Library of Congress Authorities Help Pages: use the browser's back button to resurme searching

Searching Name/Title Authority Headings

[Image of the Search Type box with Name/Title Authority Headings selected] Select the search type "Name/Title Authority Headings" on the main search screen to browse authority records for:

Titles, that are entered under a personal or group author
Series, that are entered under a personal or group author

established by the Library of Congress (and cooperating partners) and used in Library of Congress Online Catalog records.

Keyword Searching of authority records is not available in this release of Library of Congress Authorities. All searches should be entered beginning with the leftmost word of the heading (see search tips below).

Uniform and Series Titles (entered under a personal author/creator) are searchable as Name/Title Authority Headings. Most name/title authority headings and references will also be retrieved by a Subject Authority Headings search; but to ensure retrieval of all relevant records, it is recommended that only the Name/Title Authority Headings search type should be used to search for name/title headings.

Name/Title Authority Heading Search Examples:

To browse the title (with name) . . .	Enter the words in this order . . .
Poems, by Laura Jackson	jackson laura riding 1901 poems
Der Freischütz, by Carl Maria von Weber	weber carl maria von 1786-1826 freischutz
The tragicall historie of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke, by William Shakespeare	shakespeare william 1564-1616 hamlet
Declaration of Independence for the United States of America	united states declaration of

Search Tips:

The entire name portion of the "name" heading must precede the "title" portion in searching, including dates when present (e.g., dostoyevsky fyodor 1821-1881 crime and). It is recommended that the name be verified using a Name Authorities search, prior to attempting to formulate a name/title authorities search.

Omit initial articles (a, an, the, das, el, la, etc.) in any language.
Always omit initial punctuation in any language (e.g., quotation marks, ¿). Also, omit intervening commas, periods, apostrophes, and most other punctuation. Exception: hyphens should always be retained.
Searches are automatically truncated and retrieve catalog records beginning with the words, word roots or phrases entered. Do not use the question mark (?) for truncation.

How to View Authorities and References:

Your search results will be presented as a Headings List -- a list of all name headings in the Library of Congress Online Catalog, whether the headings have online authority records associated with them or not.

Please Note: Headings that end with the legend "[from old catalog]" were assigned before the online cataloging era and may not be associated with an online authority record. In addition, the Headings List may display headings from in-process catalog records for which authority records will be made in the near future.

The Name/Title Authority Headings search is a "browse," placing you at the point in the index most closely matching your search words. Select to view headings that precede your search words alphabetically or scroll down to view headings following your search words.

[Image of Headings List for Name Title Search of weber carl maria von 1786-1826 freischutz]

To retrieve authority information, references and/or scope notes for a heading, select the icon shown to the left of the heading.

Please consult the following Help Screens for more detailed information:

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

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Library of Congress Authorities - authorities.loc.gov
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June 27, 2002