Searching SIRSI Unicorn: Subject Searching

Definition

• A subject search looks for an exact letter-for-letter match of the word(s) you enter in the order in which you enter them.
• The subject search is seeking:
  • A specific Library of Congress (LC) subject heading.
  • A specific or "floating" "subdivision" or sub-heading.
  • A combination thereof

Impacts of Keyword, Browse, & Exact in the Subject Field

• A keyword search will look for any words in the subject heading field.
• A browse search will take you to a list of subject headings
• An exact search requires that you enter the words in the exact order you expect them to appear in the Subject Field.
  • This, typically, requires you to know LC subject headings.
  • Use the Library of Congress Subject Headings books (the 4 or 5 large red books)

Usage

• Omit punctuation marks.
• Booleans, nesting, and proximity operators can be used, though best in a Keyword search.
• If the subject search term(s) exactly match the subject heading in the catalog, you will be taken to one or more records with that subject heading.
• Otherwise, you will be taken to a subject heading index to browse for the correct subject heading. For example:

  history (keyword search)	Produces 11606 records
  history (exact search)	Produces 4 records
  history flags (keyword search)	Produces 3 records
  history same flags (keyword search)	Produces same 3 records
  history and flags	Produces 4 records
  history and (flags or heraldry)	Produces 5 records
  flags xor heraldry	Produces 17 records
  history flags america	Brings up the Subject Headings index centered at "History; Flags" From here you can see that there is a "History; Flags United States."

Viewing records resulting from a search

• The successful search will retrieve a single record or a list of catalog records containing the subject(s), usually in the MARC 6xx (subject) fields
• The number of records in the search results list matching each heading is shown in brackets to the right of the heading.
• To view previous or succeeding parts of the list, press the respective forward or backward button.
• To view an individual record or shorter list of records for a particular heading, simply click on the heading, then click on the view button for the item you wish to see.

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