Lesson 8 World Cat

 1. We recommend using the Advanced Search screen for best search results. Click the “Advanced” tab on the toolbar 2nd to the top. In WorldCat, the right set of search boxes say “Keyword.” Click on the drop down menu to see other ways you can search.

There are many ways to ask for information. I haven't used most of these. However, I do use WorldCat a lot to find call numbers for books I am cataloguing.  

 2. Choose Title Phrase search, and click on the limiter (below the search boxes) “Books.” In the search box, type a book title. Note the number of results. How many libraries worldwide have item #1? Click the link. What is the top library?
Book title - The Fire Cat
Number of results - 38
Item #1 - 1597
Dakota Wesleyan Univ. McGovern Libr

 3. Click into result #1 and look at the full record. What is the call number (class descriptor)? To see what else the author of your chosen book has written, click on the author's name. To see what else is available on that subject, click on a subject. What other information do you see?

LC : PZ10.3.A96    Dewey: E
records found: 146 (English:129)
under subject I found : cats, fiction, juvenile fiction, juvenile works

Other FirstSearch Indexes

WorldCat offers access to other databases, too. These include indexes to books, articles, dissertations, archive material, and more. In WorldCat, these are found by clicking on the drop down menu next to “Search in database.” Most of these are very specialized, scholarly databases that are NOT full text, but they might be the perfect resource to get a piece of information. For information on each database, select each one and click on the “i” icon. This guide gives a chart with brief explanation of each database, its intended audience and its use.

Discovery Exercise part 2

The OAIster (pronounced “oyster”) database is one of the few mostly full text databases in WorldCat. Choose OAIster from the dropdown menu next to “Search in database.” In the “Keyword” search box, type South Dakota. Select one of your results. Click on the link next to “Access.” Add to your Lesson 8 blog posting by writing about your findings and your impressions of this tool.

I selected National park service audio recording - wind cave national park - field sparrow
the download took a long time for about one second of audio.




Take a look at other participant's blogs and see how their experiences compared with yours.

Lauren P. seemed to really like it.