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Z39.50
Specialized AMICUS Sites (more…)
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To search AMICUS, you must select a database.
For most AMICUS databases you need to register
for a username and password. You can use the "LAC" database without registering.
Here are a few AMICUS search tips. For more configuration information,
see the Z39.50 Guide.
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Tips for Searching AMICUS |
| Uppercase / lowercase |
Most search terms can be entered in upper or lower case.
Enter codes (e.g. language) in lowercase and library symbols in UPPERCASE. |
| Truncation |
If truncation is set to 1 (right truncation) on your Z39.50 client, do not include the "?" in the search term. Tip: Set the truncation to 101 (truncation anywhere in term) to use wildcards in your search term. The wildcard "#" represents a single character; the question mark "?" represents 0 or more characters. |
| Punctuation |
Punctuation in a term is ignored except in subject subdivisions. |
| Names |
For personal names enter the surname and then the forename. Example: Author= munro alice. Enter corporate names in natural order. Example: Author= John Mills Consulting. If you are unsure of the word order in a name, try a Boolean search by name keywords. |
| Titles |
Exclude initial articles. Example: Title= magus (not The magus) |
| Subjects |
Use two hyphens before subdivisions. Example: Subject= jazz--brazil |
| Boolean searching |
You can combine two or more terms with a Boolean operator to broaden or narrow a search. As AMICUS is a large database use care in broadening; avoid general terms (such as "canada") and prefer keyword phrases to single keywords. |
| Narrowing a Search |
You can narrow a search with the attributes below; never search by them on their own.
- Date (of publication)
Set the Structure attribute to "year" and
the Relation attribute to an appropriate value such as "equal" or "less than".
- Geographic area
Enter the coded values for the place in lowercase.
Examples: Use "n" for North America, "n-cn" for Canada, "n-cn-on" for Ontario
- Holdings library symbols
Enter the symbol in UPPERCASE. For a list of symbols see the ILL Directory. Example: Use BVAU for the University of British Columbia
- Language
Enter in lowercase one or more language codes. Example: To find French works by an author, use fre. For a complete list of codes see MARC 21.
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| Keywords |
AMICUS supports keyword searching of authors, names, titles, subjects, notes, publisher names. To search by keyword set the following attributes:
- Position = any position in field
- Completeness = incomplete subfield
- Structure = phrase OR single word
- You may combine keywords and exact terms in a query. Example: To find "The call of the wild" by Jack London you could enter the title keywords " " and "wild" and name exact "london jack"
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| Stopwords |
AMICUS does not use stopwords. To find "Lord of the rings", you would search
for "lord of the rings" in either exact or keyword searches. |
| Character set |
Search terms are assumed to use the ANSEL character set. AMICUS ignores diacritics
in searching; other non-ASCII characters in the ANSEL character set are converted
to ASCII equivalents for searching. The character conversion rules are identical
for processing the search term and for generating AMICUS indexes.
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BIB-1 Use Attributes and their AMICUS equivalents
Important: The shaded areas represent secondary indexes (limiters) that must be
used with a primary index. When constructing a search, type the primary index before
using a secondary index (limiter) otherwise an "Unsupported query" error will occur.
| Use Attribute |
AMICUS command |
Definition |
Related MARC tags |
| 4 - Title |
TI (position attribute set to 1 "first in field") |
Word or phrase identifying the item or a work contained in it.
Exclude articles beginning a title. Example: For The Magus use magus |
130, 210, 212, 222, 240 to 247, 400$t, 410$t, 411$t, 440,
700$t, 710$t, 711$t, 730, 740, 800$t, 810$t, 811$t, 830 |
| TW (position attribute set to 3 "any") |
Title keyword in AMICUS |
| 7 - ISBN |
BN |
International Standard Book Number |
020 |
| 8 - ISSN |
SN |
International Standard Serial Number |
022 |
| 9 - LC control no. |
LN |
Library of Congress control number |
010 |
| 13 - Dewey classification |
DC |
Dewey Decimal Classification number |
082 |
| 14 - UDC classification |
UC |
Universal Decimal Classification number |
080 |
| 16 - LC call number |
LC |
Library of Congress call number |
050, 051, 055 |
| 17 - NLM call number |
MC |
National Library of Medicine call number |
060 |
| 21 - Subject heading |
SU (position attribute set to 1 "first in field") |
Topic on which a work is focused. |
600, 610, 611, 630, 650 to 658, 752, 754, 755 |
| SW (position attribute set to 3 "Any") |
Subject Keyword |
| 31 - Date of publication |
DAT |
Date the item was published |
008/07-10 |
| 47 - Subject subdivision |
SDV |
Extension to a subject heading indicating the form,
place, time period or other aspect |
All subject subfields except for $a |
| 48 - No. national biblio. |
CA |
Character string that uniquely identifies a record in a national bibliography; at the Library and Archives Canada it refers to the Canadiana number |
016 |
| 51 - No. music publisher |
PN |
Number assigned by a publisher to a sound recording or printed music |
028 |
| 52 - Number db |
AN |
AMICUS database number |
001 |
| 54 - Code-language |
LAN |
Language of the item |
008/35-37 |
| 55 - Code-geographic area |
GEO |
Geographic area appearing or implied in the headings assigned
to the item during cataloguing |
043 |
| 56 - Code-institution |
ILL |
Symbol for the library with the item, also known as the ILL symbol. Example: OONL is the symbol for Library and Archives Canada. |
852$a |
| 59 - Place-publication |
CTY |
MARC code for the country, state or province where the item was published |
008/15-17 |
| 60 - CODEN |
CD |
Six-character alphanumeric code assigned by Chemical Abstracts Service. |
030 |
| 61 - Microform generation |
MFG |
Code specifying the generation of a microform |
007/11 |
| 63 - Note |
NT |
Statement in which information such as extended physical descriptions,
relationships or contents may be recorded. |
018, 033, 034, 037, 250, 254 to 257, 260, 261, 265, 300, 306, 308, 310, 315, 321, 340, 350, 351, 355, 357, 359, 362, 490, 500 to 590, 753, 856 |
| 1001 - Record type |
MAT |
Material Type |
Leader/06 |
| 1003 - Author |
NA |
Name of a person, corporate body, conference or meeting |
100, 110, 111, 400, 410, 411, 700, 710, 711, 800, 810, 811 |
| NW |
Name Keyword |
| 1004 - Author - name personal |
NP |
Personal name, pseudonym, title of nobility, nickname or initials |
100, 400, 700, 800 |
| 1005 - Author - name corporate |
NC |
Organization or a group of persons that is identified by a particular name |
110, 410, 710, 810 |
| 1006 - Author - name conference |
NM |
Meeting of individuals or representatives of various bodies for the purpose of discussing topics of common interest |
111, 411, 711, 811 |
| 1011 - Date/time added to db |
DEF |
Date and time that a record was added to the database |
008/00-05 |
| 1012 - Date/time last modified |
TDT |
Date and time a record was last updated |
005 |
| 1016 - Any |
AW |
Any keyword |
Applies to name, title, subject headings and notes |
| 1018 - Publisher |
PW |
Organization responsible for the publication of the item |
260$b |
| 1021 - Bib-level |
BIB |
Single alphabetic character identifying the bibliographic level. Example: monograph |
Leader/07 |
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