Search tips
WorldCat Find has been discontinued as of 7 July 2025. However, users will continue to have access to their account information and lists by authenticating through the browser-based WorldCat.org website.
Several techniques are available for searching. To get the best results, use an advanced search.
Keyword search
Note: Keyword search is the default search in WorldCat.org and WorldCat Find.
A keyword search uses one or more complete words that are contained anywhere in the item's record, including titles, notes, abstracts, summaries, descriptions, and subjects.
Keywords can also be names of people and places that are the subjects of a library resource or a listing in a directory.
You can enter words in upper or lower case, and if you use multiple words you can enter them in any order.
Example
A keyword search for blood chemistry returns these titles:
- Abnormal blood chemistry values in Hodgkin's disease
- Chemistry of blood type
- Early blood chemistry in Britain and France
- General clinical chemistry — Blood loss from laboratory tests
Your search results can contain a range of items related to your search keyword(s):
- words from the title
- words that describe the subject matter
- the author's name
- the item's format and/or language
- year of publication
- name(s) or publishers and/or distributors of the item
- if the item is an article, the name of the magazine or journal in which the article appeared
- for recorded music and movies: artist, actor, or director name
Phrase search
A phrase search uses quotation marks to allow an exact match to the phrase searched.
Example
A phrase search for "blood chemistry" returns these titles:
- Abnormal blood chemistry values in Hodgkin's disease
- Blood chemistry tutorials
- Early blood chemistry in Britain and France
- Study in post-operative blood chemistry
Although these examples show titles, your search results can contain the same range of items as a keyword search.
Boolean operators
Boolean operators allow you to narrow or broaden your search group, include, or exclude certain terms in your search. Searches that include too many boolean operators will not yield any results.
Note: Boolean operators must be capitalized.
| Operator | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| AND or a plus sign (+) | The use of the word AND or the plus sign will search for all words entered in the search field. Note: This is the default search operator in WorldCat.org. Any search for terms without an operator will return items with all the words. |
Any of the following searches return results with all of the words entered in the search field (guns, germs, steel).
|
| OR or a vertical bar ( | ) | The use of the word OR or the vertical bar will search for either of the words entered in the search field. | Any of the following searches return results with any of the words entered in the search field (Paris, fashion).
|
| NOT or a minus sign (-) | The use of the word NOT or the minus sign will exclude terms entered in the search field. | Any of the following searches return results with fashion excluded.
|
You can also use the following to group or narrow your search:
- Quotation marks (" ") - Enclose your search terms in quotation marks to search for an exact phrase (e.g., A search for "The Grapes of Wrath" returns items with The Grapes of Wrath directly next to each other).
- Parentheses ( () ) - Enclose a Boolean string in parentheses to create more precise searches (e.g., A search for dog (walking or feeding or grooming) returns items with dog walking, dog feeding, and dog grooming).
Common word exclusion
Before a search is sent to the search engine, any words from the common word lists will be excluded. Any words in the search that start with a plus sign (+) or a minus sign (-) will not be excluded.
English
| a an and are as at be but by for |
from had have he her his how in is it |
not of on or that the this to was which |
with you |
French
| de des la le les un une |
German
| als am auf aus das dass der dich dir du |
er es ihr ihre ihres im in ist kein mein |
mich mir mit sein sie von wer wie wird |
Wildcards
Wildcards are special characters used to represent additional characters in a search term. They are useful when you are unsure of the spelling, when there are alternate spellings, or when you only know part of a term.
Pound sign
The pound sign (#), also called a number sign or hashtag, represents a single character.
Examples
A search for wom#n returns items whose record contains:
- woman
- women
A search for adverti#e returns items whose record contains:
- advertise
- advertize
Question mark
The question mark (?) represents any number of additional characters. Include a number if you know the maximum number of characters the wildcard will replace.
Examples
A search for anders?n returns items whose record contains:
- anderson
- andersen
A search for bu?2ler returns items whose record contains:
- burner
- butler
Truncation
Truncation allows you to search for a term and its variations by entering a minimum of the first three letters of the term followed by a question mark symbol (?) or an asterisk (*).
Examples
A search for securit* returns items whose record contains:
-
security
-
securities
-
securitization
A search for invest* returns items whose record contains:
-
investor
-
invested
-
investing
-
investiture
-
investment