ILL Gateway                                                                                            OCLC Page

Passport Searching

This page will present the most common interlibrary loan searches performed through the OCLC Passport System.  Each of these searches has a fee attached to it.  Derived searches are the least expensive; keyword searches are the most expensive. 

Derived searches

Derived searches do not use any command language at all.  The user simply types in portions of the author or title separated by commas.   

Title – 3,2,2,1

           Type in the first three letters of first main word of title, first two letters of second word of title, first two letters of third word of title, first letter of fourth word of title.

***If there are fewer than four words in title just remember to put in all three commas, even if there is nothing between the last ones.

          Examples:         Fall of the towers = fal,of,th,t

                                      The color purple = col,pu,,

Author – 4,3,1

            Type in the first four letters of surname (or first word in corporate name), first three letters of first name, first letter of middle name (not necessary – better results if left off unless you have too many hits and want to limit further).

              Example:          Roger C. Peterson = pete,rog,c or pete,rog,

Author/Title – 4,4

            Type in the first four letters of author’s surname (or first word in corporate name), first four letters of first word in title.

              Example:          Time Blender, by Michael Dorn = dorn,time

Limiters

            Limiters can be used with derived OR keyword searches to limit results.   To use limiters, enter a slash (/) followed by the appropriate limiter. 

            Limiters include:      bks – books

                                                rec – sound recording

                                                vis – visual formats

                                                ser - serials

In addition, the user can limit by date by putting in year or years in the desired range and more than one limiter can be used.

              Examples:               Sound recording of Color Purple = col,pu,,/rec

                                               Good Housekeeping magazine before 1950 = goo,ho,,/ser/-1950

 [Top of Page]

Keyword Searches

 To use keyword searching, the user can string together a number of commands for different fields.  Limiters may also be used (see derived searches information for discussion on limiters). 

Keyword terms allowed in OCLC:

              ti – title

            au – author

            su – subject

            se – series

 To create a keyword search, type the word “find” followed by a keyword command,  a keyword term, the word “and,” another keyword command, another keyword term.

 Examples: 

 The authority and interpretation of the Bible, by Jack Rogers and Donald McKim  -

             find au rogers and ti authority and ti interpretation and ti bible and au Donald

 Journal of the American Society for Information Science for September 1995

              find ti journal and ti American and ti information and ti science/ser/-1996

 Scan Title Searches

 Scan title searches are used by entering the scan title command (sca ti) followed by as much or as little of the book’s title as the user wishes.

 Example:  The authority and interpretation of the Bible

              sca ti authority and interpretation of the bible

[Top of Page] 

Searching for Patron Records

 Items requested by patrons can be retrieved by performing derived title or author/title searches with an additional command ahead of the search.

 Command descriptions:    at: - author/title

                                                ti: - title

 Examples:

 If a patron has the book Color Purple, by Alice Walker – use author/title search after the additional command description.

              at:walk,colo

 This search will bring up any matching records within the smaller subset of existing requests borrowed or loaned by TUL (Tulsa City-County Library)

If a patron has the book Authority and Interpretation of the Bible – use title search after the additional command description.

              ti:aut,an,in,o

 This search will bring up any matching records within the smaller subset of existing requests borrowed or loaned by TUL (Tulsa City-County Library).

To locate all items on OCLC for a single patron, use the pa: command.  Enter “pa:” followed by a 4,3,1 search of the patron’s name (though normally, the “1” of the “4,3,1” search should be left out).

 Example:  To find requests on OCLC for Sarah Simpson:

              pa:simp,sar,

Searching for NADs (Name-address directory) listings

 NADs (or name-address directory listings) can tell you a library’s name, address, phone, fax, email, and interlibrary loan policies (depending on how much information the library includes).

 If you know the symbol of the library, simply type a colon (:) followed by the symbol

              Example:          :oks

 If you don’t know the symbol of the library, check the book of symbols in the ILL office or use a derived 4,3,1 search

                        Example:          :dall,pub,l   (Dallas Public Library)

 This search doesn’t often work, but sometimes it will surprise you.

[Top of Page]