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Sample Oscar and OhioLINK Searches

Oscar is the online catalog of all OSU campus and branch libraries. OhioLINK is the catalog of all OhioLINK member institution libraries (at present numbering over 70 libraries), including OSU.

Oscar/OhioLINK can be accessed via Telnet at library.ohio-state.edu. Log in as "library." Always select "VT100" as your terminal emulation, both in Oscar and in other systems. Oscar/OhioLINK are also accessible via the web at /.

This demonstration will use the Telnet version of Oscar/OhioLINK. After logging in, from the main screen select 1 for Oscar (which also allows for access to OhioLINK).

(1) author search, limited by language

Let's say we are interested in quickly compiling a bibliography of English-language editions of Goethe's poems for one of our students. We start by searching for the author, last name first:

We are presented with nearly 700 items, which will be too difficult for us to browse through, so we limit by language:

We are now presented with less than 700, but still have over 200 to browse through, so we will limit again, this time by title keyword:

We now have a manageable list of 19 items. We can return to our list of 200-plus by "returning to browsing," and can return to our list of 700 in the same manner. Once we have returned to these previous lists, we can perform new limit commands.

(2) keyword search, and request item

Keywords are words which appear in any part of the online bibliographic record, including author, title, publisher, notes, subject, and so on.

Keyword searches in Oscar are useful if one does not happen to know particular official Library of Congress Subject Headings, or if one is trying to combine elements of multiple Subject Headings. In most cases keyword searches will retrieve many hits, but also many false hits.

We now have a record for a single book which is at a library on the other side of campus. We don't feel like walking over there to get it, so we request the item be sent to our office. Note that in order to send books to your office you need to have an office address listed in Oscar (we will see how to check this later in the session). If you do not have an office, you will need to have the book sent to another, closer library for pickup, like MAI.

I will receive this book as early as the next day via campus mail. Note that not all materials may be requested. For instance, some branch libraries do not allow bound journal volumes to circulate. In most cases Oscar will alert you to this fact when you attempt to request the item. One should always use the request feature whenever an item is not checked out, but is not on the shelf--library staff will then search for the item and will notify the requester when it is found (and 99% of the time, staff do find the item).

(3) keyword search, with Boolean operators, nesting, and truncation

Let's use keywords to search for materials on the relationship of Goethe and women.

Boolean operators include "and," "or," and "not." Nesting occurs when parentheses are used with Boolean operators. Truncation, symbolized by the asterisk, signifies any number of characters which may occur after the last letter typed. For instance, our search will retrieve Goethe, Goethe's, Frau, Frauenherrschaft, and so on. Boolean operators, nesting, and truncation are features available in nearly all online databases (but the symbol used for truncation will vary).

We have retrieved 47 records. Note that some of these are false hits on account of what was mentioned above--keywords are retrieved from anywhere in the online record.

(4) journal title and volume search

We have found the title, and now we need to find the volume. Let's say that we are interested in getting our hands on volume 3:

If you are lucky, you will be viewing a journal record like this one, which has all the volumes ordered numerically. Other journal volumes are out of order. The note on the screen tells you to press "I" to see more volumes. Doing this once more will take you to volume 3, which, Oscar says, is on the shelf and not checked out. If the volume was checked out, we could use the request feature, detailed above, to recall the item from the person using it. Don't be shy about recalling materials: if you need it, recall it!

Remember, current issues of journals are usually shelved in a current periodicals room, like CLA. CLA retains up to twelve months of issues. If the issue you need has been sent to the bindery, and you cannot wait six weeks for it to return, you can fill out an Interlibrary Loan Request form from Oscar. Make sure to attach a note to your request form stating that the issue you need is at the bindery--this will help the ILL staff facilitate your request.

(5) title search, item not in Oscar, and so then searched in and requested from OhioLINK

We did not get a hit, as indicated by the message "Your entry 15 young Romanian poets would be here." We now have the option of searching OhioLINK for this book.

This book is held by eleven OhioLINK libraries. Since we really want the book, let's request it:

With which institution are you affiliated? 31 [note that this number will change as more libraries join OhioLINK]

Important notes for using OhioLINK from within Oscar: (1) If you ever want to abort a function, such as requesting a book, simply press ESC once, and this will take you back one screen; (2) make sure to press "q" to exit OhioLINK in order to return to Oscar. If you are not sure which database you are in, look at the top right corner of your screen: you will see either "Ohio State" or "OhioLINK."

(6) view your circulation record, renew books, and remove holds

First, we see above our home and, perhaps, our office address. If you do not have an office address listed, go to the Main Library Circulation Desk and ask them to edit your record. Use as your office the same address which your Department uses for mail.

Let's now see what books we have checked out:

At this point we can sort our books by due date, renew them, and so on. Note that when you renew items, you can renew multiple volumes at once. For instance, if I have seven items checked out, when Oscar asks me which items to renew, I can type "1-7" to renew all of them. I could also type "1,3,5" to renew only items 1, 3, and 5.

(7) subject search, with sorting and exporting

Subject words, phrases, and cross references are the controlled vocabulary of the Library of Congress Subject Headings. Most books published in the past few decades have been assigned from one to five Subject Headings, each of which may have subheadings. Subject Headings also determine call numbers and shelving in libraries.

Even if we do not know a particular Subject Heading, we can sometimes guess that a word or phrase is a Subject Heading:

Let us say that we are well-read in the area, but have not kept up with the field in the past year. Since we are presented with over 200 titles, it would be too difficult to browse all of these, looking only for titles from 1996. So, we will sort by date:

All the books at OSU Libraries on the Library of Congress Subject Heading "Feminism and literature" (but not its subheadings) have now been sorted by date of publication, with the most recent items listed first.

If we want to create a bibliography in a paper we are writing, we can export the 1998 titles in electronic form, and then later incorporate these easily in our paper. To mark the books from 1998 for export:

Just like with renewing items, multiple records can be marked. We can continue searching, and can mark more records. When we are ready to exit Oscar, we then export our records:

When we view records we can also sort, delete selected, or clear all records. When done, we are ready to export:

ProCite and EndNote are bibliographic programs for the IBM PC and Apple Macintosh. MARC records are computer records used by library online systems such as Oscar. Full records look exactly like records displayed in Oscar, including ISBN's, height in centimeters, notes, call numbers of all copies, and so on. Brief records contain the author, title, imprint, and call number only. For this exercise we will select Brief as the format. I highly recommend using at all times the Brief format:

Methods of exporting are as follows: print to attached printer (this option may or may not work depending on your PC/Mac and how it is configured); screen capture (again, this option may or may not work depending on your PC/Mac and how it is configured); and e-mail. I highly recommend e-mail as the safest method:

In this last prompt, InnoPac means Oscar. Y will clear all saved records, N will keep the saved records as they are so that you may export them again at a later point in your session. You can only maintain such a save file during your present session--once you quit, the records are cleared.

Beau David Case
Assistant Professor and
Librarian for Europe and Linguistics