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Perform a catalog search in WorldCat Find

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Discover how to work with search results in WorldCat Find, including sorting, refining, and saving your search results.

Perform a basic search

  1. Tap the Find books, articles, and more text field.
  2. Enter your search terms in the search text field. This is an auto-suggest text field. Auto-suggestions for field-appropriate elements start after the third keystroke in the text field.
  3. Tap return on your device's keyboard. By default, your results appear sorted by location. You can change how your results are sorted by tapping Sort and filter.
  4. Tap an item image or item title to view the Item Details screen.

Perform an advanced search

Use an advanced search to perform a more in-depth item search than a basic search allows. You can also search using available search index labels in the "Find books, articles, and more" text field. A search index is a detailed alphabetical or numerical list for a specific kind of bibliographic data provided by the system for retrieving a record or sets of records from a database such as WorldCat. By default, WorldCat Find searches using the Keyword index which searches all available bibliographic data in a record or sets of records.

Perform an advanced search from the Advanced search screen

  1. Tap the Advanced Search button (WorldCat Find Advanced search button). The Advanced Search dialog opens.
  2. Select an index from the Index drop-down list. By default, the Advanced Search dialog offers Keyword, Title, and Author searches.
  3. Enter your search term(s) in the text field.
  4. (Optional) Select two additional indexes to add to your search and enter search terms for each. Your advanced search will be combined with the Boolean operator AND.
  5. Tap Search. Your results appear sorted according to the Sort by option you've selected. By default, search results are sorted by location.
  6. Tap an item image or item title to view the Item Details screen.

Perform an advanced search from the search text field

  1. Tap the Find books, articles, and more text field.
  2. Enter an index label and search term in the search text field. For example, if you wanted to search for items written by Edith Wharton, you would enter au:wharton, edith.
  3. (Optional) Enter an additional index terms and search terms in the search text field. For example, if you wanted to search for items written by Edith Wharton and published by Macmillan, you would enter au:wharton, edith pb:macmillan.
  4. Tap Search. Your results appear sorted according to the Sort by option you've selected. By default, search results are sorted by location.
  5. Tap an item image or item title to view the Item Details screen.

Perform a barcode scanner search

  1. Tap the Barcode scanner button (WorldCat Find Barcode scanner button). If this is your first time using the barcode scanner, it will ask for permission to use your device's camera. Tap OK (iOS) or Allow (Android).
  2. Align the ISBN barcode in the rectangle on the screen to scan it. Your result will appear once the barcode is successfully scanned.