- Enter a search term in the Search for: box.
- Select a thesaurus from the All Reference Books drop-down list.
- Select the Start searching
button.
button.Searching is the primary method for finding preferred terms in the OCLC Terminologies Service.
| To... | Do this... |
|---|---|
| Start a search |
|
| Stop a search | Select the Stop searching button. |
Search all. Selecting All OCLC Terminologies searches all the thesauri in your source list. Preferred terms resulting from this search are displayed in a single alphabetical list, with each term followed by its thesaurus identifier in brackets.
Modifying a search.
| To modify a search for... | Do this... |
|---|---|
| The same term in a different thesaurus | Select a different thesaurus from the All Reference Books drop-down list to automatically trigger a search using the current term. |
| A different term in the same thesaurus |
|
Successful search. A successful search displays a list of preferred terms. A preferred term is a term that is an authorized heading within the thesaurus you are currently searching.
In the Jump bar, you can also type one or more letters and click Submit to go to the part of the list that contains preferred terms that begin with those letters. For example, type g or gre or grenad in the Jump bar and click Submit to go to part of the list that contains grenades.
Select a preferred term to view more information for that term.
Once you have chosen a specific preferred term, you can copy the term into your metadata editing application. For more information, see Copying terms.
Unsuccessful search. If your search yields no results, the display suggests additional search locations and may also list one or more alternative spellings for your search term. If you prefer to turn the Can't find it? option off, see Managing your display.
You search a single thesaurus by selecting it from the drop-down All Reference Books list. Selecting All OCLC Terminologies searches all the thesauri in your source list.
You can perform a keyword search using either single or multiple terms.
| Term | Results |
|---|---|
| pets | Retrieves all preferred terms containing pets in one of a record's indexed fields |
| mysteries | Retrieves all preferred terms containing mysteries in one of a record's indexed fields |
| brain | Retrieves all preferred terms containing brain in one of a record's indexed fields |
Example: Searching for pets retrieves not only preferred term Pets, but also preferred term Birdcages because the record for Birdcages contains Pets as a Related Term.
| Terms | Results |
|---|---|
| log cabins cabins log cabins, log |
Retrieves all preferred terms containing both cabins and log anywhere within a record's indexed fields. |
| public utility companies utility companies, public |
Retrieves all preferred terms containing all of public and utilty and companies anywhere within a record's indexed fields. |
| circuses, shows circuses & shows |
Retrieves all preferred terms containing both circuses and shows anywhere within a record's indexed fields. |
| Operator | Results |
|---|---|
| and | Retrieves all preferred terms that contain all search terms, in any order, anywhere within a record's indexed fields. Example:The search industry and textile retrieves the preferred term Weaving because the authority record for Weaving contains Textile industry as a related term.
|
| or | Retrieves all preferred terms that contain at least one of the search terms, in any order, anywhere within a record's indexed fields. Example: The search public or opinion retrieves:
|
| not | Retrieves all preferred terms that contain the first term anywhere within a record's indexed fields, and then excludes any terms that contain the term that follows not anywhere within the record's indexed fields. Example:
|
| with/w | Retrieves all preferred terms that contain both terms, in the order entered, with no more than the specified number (0 -100) of other words between them, anywhere within a record's indexed fields. Note 1: You can enter either w+[number] (w3) or with/+[number] (with/3). You must include a number. Note 2: Order of keywords is very important. The word entered after w must occur after the initial word. Example:
|
| near/n | Retrieves all preferred terms that contain both terms, in either order, with no more than the specified number (0 - 100) of other words between them, anywhere within a record's indexed fields. Note 1: You can enter either n+[number] (w3) or near/+[number] (near/3). You must include a number. Note 2: In this search the word entered after NEAR may occur either before or after the initial word. Example:
|
Truncation. You can search for a term with variant endings by entering a partial term (minimum of three characters) followed by an * (asterisk). Truncation is especially helpful in retrieving a preferred term whether the search term is used in singular or plural form.
| Term | Results |
|---|---|
| paint* | Retrieves all preferred terms containing one or more of:
in one of the indexed fields. |
Wildcards. You can search for a term with variant spellings or when you are unsure of the exact spelling by using wildcards. You must enter a minimum of three characters before a wildcard.
| Wildcard | Term | Results |
|---|---|---|
| # (pound sign) [represents a single character] |
wom#n | Retrieves all preferred terms containing woman and women in one of the indexed fields. |
| ? (question mark) [represents 0-9 additional characters] |
col?r | Retrieves all preferred terms containing color, colour, colonizer, colorimeter in one of the indexed fields. |
You can search using these special characters:
| Character | Examples |
|---|---|
| - (hyphen) | baie-saint-paul consumer co-op newspapers ice-breaking vessels jean-baptist bichard |
| & (ampersand) | circuses & shows sports & recreation facilities then & now comparisons universities & colleges |
You can search with or without the diacritic(s):
| Examples |
|---|
| poupee or poupée el nino or el niño strassbourg or straßbourg |
Stopwords are words that are used with very high frequency but contribute very little information such as: a, ein, el, il, la, le, the, un, una. In most cases, stopwords are ignored in searching.
There are no stopwords in the OCLC Terminologies Service.
Thesaurus records are MARC (MAchine-Readable Cataloging) records in the Library of Congress MARC21 Format for Authority Data. A keyword search examines all of these fields within a MARC authority record.
| MARC Fields | Displays as |
|---|---|
| All 1xx — Heading fields | Preferred Term |
| 18x, 48x, 58x, 78x, 98x | Preferred Term subdivision (MeSH and lctgm only) |
| All 4xx — See From Tracing fields | Non-Preferred Term |
| All 5xx — See Also From Tracing fields | Broader, Narrower or Related Term |
| 260 — Complex see reference - subject | Note |
| 360 — Complex see also reference - subject | Note |
| 667 — Nonpublic general note | Note |
| 670 — Source data found | Note |
| 678 — Biographical or historical data | Note |
| 680 — Public general note | Note |
| 681 — Subject example tracing note | Note |
| 682 — Deleted heading information | Note |
| 688 — Application history note | Note |
You can use the index labels listed below when you search.
The All index includes the terms included in all of the other indexes. If you do not include an index label in your search, the Terminologies Service uses the All index. The examples in the preceding parts of this document use the All index.
| Label | Name | Type | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| al: | All (default, this index is used if you do not enter an index label) |
Word | cabinet al:cabinet |
The following indexes are used to search preferred terms, non-preferred terms, both preferred and non-preferred terms, or notes in authority records.
| Label | Name | Type | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| pt= | Preferred Term | Phrase | pt=trichechus manatus |
| pt: | Preferred Term | Word | pt:manatus |
| ot= | Non-Preferred Term | Phrase | ot=florida manatee |
| ot: | Non-Preferred Term | Word | ot:manatee |
| tt= | Preferred Term or Non-Preferred Term | Phrase | tt=classical swine fever tt=hog cholera |
| tt: | Preferred Term or Non-Preferred Term | Word | tt:swine tt:hog |
| nt: | Notes | Word | nt:costal |
The following indexes are used to search by form or type of heading.
| Label | Name | Type | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| co= | Corporate Name | Phrase | co=central african republic |
| co: | Corporate Name | Word | co:african |
| ge= | Geographic Name | Phrase | ge=central african republic |
| ge: | Geographic Name | Word | ge:african |
| gn= | Genre | Phrase | gn=alternative newspapers |
| gn: | Genre | Word | gn:newspapers |
| me= | Main Entry | Phrase | me=kartagener syndrome |
| me: | Main Entry | Word | me:syndrome |
| pn= | Personal Name | Phrase | pn=robie jean baptiste |
| pn: | Personal Name | Word | pn:robie |
| su= | Subjects | Phrase | su=ocotea embryology |
| su: | Subjects | Word | su:hitchhiking |
