LIBRARY: FIRSTSEARCH DATABASE
OCLC FIRSTSEARCH
OCLC FirstSearch is a Web-based system that provides access to several databases. Each library chooses those that it would like to provide. The databases available for searching appear as options on the search screen. On the Advanced Search Screen the database being searched is identified in the box at the top. To the right of the box is an information icon (a capital I) to click on for a description of the database.
Among those databases that might be of interest to HUGSR students are ArticleFirst, Dissertation Abstracts Online, Electronic Collections Online (ECO), ERIC, MEDLINE, Wilson Select Plus, and WorldCAT.
The URL for FirstSearch is http://firstsearch.oclc.org. Enter the authorization number (enter the 9 numbers in a string without hyphens or spaces) and password. These are available only to students and staff of HUGSR and are changed each year. Current students can inquire at hgslib@hugsr.edu for this number and password.
Click on Start. Adjacent to “Jump to Advanced Search” click on down arrow to right of “Select a Database to Search” for list of available databases.
The bottom of the “Advanced Search” screen indicates the ways searches can be limited. These will vary according to the database being searched.
1. By year or years – see pattern to right of this field
2. By language – can limit to one of 28 choices, including “all” in WorldCAT. .
3. By type of materials.
Click on the “Searching” tab at the top of any screen to return to original search or to begin a new search.
To print titles from a “list of records” check box to left of entries to be printed. Click on “Marked Records” at the top of the screen. Click on “Print” icon at top of screen.
Most of the detailed records in the databases will provide a list of subject entries made for that record in the database. Under the heading “Subjects” these will appear under various subheadings, e.g., descriptor, Scripture, named person, title subject, or geographic. Such headings in blue serve as hot links. Clicking on any one of these will retrieve all records in the database with that heading without regard to any limitations originally placed on the search. Return to “Advanced Search” to place any desired limitations on the search for that heading.
WorldCAT
WorldCat is a database containing over 179 million records representing the holdings of over 9,000 libraries. Begin searches at the “Advanced Search” screen. Author, title, subject, keyword, and several other types of searches can be done on this database. Click on the down arrow to the right of “keyword” to reveal types of searches. An “author” search is a keyword search in the author field. An “author phrase” search retrieves only those records with the author in the exact form and order in which it is typed into the field. A “title” search is a keyword search of the title field. A “title phrase” search retrieves only those items with the exact title typed into the search field. A “subject” search is a keyword search of the subject fields. A “subject phrase” search retrieves only those items with that exact phrase in the subject entries. A “keyword” search retrieves records with the word or words entered into the search field that appear anywhere in the record, except the author field.
There are three “stop” words that are used in Boolean searching of this database: near, with, and not. If these words occur in the title of a work, a title search will not retrieve the title being searched for if one of these words is entered as a part of the search. For instance, the following titles have to be searched by “title phrase” in order to find a record for them: Forbid Them Not; Robbery with Malice; and Studies in Literature from the Ancient Near East.
To locate all materials by a particular author it will be necessary to do an exploratory search to ascertain the author’s “official” name in the database. If one work by the author is known, do an author/title search for this work. Access the detailed record and click on the “official” name used for the author to retrieve all his works in the database. If one of the author’s works is not known, try a search from the “author phrase” field. Truncate the search by entering the author’s last name and a first initial followed by an asterisk, e.g., Carson, D*. This will retrieve all works by a Carson whose first initial is “D” or whose first name begins with a “D.” By scanning a few detailed records the author in question will surface, and the detailed record will reflect the author’s official name in the author field in the entry. Click on the author’s name in the record to retrieve a list of all his works. Very common last names will obviously retrieve a large number of records.
An author/title search is the best way to find a particular book. Set one field for “author” and one for “title.” Enter the author’s last name in the “author” field and a couple of keywords from the title in the “title” field. Use specific words, excluding articles, prepositions, conjunctions, and common terms such as history, introduction, etc. If multiple items are found, click on the title that appears to match your title. If the title has been entered in the HUGSR online catalog, a notice will appear indicating that it is in the HUGSR library. Click on “Libraries that own item” to ascertain libraries that have the title. The first list of holding libraries will be from the Southeastern region of the U.S. Click on “Display all libraries” to ascertain libraries outside that region that have the title.
To search by subject enter “subject” in one of the search fields. Type the subject term or terms in the field and execute the search. This will retrieve records with the terms anywhere in the subject entry field. Click on any of the titles retrieved (printed in blue) to see full record. Scroll to bottom of record to ascertain the subject entries for this title. You may find a more specific subject heading to search or the exact subject phrase used for this topic. You may have to look at the full records of several entries to get a list of appropriate subject headings for a search. Clicking on any of the blue subject headings will retrieve all entries in the database with that subject heading. This type of search is done disregarding any limits you may have originally set for the search. Sometimes a subject search combined with a keyword search may produce better results.
Wilson Select Plus
This database contains the full text (none earlier than 1994) of 2400 titles covering a wide range of subjects. The titles listed below may be of interest to HUGSR students and staff; these are not available in full-text through the ATLA Religion database. The date is the beginning year for inclusion in the database.
American Journal of Psychotherapy, 1995-98
Annual Review of Sex Research, 1999-
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 1999-
Business Ethics Quarterly, 1995-
Catholic Historical Review, 1995-
Child Study Journal, 1996-
Classical Journal, 1995-
Commentary, 1994-
Counseling & Values, 200l-
Ethics and the Environment, 2002-
Families in Society, 1999-
Family Life, 200l-
Feminist Studies, 1995-
Humanist, 1994-
International Philosophical Quarterly, 1999-
Jewish Social Studies, 2000-
Journal of Addictions and Offender Counseling, 200l-2002
Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 1995-
Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 1995-
Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 1995-
Journal of Psychology, 1995-
Journal of Research on Christian Education, 1998-
Journal of Sex Research, 1995-
Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 2000-
Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1998-
Judaism, 1995-
Media & Methods, 1994-
National Geographic, 1995-
Parents Magazine, 1994-98
PC World, 1994-
Philosophy East & West, 1995-
Psychology Today, 1998-
Sixteenth Century Journal, 1995-
Sojourners, 1998-
Time, 1995-
USA Today, 1995-
ArticleFirst
Contains over 27,000,000 records from over 16,000 sources dating from 1990 to present. Covers a broad range of subjects including the Social Sciences and Humanities. Provides author and title searches, but subject access is only through keyword searches of the titles of the articles. Indexes a few journals not in the ATLA Religion database and several philosophical and psychological journals. Also indexes a few American history journals (e.g., New England Quarterly, American Historical Review, William and Mary Quarterly) that frequently publish articles on American church history.
Electronic Collections Online (ECO)
Contains over 4.200,000 records from over 5,000 sources dating from 1995 to present.
Covers a broad range of subjects including history, philosophy, psychology, religion, and social sciences. Provides author and title searches, but also subject searches under “identifier” or “identifier phrase.” Retrieved record indicates identifiers for that particular record that serve as additional terms to search.
Dissertations Abstracts Online
Contains over 2,200,000 records of dissertations and theses from North America and Europe from 1861 to the present. The majority are from the U.S. The subject and descriptor searches are much too broad to retrieve documents on specific topics. Keyword searches, which retrieve records from terms in the titles and abstracts, are the most effective way to search this database. Abstracts for dissertations were added in 1980 and for theses in 1988.
ERIC
The major education database produced under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Education. Contains over 1,300,000 records from 1966 to the present. Provides links to some full-text materials. Can search by subject under ERIC descriptors (see online version of ERIC thesaurus at http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/thesaurus/thesaurus.jsp?_pageLabel=Thesaurus) or under subject headings.
MEDLINE
MEDLINE is the U.S. National Library of Medicine's (NLM) premier bibliographic database that contains over 18 million references to journal articles in life sciences with a concentration on biomedicine. Coverage from 1947 to the present, with some older material. Contains citations from approximately 5,400 worldwide journals in 39 languages; 60 languages for older journals. Records are indexed with NLM's Medical Subject Headings. Go to http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh for information on obtaining electronic version of the thesaurus.
