Lesson 7 - WorldCat and FirstSearch

Lesson 7 WorldCat and More FirstSearch Indexes

My apologies…once again I am working from stale and also incomplete notes since I must have left part of them at school. I simply cannot delay posting this blog another night. Please forgive any errors of omission and/or commission.

Discovery Exercise part 1 WORLD CAT

1. Besides Keyword, Advanced Search options include:

Material/format type: books, visual materials, computer files, Internet resources, serial publications, sound recordings, archival materials, articles, musical scores, maps, continually updated resources

Format: Any, Large print, Braille, manuscript, microform, not microform, CD audio, cassette, LP, VHS tape/videocassette, DVD video/videodisc

Audience: Juvenile, Not Juvenile, Any

Content: Fiction, Not Fiction, Music, Not Music, Biography, Thesis/Dissertation

Limiters: Publication Year (xxx-xxx), language, # libraries (5+, 50+, 500+)

Under Keyword: Access Method, Accession #, AUTHOR: Author Phrase, Corporate and Conference Name, Corporate and Conference Phrase, Personal Name, Personal Name Phrase, Language Phrase, Material Type, Material Type Phrase, Musical Composition, Musical Composition Phrase, Notes/Comments, Publication, Publication Location, Standard Number: ISBN, ISSN, SUBJECT: Subject Phrase, Description, Genre/Format, Geographical Coverage, Name Corporation & Conference,, Named Person, TITLE: Title Phrase, series title.

2. Title Phrase search + limiter “Books” + title: Owls in the Family = 61 records (54 in English) 1422 libraries world wide have #1 (1961 edition). The top library was the John Harris Elementary School in Sioux Falls. (Libraries grouped by state, starting with user location, then neighboring states: US, SD-6 libs; US,IA-8 libs, US,MN-28 libs, then MT, ND, NE, and WY in that order, with others after.

3. Call number was PZ7 M866 (LC) and 636.6 (DDC). Other subjects included “Owls as pets” and “Owls juvenile fiction.”

Discovery Exercise part 2 OAIster

The Search in Database with Keyword “Subject Phrase” = South Dakota retrieved 827 results, including #11 “Observation of Bats…,” #20 Typical Prairie Schoolhouse, #128 Map of Chicago & Northwestern Railway Lines. Lots of interesting things in these lists.

I had trouble finding a “new search” button so had to repeat a series of back screens to return to search screen. LOC Subject Headings could be manipulated with Broader, Narrower, or Topical Subheadings. Hot Topics provided preformed searches (at upper left in Basic and Advanced Search screens). Handy graphic tabs categorized results by resources and indicators.

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the icons showing dots in boxes on the page for #128 Map of Chicago and Northwestern Railway Lines. A mouse-over the icons showed they were DISPLAY options (50, 100, or 250 items per page), THUMBNAIL SIZE options (small, medium or large), and very detailed specific SORT options. The Advance Search options gave an extensive list options that were same as SORT options. Clicking the + at the end of any of the three default search query lines would add another line to the query.

This was a sophisticated image viewing page with all kinds of options that did not print like it looked on the screen. I was intrigued by the timer at the top of the page. I did find it helpful in alerting me when my time was about to expire.

There’s so much here…I’m not sure how long it would take me to find something I needed or wanted, but I DO know that it does not take me long to find something interesting.