Library of Congress Online Catalog: Help Pages

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  SEARCHING:
  Basic Searching
  - Title
  - Author/Creator Browse
  - Subject Browse
  - Keyword
  - Command Keyword
  - Call No. Browse (LC)
  - Call No. Browse (Other)
  - LCCN-ISBN-ISSN
  - Series/Uniform Title
  - Author/Creator by Title
  Guided Searching


  Limiting Searches
  Search History
  Boolean Searching

  INDEX CODES:
  for Guided Searches
  for Command Keyword

  SEARCH RESULTS:
  Brief Record
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  Headings List
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  Titles List (Keyword)
  References/Scope Notes
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  OTHER TOPICS:
  Headings List Types
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A Basic Search - Author/ Creator retrieves materials by personal or group author/creators.

Basic Search -
Author/Creator

  • Personal authors and creators include editors, performers, photographers, artists, etc.
  • Group authors and creators include corporate entities, government bodies, conferences, etc.

** If you are looking for materials about someone (real or fictional), or about a government body, company, or organization, use the Subject Browse search option.

NOTE:
Search limits are not available.
Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) are not available.

Author/Creator Search Examples:

Name type . . . Search Example . . .
personal name steinbeck john
compound last name de la mare walter
government agency united states congressional budget office
organization battelle memorial institute
company american telephone and telegraph
conference conference on teaching creative writing

Search Tips:

  • 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 enters. Do not use the question mark (?) for truncation.

  • Personal author/creator
    • Enter the author/creator's last name followed by the first name: mitchell margaret
    • If the spelling of the last name is uncertain, enter as much as you know: dosto (omit first names, titles of nobility, etc.)
    • Retain the hyphen in a hyphenated name: evans-pritchard
    • For names with connectives (van, von, der), follow the conventions of the person's country or language: gogh vincent van

  • Group authors/creators (government agencies, organizations, conferences)

    • As with individual authors, search enough of the name to distinguish it
    • In most instances, department is often abbreviated to dept; search using both forms to ensure that all relevant records are retrieved
    • Search hierarchical names in full descending order: united states dept of defense
    • Search both acronyms and full names to retrieve all relevant catalog records. Search opec as well as organization of petroleum exporting countries
    • Proceedings of conferences, meetings, etc. can be found by searching on the full name of the conference: international symposium on x-ray microscopy

References and Scope Notes:

In search results, some retrieved headings will not link directly to catalog records, but will supply the user with links to related headings or scope notes (marked with the [ More Info ] icon) as illustrated in the screen below.

More detailed information on References and Scope Notes is available.

Alternative Search Options:

If you do not find what you are looking for using an Author/Creator search, try a Command or a Guided search and type in whatever information you know. For example, if you do not know the specific name of a conference, try a Command search using what you do know (e.g., part of the name of the conference, location, and date: peace AND conference AND paris AND 1920).

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

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November 17, 2005