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Library Skills: OPAC Searching

Library Skills: OPAC Searching. Searching by Subject. OPAC stands for. Online Public Access Catalog. The library’s catalog is online and available from computers:. in the library at home anywhere you can “be connected”!. The access points for successful searching are:.

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Library Skills: OPAC Searching

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  1. Library Skills:OPAC Searching Searching by Subject

  2. OPAC stands for Online Public Access Catalog.

  3. The library’s catalog is onlineand available from computers: • in the library • at home • anywhere you can “be connected”!

  4. The access points for successful searching are: 1. Author search 2. Title search 3. Subject search

  5. Let’s visit the public library’s OPAC…to experiment with a subject search.

  6. •Pull down the Search menu•Choose “Subject Browse”•For a subject, let’s type in … nebraska

  7. Our subject browse found a “subject heading” for “Nebraska”…with just 9 titles. 9 Titles!

  8. Browse down the list, though, to see more subject headings about “Nebraska”-- Nebraska – Artists Nebraska – Blizzard, 1888 Nebraska – Capitol Nebraska – Cornhuskers (Football team) Nebraska – Floods Nebraska – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Regimental History

  9. Nebraska – ArtistsNebraska – Blizzard, 1888Nebraska – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Regimental History Each of these is a “subject heading” —a word or group of words that describes the topic or subject of a library item:

  10. Click on a subject heading to bring up the list of holdings—all of the items in the library that fit with that subject heading. Click the subject heading: Nebraska – Blizzard, 1888… …and a listing of these 4 items will appear.

  11. The first item looks interesting.Let’s click on it and take a closer look… Click here!

  12. A closer look at The Children’s Blizzard shows us that it has 7 subject headings. Each heading is a “hot link” to a listing of more items about that subject.

  13. Look at the Middle West subject heading. ?

  14. Middle West ? That is not a phrase that Nebraskans would normally use to identify our state. Midwest ? Yes! But Midwest is not a “proper” heading used by the Sears List of Subject Headings —the source of the library’s subject headings.

  15. A subject browse for “Midwest” brings up… Nothing!

  16. Midwest would be here!

  17. As you can see, sometimes searching by subject heading can be tricky!Sometimes you have to do a bit of detective work to figure out the subject heading for your topic.

  18. Next time we will learn about a useful way of searching the OPAC usingkeywords.

  19. Keywords can help you be a good search detective! Keywords are a useful way of searching: • Subject headings • Authors • Titles

  20. Until next time, practice searching the OPAC by subject. What subject headings might describe your favorite hobby?sport?favorite vacation spot?type of music?

  21. Subject headings-- Check it out! The End.

  22. Bibliography Butler, Ellis Parker. “Mississippi River Tales.” Photo, online image. Ellis Parker Butler Info. 19 June 2007. <http://www.ellisparkerbutler.info/epb/pic/v08/mississippi_river_tales_1988_a.jpg>. “Finding Books and Journals.” Granite State College Virtual Library. 19 June 2007. <http://granite.edu/library/publications.htm>. “Horizon Online Catalog.” Hastings Public Library. 19 June 2007. <http://www.hastings.lib.ne.us>. “Huckleberry Finn.” Photo, online image. Westosha Central High School English Department. 19 June 2007. <http://www.westosha.k12.wi.us/Departments/English/ReqReading/Images/>. Laskin, David. The Children’s Blizzard. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2004. “Mark Twain.” Photo, online image. All-Posters.com. 19 June 2007. <http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Mark-Twain-Posters_i1255603_.htm>. “Nebraska.” Outline, image. WorldAtlas.com. 19 June 2007. <http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/usstates/outline/ne.gif>. TE 872. Marilyn Zysset. June, 2007.

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