A quick and dirty introduction to the behind the scenes of library searching for library staff.

1. A
Crash
Course
in
Library
Searching

2. There are two main things to
remember
• Cataloging is very exacting
• Computers are very dumb

3. MARC

10. a few MARC fields of note
• 1XX Author
• 130 Uniform Title
• 245 Title
• 490 Series Statement
• 505 Formatted Contents Note
• 650 Subject—Topical
• 655 Genre

13. some LCSH are nuts
• Abnormalities, Human instead of Birth
defects
• Cestoda rather than Tapeworms
• Intervertebral disk displacement for
Slipped disc
• Canada. Treaties, etc. 1992. Oct. 7
instead of NAFTA or North American
Free Trade Agreement

14. But once you know
how they work…
• Start with a keyword search
till you find something
likely, then steal the subject
heading

15. Practic
e

16. Some Other Tricks
• Sort by publication date to get the most
recent book
• Sort by GMD (aka format) to find what we
have by an author in audio or large print
• Restrict by item type to limit your search
• Truncate with an asterisk * to find
variations of a word

18. Further Reading
• Understanding MARC (I recommend this only if you are
really, really interested): http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/
• If you are interested in how strange LC subject headings
are, you may enjoy reading about Sandy Berman:
http://www.sanfordberman.org/cityp/ber1t.htm
• Or one of his articles:
http://www.sanfordberman.org/biblinks/progressive.pdf

19. Photo Credits
• Women in library:
http://secure.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofnsw/5748745
311
• MARC cake:
http://secure.flickr.com/photos/sundaykofax/321063042
• LCSH books:
http://secure.flickr.com/photos/travelinlibrarian/45982061
41
• Card catalog with man and woman:
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofnsw/588258
0951
• Workroom with card catalog:
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/nypl/3110117236