Page 133 - DLIS007_LIBRARY AUTOMATION

Library Automation

Notes 12. Choose “subject” from the right hand drop-down menu. Note that subjects are
established by the Library of Congress, and you may have to do a few keyword
searches of your topic to find a sample catalogue record with the Subject term (in
blue) which most closely matches the topic you are searching.
13. Enter “evidence-based” into the left hand search box.

14. Click the Search button.
15. Since the subject search is more focused, your Search Results list will be shorter; in
this example only 7 titles instead of the 20 titles found with the keyword search, but
each item will have a subject that is probably much more pertinent to your topic.

16. To establish the correct Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) for any future
subject searches on the topic, click on the blue title link for the entry, then the blue
Catalogue Record link, beside one or two titles in the Search Results list and scroll
down to find the LC Subject terms in blue text.
17. As the catalogue record in the example shows, the official LCSH is “Evidence-Based
Medicine.” Note that a search of other catalogue records in the sample search’s
Search Results list will offer another LCSH of “Evidence-based nursing” as an
alternative subject heading to use in future searches of the OPAC, or any other type
of online database such as those in WCC Single Search. Most research databases use
the LCSH standard.
Source: http://www.waynecc.edu/library/uploads/search-opac.pdf

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