Work with search results

Overview

The image below is an example of the search results screen. After you search for a record (using a basic or advanced search), any search results matching the terms you entered will display. From the search results screen, you can perform different actions.

1. Facets

Use the facets to filter your results by Open Content, Format, Author/Creator, Language, Content Type, Publication Year, Audience, and/or Subject.

Note: Only facet categories relevant to your search query appear with your results.

Filter results with facets

To filter your results:

Select a facet category.
Select the check box next to the filter(s) you want to apply in the category. Results filter automatically.
(Optional) Repeat steps 1 and 2 for additional facet categories.
- When you select a filter, all subfilters are automatically selected.
- All filters are applied to your search using AND and OR logic (e.g., selecting Article updates your search to [original search query] AND (Article OR Downloadable Article), as the Article filter has a Downloadable Article subfilter.).

Remove facets

To remove a selected facet:

Click the selected check box to deselect it.
Or
Click reset to remove filter(s) selected for the category.
Or
Click Clear Filters to remove all selected filters.

Retain facets

Select Retain Filters to apply selected facets to subsequent searches in a session

2. Results and save search

The number of results you receive and your place in the results list appears at the top of the results list.
Click Save search to save a catalog search.

3. Sort by

Use the options in the Sort by drop-down list to determine how your search results are sorted.

Sort option	Behavior
Favorite Libraries	Sorts based on your selected favorite libraries with items held by your favorite libraries listed first. This option is only available if you are signed in to WorldCat.org. It is not available on the WorldCat Find app.
Location	Sorts based on your location with closest items listed first.
Best Match	Blends Title, Author, Date, and Worldwide Holdings with an emphasis placed on Title.
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 sort option to view the best results for interlibrary loan requests.
Date (Most Recent)	Sorts chronologically by publication year with newest items listed first.
Date (Least Recent)	Sorts chronologically by publication year with oldest items listed first.
Title (A-Z)	Sorts by special characters, then alphabetically by Title. Only the article "the" is ignored.
Author (A-Z)	Sorts by special characters or numbers in the first name, then A to Z by last name.

4. Search results

The Search Results screen provides an item overview for each record in the results list. The item overview contains the following information:

Title - Click the title to view the Item Details screen for the item.
Author/Authors - Click an author's name to view additional works by the author.
- If a WorldCat record contains a WorldCat Entity URI in the 100 $1, 110 $1, 700 $1, or 710 $1, a Person card avatar () appears before the author's name. Hover over the avatar to view the following links:
  - Copy URI - Click to automatically copy the entity's unique Universal Resource Identifier to your clipboard.
  - Works by author - Click to perform an Author phrase search (e.g., au=Ferrante Elena).
  - Works about author - Click to perform a Subject phrase search (e.g., su=Ferrante Elena).
Summary - Click Show More to view the entire item summary.
Item format and publication year (e.g., eBook: 2008)
Language of the item

Image display in WorldCat.org

Due to the large volume of titles covered in WorldCat, OCLC does not load cover art for individual titles. Instead, we load large files from a variety of providers with whom we have contractual relationships.

Titles that do not include cover art will show the default images below.

Cover art default icons

Format facet in WorldCat.org	Cover art default icon
Book
Audiobook
Article, Chapter
Archival Material
Music
Musical Score
Video
Toy
Image
Visual Material
Map
Journal, Magazine
Newspaper
Interactive Multimedia
Computer File
Kit
Object
Website
Encyclopedia Article

View thumbnails from digital repositories synced through WorldCat Digital Collection Gateway

Collections from CONTENTdm and other OAI-PMH compliant digital repositories which have been synced through WorldCat Digital Collection Gateway will display a thumbnail image in the brief results and detailed view in WorldCat Discovery. For more information on syncing your collection, see Digital Collection Gateway.

Note: CONTENTdm sites automatically include a thumbnail. If you are using a different OAI-PMH compliant repository, see Use the Digital Collection Gateway, Add a thumbnail image for more information.

Digital repository	Required fields/subfields to display thumbnail in WorldCat Discovery
CONTENTdm	856 y contains the text thumbnail image of 856 u contains a URL 1st indicator is 4 2nd indicator is 0 WorldCat Discovery will use the URL in the 856 u to display as the thumbnail.
Other OAI-PMH compliant digital repositories	856 3 contains the text thumbnail image of 856 u contains a URL URLs must be https 1st indicator is 4 2nd indicator is 0 WorldCat Discovery will use the URL in the 856 u to display as the thumbnail.

5. Open Access

If an Open Access version exists for an item, the Access Free button will appear below the item overview. Click Access Free to view the item in a new tab.

6. Formats & Editions

If there are other formats and/or editions of the item available, they will appear below the item overview.

Click a format (e.g., ebook) to view the Item Details screen for that format.
Click Formats & Editions to view all available formats and editions for an item. An Editions screen opens displaying all available editions and formats. Click an edition title to view the Item Details screen for that edition.
- The Editions screen allows you to sort the available editions and formats by:
  - Most Widely Held (default)
  - Date (Most Recent)
  - Date (Least Recent)
    
    Note:
    
    The Year column displays date of publication subfield data from fields 260 or 264 subfield $c of your bibliographic record. Both Year sort options look at the data in field 008/7-10. If no data is present in field 008/7-10, some items may appear out of order by date.
    
    Example - When selecting either Year sort option, an item that has a publication date of 2016 but an undefined field 008/7-10 will appear beneath an item that has a publication of 2015 and a defined field 008/7-10 that matches the data in 260 or 264 $c.

See format/document type values and codes for more information about formats.

7. Results

If your search returns more than 10 results, the number of results per page drop-down list and page navigation buttons appear at the bottom of the results list.

Select a number from the Results per page drop-down list to change the number of results you see per page. By default, 10 results are displayed at a time.
If there is more than one page of results, use the navigation buttons to move between pages.