Library of Congress Online Catalog: Help Pages

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  SEARCHING:
  Basic Search Overview
  Keyword Searches:
  - Keyword
  - Title Keyword
  - Author/Creator
  - Subject Keyword
  - Name/Title
  - Series/Uniform Title
  Other Searches:
  - Expert Search
  - Title Begins With
  - Author/Creator Browse
  - Subject Browse
  - Call No. Browse (LC)
  - Call No. Browse (Other)
  - Number Search
  - Author Sorted by Title
  Guided Search

  Limiting Searches
  Search History
  Boolean Searching

  INDEX CODES:
  for Guided Searches
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  SEARCH RESULTS:
  Brief Record
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  MARC Tags

  Headings List
  Titles List
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  OTHER TOPICS:
  Headings List Types
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  Icons, Buttons & Tabs
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Search limits help make most searches more specific.

Search limits may be applied prior to executing a search, or to a search results set (post search limits).

Limiting Searches

One or more of the following search limits
can be used (please read the "restrictions and cautions" below) :

Date of publication or creation of the material
Language of the material
Type of material (e.g., book, serial, music)
Location of the collection within the Library of Congress
Place of Publication (e.g., country, state, province)

Restrictions and Cautions

The button, used prior to executing a search, can be selected for any search method, but it has NO EFFECT on Subject, Author/Creator, or Call Number Browse searches.

The button is only available when viewing a Titles List or a Titles List (Keyword). Selecting this button takes you to the Limits screen, where you can apply multiple limits to the existing search results set.

Once search limits are set (either before or after a search), they remain in effect for subsequent searches, until the button is selected. The limits also affect searches that are launched by selecting hypertext links in single catalog record displays.

Note: Search limits in the Library of Congress can be very useful for refining large sets of search results, but should be used with caution. Not all catalog records contain the data that is used to set limits. When multiple values (e.g., several languages) are recorded in a catalog record, limits can only retrieve on one of them. If relevant material is not retrieved after setting limits, clear the limits and modify the search.

Setting Search Limits

From the Basic Search or Guided Search screens, select the button.
To set Date: limits:
1. Type a year in the initial box (shown as 1984 in the example below)
2. Select the "radio" button in front of the type of limit desired:
  - Select the equal sign, for materials published/created in 1984:
  
  - Select the greater-than sign for materials published/created after (not including) 1984:
  
  - Select the less-than sign for materials published/created before (not including) 1984 :
  
  - Select Range, for materials published/created between 1984 and 2000:
To set Language, Type, Location, or Place of Publication limits:
1. Select a limits category by highlighting an option within the scroll window by clicking on it with the mouse or using the keyboard:
2. Jump quickly to the alphabet range of the category you desire by typing its first letter. This technique can only be used to make a single selection in a limits category. Alternatively, scroll through the list using the mouse controls.
3. Choose more than one option within a category by holding down the <Ctrl> key (or <Apple> key on the Macintosh) while making additional selections.

Once all limits selections have been highlighted, select the

button at the top or bottom of the Search Limits box to make them take effect. The following message appears on all search screens, once limits have been activated:

Search Limits Are In Effect (they will not work with Author/Creator, Subject, or Call Number)

When using Search History to repeat previous searches, note that the search limits will use only the ones currently set. To restore previous search limits, use the button to clear the current limits, reset the previous limits, then select the button. Return to the Search History screen and repeat the search.

Details about Each Kind of Limit

Date - Language - Type - Location - Place of Publication

Date:

Confines search results to materials published or created in a single year or span of years.
The "after the year" ( sign > ), "before the year" ( sign < ), and "range" options can be particularly useful when searching for materials whose date of publication/creation is uncertain or consists of a span of years.
- Example #1: A book whose publication date was recorded as "[19--]" (i.e., uncertain decade) in the catalog record will not be retrieved when limiting by a single date, but it will be retrieved with any one of the following date limits: range of 1900 to 1960; range of 1890 to 1970; or > 1899.
- Example #2: A serial whose publication dates span the years 1926-1969 will not be retrieved when limiting by a single year within that span, e.g., 1930. It will be retrieved when selecting a range of years or a "before" or "after" date that encompasses the whole span of years cited for the material, such as one of the following: range of 1920 to 1970; > 1920; or < 1970.
Reprint publications will only be retrieved by setting the search limit to the date of the reprint, not the original date of publication.
Some materials will not be retrieved at all when date limits are set because no data was recorded in the encoded fields used for date limiting. For instance, catalog records for many archival manuscript or mixed material collections do not include this encoded kind of date information.

Language:

The "Language" limit reflects only the primary or predominant language of the material because only one language can be recorded in the data field used for limiting.

Example: A work in Chinese with some English translation will not be found when limiting on works in English.
A full list of the languages, with cross- references from terms not used, is available on the Library of Congress Web Site.

Type:

Confines search results to a particular type of material. For example, select this option to limit search results to books and serials, excluding records for the many other formats the catalog includes (e.g., maps, music, photographs).
A list of types of material, with cross-references from unused terms, is available.
Although materials represented by catalog records can be of more than one type, this search feature generally retrieves only the predominant type.
For instance, a sound recording may consist primarily of spoken material, but with some musical accompaniment. In such cases, the type of material is recorded as "Nonmusic Sound Recording"; a limit by "Music Sound Recording" would not find this item.
An exception is material that is serially produced. For instance, a computer file that is issued serially can generally be retrieved either using the Serial or the Computer File selection.

Location

Confines search results to materials in a particular collection location within the Library of Congress. Since some of the locations are Library of Congress reading rooms that specialize in a particular subject or format (e.g., Geography and Maps) or a particular region of the world (e.g., Asian), this limit can be useful for confining search results to collection locations where research will be concentrated.
The locations include "reference collections" and materials in "general" and "special" collections.
- "Reference Collections" normally consist of books and periodicals that are available for self-service in a particular reading room. For instance, materials designated as being in the "Asian Reference Collection" are materials available for self-service, reference use in the Asian Reading Room.
- Materials in the "General Collections" include books and periodicals that must be retrieved by Library staff when requested by onsite researchers in the following locations: Main Reading Room, Adams 5th floor (Science Reading Room or Business), Local History & Genealogy Reading Room, Hispanic Reading Room, and European Reading Room.
- Materials in locations other than the general or reference collections are normally retrieved by Library staff and must be requested in the corresponding reading room. For instance, "Manuscript" refers to archival manuscript and mixed material that must be requested in the Manuscript Reading Room. A list of reading rooms, with brief descriptions of their scope, is available on the Library of Congress web site.
For convenience, some listings have been clustered so that multiple selections need not be specified. These include:
- All Reference Collections
- Special Format Collections (not Reference) - Includes material to be requested from: Geography & Map Reading Room, Law Library Rare Books, Machine Readable Collection, Manuscript Reading Room, Microform Reading Room, Motion Picture and Television Reading Room, Performing Arts Reading Room, Prints & Photographs Reading Room, Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room, Recorded Sound Reference Center.

Place of Publication:

When two or more places of publication are cited in a catalog record, only the first named place will be retrieved.

Example: A work published both in London and New York will not be found when limiting on works published in New York (State).
A full list of place names, with cross-references from names not used, is available on the Library of Congress web site. A list of the places, with their corresponding codes, organized by continent or region, is also available on the web site (see http://www.loc.gov/marc/countries/ )

Use the browser's [Back] button to resume searching.

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Library of Congress Online Catalog - catalog.loc.gov
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September 14, 2006