Library and Internet Skills

Table of Contents

Field Searching

Every book has a record in the library catalogue. The book's records is divided into parts called 'fields.' For example, the 'author,' the 'title,' and the 'publisher'are all fields.

The Library Catalogue allowed you you to specify fields when you search. Field searching can make your search more efficient and effective.

Example: To find the book written by Karl Marx entitled "Das Kapital."

Example 1: Using field codes

marx{au} and kapital{ti}

In this example the catalogue will find records where "marx" appears in the Author field and "kapital appears in the Title field. There is no space between the word and the field code.

List of field abbreviations:

{au} = author
{ti} = title
{su} = subject (finds Library of Congress Subject Headings)
{ser} = series
{pbyr} = publishing date
{pbna} = publisher
{ser} = series title
{lang} = Language. To use this field code you need to know the three-letter code for your language. A full list is available [here] from the Library of Congress.
{020} = international standard book number
{022} = international standard serial number
{per} periodical title
{pbpl} = place of publication
{imp} = imprint (publisher name, place and year)
{note} = all note fields
{mesh} = medical subject headings
{percorp} = Periodical corporate author, i.e. American Medical Society
{term} = subject terms
{aulink} = linked author
{tilink} = linked title
{ismn} = international standard music number
{xxx} = a MARC field code.

More examples:

a book with 'titanic' in the title, published by 'homewood press'

titanic{ti} and homewood press{pu}

books published by 'Sage Publications' in 1998

sage{pu} and 1998{pu}

Number 77 in the series: 'fao forestry paper'

fao forestry paper{ser} and 77{ser}