Searching In OCLC

Searching in OCLC, like NOTIS, is command driven. This page will show you the commands you'll need to find bibliographic and authority records.

Table of Contents
Bibliographic Searching

Numeric Searching
Derived Searching
Keyword Searching
Search Qualifiers
Displays and Display Navigation
Authority Searching

Bibliographic Searching
Once you've logged in to OCLC you're ready to start searching for records. You'll be searching one of two files: the Online Union Catalog (OLUC) for bibliographic records, or the OCLC Authority File. You'll learn more about the authority file in the Authority Searching section of this page.

Since there are two files to choose from, it stands to reason that you'll need to know which file you're searching and how to switch files! Let's take a look at the welcome screen:

The two letter code for the current file is located in the upper right hand corner of the very first line of the display. The default file is the Union Catalog (OLUC) and it's code is OL. You can check that location at anytime during your session to see what file you are using.

To switch files (or for that matter to send any command in OCLC) you'll need to know three things:

  1. Where on the screen to type the command
  2. What the command is, and
  3. How to send it