WorldCat Local is a great place to start your research. It searches our library catalogue, Novanet, other libraries' catalogues, and several journal article databases.

• Tip: The best place to search for journal articles is still our journal article databases on our library website.

How do I search WorldCat Local?

Go to http://nscc.worldcat.org or the NSCC Library Services's website (http://nscc.ca/library).

You can search by keywords or phrases (just like Google). Enter your keywords (topic, author, title, etc.) in any combination. Use quotation marks to search with a phrase, such as a book title e.g. "the wind in the willows". WorldCat Local will look for each individual word or phrase and display a results list.

• Tip: You can limit your search to individual NSCC campus libraries.

Your search results

Your search results will show in this order:

• NSCC library materials first,
• then other Novanet libraries,
• Other Atlantic Canadian academic libraries,
• other libraries worldwide.

You can narrow your results by the Format and the Refine Your Search panes on the left. Items are sorted by Library and relevance, but you can change this to author, title, date, and so on.

Click on titles to find more detailed information such as:

• The item's location and call number
• Links to online versions (if available)
• Previews and reviews (if available)
• Links to Novanet Express
• Links to other works on the same topic or by the same author(s)

Search Tips

• Use OR (in upper case) to search using alternate words, e.g. cat OR feline. This will broaden your search.
• Use - (a minus sign) to exclude words or phrases, e.g. pets - cat. This will narrow your search results by excluding all materials on cats. Note: there must be a space on either side of the minus sign, i.e. keyword space - space keyword.
• Use * (an asterisk symbol) to truncate words. For example, Newfoundland* will find Newfoundland, Newfoundland's, Newfoundlanders, and so on. This will broaden your search.
• Use # (a number, pound, or hash symbol) as a wildcard. For example, wom#n will find both woman and women.
• Use brackets (like this) to make complex searches. For example, pets - (cats OR felines) will look for all things on pets but not on cats or felines.
• Try the Advanced Search screen. There is a link to it below the search box.

More help

• See our Library Services website for more help on WorldCat Local.
• See OCLC's WorldCat Local Help pages in WorldCat Local.
• Contact the library

Updated August 2011