard is ? (wom?n). The search can be qualified before it is executed or the sort of the results can be controlled.

      1. Words or Phrase--equivalent to k= search in OPAC on VIRGO (NOTIS). This search can be used to retrieve Control Key (VIRGO (NOTIS) number.

      2. Combination

      3. Author

      4. Title

      5. Subject

      6. Author and title

      7. Periodical title

   2. Browsing

      Looks for the term anywhere in a field, but displays the "hits" as well as those coming before or after, in the browsable list. Especially useful for call number searching.

      1. Author

      2. Title

      3. Subject

      4. Series

      5. Periodical title

      6. Call number - this search allows only one library to be specified per search. This search is punctuation sensitive.

   3. Term

      Looks for the term at the beginning of a field. Enter names as last name first. Use this search if the exact author, title, etc. is known. If no "hits" are found, a browseable list is given.

      1. Author

      2. Title

      3. Subject

      4. Series

      5. Periodicals

2. DISPLAY1 ITEM COMMAND

   1. Using Display1 item to retrieve a known item

      Display1 item can call up a record by barcode number, call number or control# (i.e. OCLC no.)

      1. Click on the Display1 item button, or select from menu.

      2. If another record was on the screen, the barcode and call number will display. Deleting the barcode will also remove the call number.

      3. If the barcode/item number is known, type or scan into this field
         OR

         If the call number is known, type into the call number field (note: this field is case, punctuation, and space sensitive)

         OR

         If the OCLC number is known, type into the control number field in the following format:

         lower case o (letter o) followed by all eight digits of the number (insert leading zeros if necessary)

         eg. o12345678

         Check the other values and change as needed. Press enter or click on GO.

   2. Using Display1 item to retrieve a list of items

      Display1 item can call up a list of items by using the truncation symbol($). This is most useful for a list of call numbers, but also works with the item and control number fields.

      1. Click on the Display1 item button, or select from menu.

      2. If another record was on the screen, the barcode and call number will display. Deleting the barcode will also remove the call number.

      3. Type into the call number field, followed by the truncation symbol (note: this field is case, punctuation, and space sensitive):

         eg. Searching PS3525.I$ will give a different result than searching PS3525 .E$; searching NA9211$ will give a different result than searching NA 9211$.

      4. To see a union shelf list type of display, change the Library to ALL

      5. Check the other values and change as needed. Press [Enter] or click on GO.

      6. After retrieving the list, call up an individual item by double-clicking.
         OR

         To edit an individual item, click once to highlight and then click on the edit item button.

3. CALL NUMBER SEARCHING

   1. Browse Call Number

      The defaults for this search are library UVA-LIB and shelving scheme LC. Select the appropriate library. Click on QUALIFY if the class scheme needs to be changed.

      When browsing the catalog, if call number that was input is outside the range of library call numbers, VIRGO displays the browse heading closest to the input call number.

      Examples:

      Input ac123; select Alderman as Library
      Result will be AC125.A7 A78 as the first call number in the browse list.

      Input zz123; select Alderman as Library
      Result will be Z8578.H82 1996 as the only call number displayed because
      there is no call number class of ZZ.

      Type complete or partial call number (lower or upper case letters) with a period ( . ) before the first cutter.

      If call number has a double cutter, a space must be placed before the second cutter.

      Example:

      Input ps3525.i5454z

      Result will be a browse list beginning with PS3525.I5454 Z4625 1994

      Input pr9199.3.a

      Result will be a browse list beginning with PR9199.3.A15 A83 1984

      If call number has a date, a space must be placed before the date.

      Example:

      Input qc995.n581982

      If call number has a volume number, a space must precede the volume designator.

      Example:

      Input ps3525.i5454 a63 1965 v.2

      Call numbers for non-LC class scheme materials

      Click on Qualify. Change shelving scheme to ALPHANUM.

      Examples:

      Accession number materials

      If a specific number is added, a space must precede the number.

      Input micfilm [accession number]

      Input video [accession number]

      Input cf00 [accession number]

      Theses and dissertations

      Input masters hist. 1995

      Result will be a browse list for the 1995 masters theses in history.

      Display1 Item Command

      This command can be used to retrieve a union shelflist. See Section II. B.

      BROWSE AUTHORITY

      Enter the search and select LCNAME or LCSUBJECT index.

      The LCNAME thesaurus contains personal name, corporate, conference, geographic, and series headings. The LCSUBJECT thesaurus contains ONLY topical subject headings.

Table of Contents

Appendix 26