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UICCAT is University of Illinois at Chicago's Library catalog. By searching it, you will discover what books, journals, magazines and other materials that UIC owns in all of its libraries.

Keywords

The default search is by Any Word, Anywhere. To search for keywords, type in one or more words about your topic (search terms) into the Any Word Anywhere or the Boolean Search. In the Boolean Search, terms must be combined with words called operators (AND, OR, NOT) or quotation marks can be used when searching for phrases.

AND - searches for terms anywhere in the same record and will narrow your search

OR - searches for the records with either word in them and will broaden your search

NOT - searches for occurrences of the first term and will match only if the second term is NOT in the same record

Operators allow the combination of terms in a variety of ways. For example:

· virus and animals (finds all of the records with the word virus that also have the word animals)

· rain or precipitation (finds all of the records with either the word rain or the word precipitation)

· Shakespeare not Hamlet (finds all of the records with the word Shakespeare but not the word Hamlet)

• If your search retrieves too many entries, narrow it by adding an additional term or a more specific operator. For example, Brussels and History.
• Note: entering Brussels History will result in an error message.  You must use an operator (AND, OR, NOT) or search the words as a phrase using quotation marks.
• If your search retrieves too few entries, broaden it by removing a term or adding a less specific operator. For example, "Great Britain" or England.
• The only punctuation or special characters that may be used anywhere in a keyword search statement are:

• the question mark (?) used for truncation--(for more info click here)
• parentheses used for nested searching--(for more info click here)

• It is also possible to limit a search term to a particular field of the record, such as author, title or publisher, by preceding the search term with the appropriate field code. (See the list of field codes below). For Example, nkey shakespeare and tkey hamlet OR publ cambridge and skey japan

Field Codes To search for a keyword in the:	Use:
Author name keyword	nkey
Title keyword	tkey
Subject heading keyword	skey
Date of publication. Use 4-digit year, e.g., 1986	pubd
Conference or meeting name, place, date	conf
Corporations, companies, organizations as authors	corp
Journal title keyword	jkey
Music opus or thematic index number	opus
Publisher number (music score, sound, video)	pub#
Place (city) of publication	pubc
Publisher name keyword	publ
Series title keyword	seri
Contents note keyword	note

 

Keyword searching is not the most precise way to search. Because the computer searches the entire record of every resource, you often retrieve records that contain the keyword but are not about the keyword. For example, a search of Chicago and History may retrieve a book about English 18th-century history that happened to be published at the University of Chicago. By using keywords, you are still likely to find some items on your topic. Use synonymous keywords to retrieve additional sources. For example, if you're looking for books about teenagers and depression, search keywords like adolescents, teenagers, young adults, teens, etc.

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Truncation of Search Terms

The end of a word can be represented by using a "?" as a truncation symbol. Truncation will retrieve more forms or different spellings of a word or name. The system will find all of the words that begin with the letters you typed before the "?". For example:

· nation? will retrieve records with the words nation and nations as well as nationality.

Avoid using the "?" too soon in the word to represent the word ending. For example, do not type cop? if you are searching for the term Copenhagen., Too many words begin with the three letters cop. copen? is a better search.

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Nested Searches

Search statements can be efficiently structured by combining several terms and operators into a single search statement. When more than one operator has been used, parentheses should be used to clearly distinguish how terms are to be grouped. This technique is called nesting.

Make sure that for every open parenthesis in your search statement, you include a close parenthesis. For example:

(history and (england or "great britain"))

chicago and (crim? or gang?)

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Searching by Author

To search by author, type the author's last name or a portion of the last name. For example, to search for William Shakespeare, type either of the following: shakespeare or shakesp

If the last name is a common one, include at least some of the first name if you know it. Always type the last name first. For example, to search for Henry James, type either of the following: james henry or james h

Cross references direct a search to alternate forms of names, such as pseudonyms (other names used by authors). Click on the cross reference links (i.e., See Also) to retrieve more works by that author.

• "Search Under" means use instead of.
• "See Also" means use in addition to.
Hints for Author Searching
• Type the last name first, followed by the first name (e.g., Updike, John).
• An author may be a person, a company, an organization or an institution (e.g.., UNESCO).
• Do not type accent marks, commas and other punctuation in the author's name.
• Check for typographical errors.
• If search results in zero entries:
• Shorten the name.
• Retry as a keyword search
• If still unsuccessful, the library may not own anything by this author. You may check ILLINET ONLINE for holdings of other libraries or ask for assistance at the Reference or Information Desk.
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Searching by Title

To search by title, type as much of the title as you know. You do not need to type the entire title. For example, typing red badge of will retrieve Red Badge of Courage.

Hints for Title Searching

• Omit initial article (a, an, the, der, une, etc.). For example, typing hot zone will retrieve The Hot Zone.
• UICCAT is not case sensitive. You can type in all upper-case or all lower-case letters, and it will not make a difference.
• Cross References direct a search to variations in the title.
• "Search Under" means use instead of.
• "See Also" means in addition to.

• Omit accent marks, and punctuation.
• If search results in zero entries:
• Shorten the title
• Try using alternative forms of words (see below)
• Retry as a keyword search
• If search still results in zero entries, the library may not own the title. Check ILLINET for the holdings of other libraries or ask for assistance at the Reference or Information Desk.

Common Alternate Forms of Words

The following are common alternate forms of words that may exist in the catalog. If search results in zero entries, try an alternate form of the word.

• Initials, acronyms, and abbreviations (abbreviated or spelled out)
• Numbers (in numeric form or spelled out)
• Hyphenations (one word or hyphenated)
• Spelling variations
• The word and (spelled out or as '&")

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Searching by Journal Title

To search for the title of a journal, select Journal Title from the "Find Results By" menu. Enter the journal title, omitting the initial article.

 For example, if you are looking for The New England Journal of Medicine, omit "The" and type "New England Journal of Medicine".

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Searching by Subject

Search by subject using either Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) or Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). In order to search by subject, you must know the exact subject as determined by the Library of Congress or the National Library of Medicine.

For example, you would type aids disease to search the topic AIDS as a Library of Congress subject, but you would type acquired immunodeficiency syndrome to search the topic as a Medical Subject Heading.

Some terms will be the same in both LCSH and MeSH. For example, if you search for Arthritis as a subject term, you will see entries for Arthritis as a Library of Congress Subject Heading and entries for Arthritis as a Medical Subject Heading.

For help in finding these subject headings, ask at the reference of information desk.

Hints for Subject Searching

• Subdivisions may be used to search for a specific focus of a subject. For example, if you are looking for information on the history of France, the Library of Congress subject heading with subdivision is:

France History

 To create a more narrowly defined subject you could add further subdivisions:

 France History 16th Century

• Cross References direct your search to alternate and related topics. Click on the related subject heading you want to search. Cross references include:
• "Search Under" means use instead of.
• "See Also" means in addition to.
• Look at the "Detailed View" of a record to see the subject headings. They are hot linked, so you can click on each heading and retrieve more resources on the topic.
• If a search results in zero entries:
• Verify that the subject term is entered correctly.
• Retry as a keyword search
• If a search retrieves too few entries, try a broader subject heading.

Example: eye diseases instead of optic neuritis
 

• If a search retrieves too many entries, try a more specific heading.

Example: arteriosclerosis instead of cardiovascular diseases
 

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Searching by Call Number

Hints for Call number Searching:

To search for an item by call number, enter as much of the call number as you know. The results list will drop you into the call number browsing index at the nearest match. From there you can move to the previous and next pages by clicking on the appropriate links found at the top and bottom of your screen.

The UIC Library uses several different classification systems depending on the type of material.

 For most books owned by the UIC Library, you should use either LC (Library of Congress) or NLM (National Library of Medicine) call numbers. All of these call numbers begin with alphabetic characters.

LC Call Number Examples
PQ3984 C3913 2000 Rebellious women: the new generation of female African novelists
HG4577.L588 1998 The stock market: 50 years of capitalism at work

NLM Call Number Examples

WB110 C454t 2002 Treatment guidelines for medicine and primary care
WO100 S 9623 2000 Surgical decision making
Other call numbers searches that can be done include:
• SuDOC Number

The UIC Library's government documents collection uses the Superintendent of Documents (SuDOC) classification system to organize government document materials. SuDOC numbers begin with an alphabetic character, which designates the authoring government agency, and often include colons (:) and slashes (/).

SuDoc Example
A 1.2: B 52/2 Biotechnology at USDA
If you are looking for Illinois documents ILL will proceed the SuDoc number.
        Illinois Document Example
                   ILL A 1 2 D 27  Adult daycare in Illinois

 
If you are looking for Chicago documents ILL CHI will proceed the SuDoc number.
          Chicago Document Example
                   ILL CHI DP 1 2 : C 73  Community areas by census tracts of the 1970 U.S. census
• Temporary Control Numbers

Temporary control numbers are for materials that are new to the library's collection.  These materials may have one of three different statuses:
 
Pre-order Process - these items have been requested but not have not been ordered.
On Order - these items have been ordered but have not yet arrived at the library
In-Process - these items have arrived in the library, but are not yet on the shelf.  They can be requested by completing an in-process request form at any of the circulation desks or online.
• Other Call Numbers

Other call numbers include the ability to search for:
 

• Dissertations - To locate a dissertation written at UIC type in the one or two letter alphabetic character of the appropriate Library of Congress (LC) call number followed by 99999. You will be placed into the call number browsing index at the nearest match. From here you can move to the previous and next pages by clicking on the appropriate links found at the top or bottom of the page.
Dissertation example
BF99999 .A35 Friends helping friends : the effects of assisting rape victims
• Special Formats - You may also retrieve a list of materials in a variety of special formats by typing the following abbreviations into the search box and choosing the Other Call Number option. You will be dropped into the browsing index at the nearest match. From here you can move to the previous and next pages by clicking on the appropriate links found at the top and bottom of the page.

Abbreviation	To Search For:
data file	computer-readable data in any medium
microcard	microform material stored on film sheets; microfiche
microfilm	microform material stored on film reels; microfilm
microprint	microform stored on opaque cards
phonodisc	sound recordings on 33 1/3 rpm discs
sound cassettes	sound recordings on cassette
sound disc	sound recordings on compact discs
thesis	many of the Library of the Health Sciences - LHS - theses
video cassettes	videocassettes; video recordings in cassette form
video discs	video recording in laser disc form

• Dewey Call Numbers - A small collection of older library materials have Dewey Decimal call numbers. These call numbers always begin with a 3-digit number and can be searched using the Dewey Call Number option.
Dewey Decimal Example
338.1 B 456 R 1968 Race against famine
621.835 B658p3 1949 Principles of electroplating and electroforming (electrotyping)
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Any Word Anywhere

Use this option when you wish to see the results listed in order of relevance. This type of search is entered using formats similar to many Web search engines:

• When you enter multiple words, the search will include records that have any combination of those words. For example, if you enter social sciences, you will retrieve records that have both words (social sciences) and records that have either word (social or sciences). The records that have both terms will be ranked toward the top of the results list.
• When you are looking for an exact phrase, enter it in quotes to search the words in that exact order. For example, if you search for "social sciences" you will retrieve items which have that exact phrase somewhere in their entry record.
• Use the plus sign (+) to mark items which are essential to your search. For example, +daley +chicago will retrieve records which have both words (daley and chicago) somewhere in the record.
• Use an asterisk (*) to mark important terms. For example psychology *ego identity will search for any combination of these words but will rank those with ego closer to the top of the results.
• Use the question mark (?) to truncate searches. For more information click here)

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Other Searches

ISBN

ISBN stands for the International Standard Book Number. Each unique title, edition of a book, or monographic publication has its own ISBN number. This system exists so that each publication will have a unique identifier.

Each ISBN number consists of ten digits. When you search by ISBN, do not include any spaces or punctuation in the string of numbers (e.g.., 0510336728).

To search by ISBN, select Advanced Search. Type in the ISBN, omitting spaces and punctuation. Select ISBN as the search field from the drop down menu of "Search In" options.

ISSN

ISSN stands for the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN). This is the internationally accepted code for identifying serial publications (journal, or magazine or series of books). Each publication has a unique ISSN number.

The ISSN consists of two groups of four digits in Arabic numerals 0 to 9, except for the last (or check) digit, which can be an X. The two groups of four numbers are separated by a hyphen. When you search by ISSN, separate the two groups of 4 numbers by a hyphen (e.g.., 0017-8012).

To search by ISSN, select Advanced Search. Enter the ISSN with a hyphen as described above. From the "Search In" drop down menu, choose ISSN.
 

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University Library, University of Illinois at Chicago
801 S. Morgan, M/C 234 Chicago, Illinois 60607 USA Administration: 312-996-2716