By Ann Morrow Schwab
Need to brush up on your OCLC searching skills or train a new employee? Want a
head start before attending BCR's OCLC Searching Basics workshop? Then you
might find the Searching WorldCat: An OCLC Tutorial helpful.
Searching WorldCat: An OCLC Tutorial is a free Windows-based program that uses
interactive, hands-on exercises to teach searching techniques and strategies. Your
library staff can learn in a self-paced, offline environment without incurring
telecommunications or search charges.
The tutorial begins with an overview of WorldCat, the OCLC Online Union Catalog
and a brief introduction to reading MARC records. The searching sections cover
numeric searching, derived searching, combining and qualifying numeric and derived
searches, title phrase searching and keyword searching. In addition, the tutorial
explains full-record, brief-list, truncated-list and group-list search result displays. The
tutorial also explains how searches differ between OCLC's Passport and Cataloging
Micro Enhancer software.
Searching WorldCat: An OCLC Tutorial is part of the OCLC Access Suite. Users
may download the OCLC Access Suite at
www.oclc.org/oclc/menu/suite/. A valid
OCLC authorization number is required. The software is also available on CD-ROM
and may be ordered from OCLC or BCR. There is no charge for the OCLC Access
Suite.
The tutorial requires Microsoft Windows 3.1, Windows 95 or Windows NT to run.
Minimum hardware requirements include a 486/66 MHz-based system, 8MB of
memory and 10MB of available space on the hard drive.
If you have questions about Searching WorldCat: An OCLC Tutorial or the OCLC
Access Suite, contact Ann Schwab.
