AccessUN Tutorial

Lesson 4: More Subject Searching

AccessUN uses its own controlled vocabulary that is different from the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). Since the Illinet Online Catalog and many other library catalogs use LCSH, you might have to use different terms to find the same topic in AccessUN. Unfortunately, there is no option to browse AccessUN's Subjects list.

Just suppose you wanted to find out about "flood damage prevention," a subject you found in the online catalog. This exact phrase is not an AccessUN Subject. Also be aware that AccessUN searches the terms you enter in the input box as an exact phrase.

To conduct an efficient subject search by looking for terms independently, you'll want to use Boolean operators and nesting. In this example, search for "(floods and disaster) and (preparedness or prevention)." For more information see AccessUN help on Boolean operators and nesting.

  1. In input box, type flood and disaster.
  2. In drop-down menu, choose in Subject.
  3. In drop-down menu, choose AND.
  4. In input box, type preparedness or prevention.
  5. In drop-down menu, choose in Subject.
  6. Click Search button.

Click on image to continue tutorial.

Created for LIS 316: Library Instruction and Assistance Systems.
Graduate School of Library and Information Science

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 11/2000.
Please send comments to: Email Reference: gdoclib@uiuc.edu  

Special thanks to Newsbank/Readex, the publisher of AccessUN, for permission to use screen shots of the database.