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WorldCat Discovery User Guide

This guide provides an overview to WorldCat Discovery at the Wesley Theological Seminary Library.

Searching WorldCat Discovery

  • From the Basic Search screen, enter your term(s) in the search box. 
  • Searching does not require punctuation and is not case sensitive.
  • As you type, WorldCat Discovery provides search suggestions.
    • You may choose to search the term(s) as they occur in the title.
    • You may also select the suggestions generated by the system.

  • Click Search.
  • Worldcat Discovery uses a basic keyword search as the default search. 
  • The system identifies where the term(s) may appear in an item record (titles, subjects, summaries, etc.) and returns relevant results.
  • "Relevance indicators highlight matching search terms" in the item record.

 

Search Tips*

There are many ways to narrow basic searches in WorldCat Discovery to obtain meaningful results.

  • Boolean Operators
    • Use the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT to group, include, or exclude terms in your search.
    • ex. mystics AND women NOT basketball 
  • Parenthesis
    • Use parentheses around a Boolean string to create more precise searches.
    • ex. (celtic AND prayer) AND (ireland NOT scotland)
  • Quotation marks (" ")
    • Use quotation marks around a string of terms to search for an exact phrase.
    • ex. "new interpreters bible" 
  • Truncation
    • Use an asterisk (*) for approximate term entries. Enter at least the first three letters of a term.
    • ex. proc* will produce search results for proc-ess, proc-lamation, pro-claimed
  • Wildcard
    • Use a pound sign (#) to represent a single character. Enter at least the first three letters of a term.
    • ex. singl# will produce search results with the term single present
    • Use a question mark (?) to match 0-9 missing characters including no additional characters. Enter at least the first three letters of a term.
    • ex. christ? will produce search results with the terms Christi, Christ's, Christians, and so on.
  • Author Searches
    • It can be difficult to use keyword searching to find all of the material by a specific author in WorldCat Discovery. Different content providers use different forms of a name. Use the search strategies below to conduct an effective author search.
      • Use a combination of Boolean operators, parentheses and quotation marks to refine your search.
        • If you enter John Godsey in the Basic Search box, the system returns 994 records in which John and Godsey appear in item records either separately or together.
        • If you enter "John Godsey" with quotation marks, the system performs an exact phrase search and returns 12 records containing John Godsey.
        • If you enter ("John D. Godsey") OR ("John Godsey") as a search query, the system identifies records that contain either exact phrase and returns 76 records. 
        • If you know varying forms of an author's name, use them to construct your searches. The same strategy works for other searches as well.

*From OCLC's:
"Search and use query syntax" https://help.oclc.org/Discovery_and_Reference/WorldCat_Discovery/Search_in_WorldCat_Discovery/010Search_and_use_query_syntax. OCLC support (2023, Feb 6)
"Search tips" https://help.oclc.org/Discovery_and_Reference/WorldCat-org/Search/Search_WorldCat_org/00Search_tips. OCLC support (2023, Feb 14). 

After a search, WorldCat Discovery will display the records matching your search criteria on the results screen. By default, the library's instance of WorldCat Discovery is set to search the collections and resources at the Wesley Theological Seminary Library. The results screen will list the items held by and accessible through the Wesley Theological Seminary Library. To extend your search to other libraries and resources worldwide, select the option under Held By Library. 

 

The results screen provides several filter and sort options to refine the results of your search.

 

Sort Search Results

Use the drop-down list under Sort to arrange the results of your search. The available sort options and their actions are:

Sort Option Function
Best Match Combines Title, Author, Date, and Worldwide Holdings emphasizing Title.
Recency Combines Date, Title, Author, and Worldwide Holdings emphasizing Date. 
Library     Examines individual library holdings first, then combines Title, Author, Date, and Worldwide Holdings. 
Author (A to Z) "Sorts by special characters or numbers in the first name, then A to Z by the last name."
Date (Newest First) "Sorts chronologically by publication date, with the newest items listed first."
Date (Oldest First) "Sorts chronologically by publication date, with the oldest items listed first."
Most Widely Held "Presents an 'unclustered' view of search results with an emphasis on Worldwide Holdings in a blend of Date, Title, and Author. Use this option to view the best results for interlibrary loan requests."
Title A-Z Sorts by special characters, then alphabetically by Title. Only the article "the" is ignored.

*https://help.oclc.org/Discovery_and_Reference/WorldCat-org/Search/Search_WorldCat_org/20Work_with_search_results

Filter and Refine Search Results

  • Refine or narrow your search results by applying filters listed on the left side of the results screen.
  • Filters may be retained throughout a session without having to be reapplied for subsequent searches.

Applying Print Book under the Format filter reduced the results of this search to 525 print books from the original results of about 2,100.

 

The default view of the results list is the brief record.

  1. The brief record contains bibliographic information: title, author, publication information, and publication date. If available, the summary and contents information may also be present.
  2. The record shows the availability of an item.
  3. The call number and shelving location show where the item may be found.
  4. If the item is available in other editions and formats, the record provides a link to see that information.
  5. Use the Citation button to create bibliographic citations for displayed items. 
  6. Use the Share button to copy and share the URL of the displayed item.
  7. Use the Save button to save the displayed item to revisit during the current search session. If you want to save the search for future sessions, you have to sign in to your library borrower's account to do so.
  8. Use the sorting options and filters to narrow search results. 

The full record has the same information as the brief record, but it offers detailed information.

9. The full record provides the physical description, contents, notes, subject headings, and bibliographies.

 

10. The full record also displays the Browse the Shelf feature that you can use to view other items within the call number range of the selected item.

 

11. If the selected title is a multi-volume set, WorldCat Discovery will display a volume search box feature that you can use to find a specific volume and its availability.

WorldCat Indexes*

  • WorldCat Discovery searches indexes in the WorldCat database, and you can search them directly.
    • The WorldCat database "represents the 'collective collection' of the world’s libraries, built through the contributions of librarians, and expanded and enhanced through individual, regional, and national programs. WorldCat represents electronic and digital materials, including the important, unique items found only in local libraries." *​​​​​​​
  • The WorldCat database indexes use two character labels followed by a colon (:) or by an equal sign (=).

 What is the difference between WorldCat and WorldCat.org? What do I need to know about the central index? (2024, April 23). OCLC Support. 

Index Keyword Search

To search for words anywhere in a selected index, use the colon. For example, 

ti:encyclopedia of religion in america

returns results where the individual words encyclopedia religion America appear anywhere in the title. A search yields 25 results.

 

Index Phrase Search

To search for a phrase anywhere in a selected index, use an equal sign. For example,

ti=encyclopedia of religion in america

returns results where the phrase encyclopedia of religion in america appears anywhere in a title that may be found in the record including the table of contents. The search yields 6 results.

 

Useful Indexes

Some indexes and their labels that may be helpful in your searching include:

  • Title      ---- ti: or ti=
  • author ----- au: or au=
  • subject ---- su: or su=
  • call no. ---- nu: or nu=

"Search and use query syntax" https://help.oclc.org/Discovery_and_Reference/WorldCat_Discovery/Search_in_WorldCat_Discovery/010Search_and_use_query_syntax. OCLC support (2023, Feb 6)

"Types of searches" https://help.oclc.org/Librarian_Toolbox/Searching_WorldCat_Indexes/Search/Types_of_searches. OCLC support (2020, July 24)

Building a Search

Unlike the Basic Search screen, the Advanced Search screen provides tools to help you develop more complex searches. With the Advanced Search, you can:

  • enter terms in multiple search boxes.
  • search multiple indexes simultaneously.
  • select and apply Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to control how terms should or should not be used in the search.

To perform an an advanced search for items about the bible and children that do not include teenagers:

  • enter the terms bible, children, and teenagers in the search boxes.
  • select the indexes that you want to use in the search. (In this case, subject and keyword are the indexes.)
  • use the Boolean operator AND to search for items on the bible and children and use the Boolean operator NOT to exclude teenagers in the results.

The system returned results based upon the search criteria and highlighted the relevant terms in the item record. In addition, the system displayed the syntax of the search in the search box: su:(bible) AND su:(children) NOT kw:(teenager). 

 

Expanded Search

When WorldCat Discovery finds terms related to your search terms, it will ask you if you want to expand your search.

In this case, the system expanded the original search by including the related term child.

 

Limits 

You can control your searches on the Advanced Search screen by using the search tools.

  • Use the Search Tools to filter your search results by Format, Publication Year, Language, Audience, Content type, or Held By Library. 

 

Databases

Since WorldCat Discovery searches the entirety of the library's collections and subscription databases, you can also control your searches on the Advanced Search screen by selecting or deselecting specific databases.

 

If the selected databases have additional content that may match your search, WorldCat Discovery will display links for retrieving the content.

In this example, the search included content from the  OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson) database. The OmniFile link redirects to the database and content relevant to the search terms. You will need the My Wesley username and password for remote access to the library's electronic resources.

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