## Syntax for Z39.50 Searching

To search a z39.50 database, simply enter one or more terms into the z39.50 search field:

    morgenthau politics

This will return all records that contain both ``morgenthau'` and ``politics'`. These search terms can appear in any field, and all the words are matched (each token is implicitly AND-ed.)

To search for a phrase, put it in quotes:

    morgenthau "politics among"

To search in a particular field (see below for valid fields), enter a string of the following kind into the z39.50 search field:

    foo=SearchForMe

where ``foo'` is an index specifying the fields of database records to be searched, and ``SearchForMe'` is the text string of interest.

For example, a search for works written by Sewall Wright can be conducted as follows:

    au="Wright, Sewall"

The indexes available in BibDesk are represented in the table below. If a search supports relations, operators such as ``>'`, ``<'`, ``<>'`, ``<='`, and ``>='` can be used, for instance, to search for works published after a certain year. Note that, though the use of relations is supported in BibDesk, many z39.50 servers do not support them.

For more information about MARC fields that are searched, consult OCLC's Bibliographic Formats and Standards pages.

Boolean operators may be used to search several indexes at once, as in:

    au="Wright, Sewall" and ti="livestock breeding"

which will find works by Wright with the phrase ``livestock breeding'` in the title. When different indexes are used, Boolean operators must be included.

Index | Meaning
--- | ---
au | Personal author name | Name of a person; will not search corporate authors. See note for ``af'` below.
ti | Title |
isbn | ISBN | International Standard Book Number
issn | ISSN | International Standard Serial Number
cc | Local classification number | Call number of the item in the library being queried
su | Subject key words | Includes persons, corporate bodies, and meetings as subjects; includes places as subjects; and also includes topical terms from the LCSH controlled vocabulary.
date | Date | This includes a variety of different types of dates associated with the item; if you are looking for a publication date in particular, use ``dp'`. Supports relations.
dp | Date of publication | Supports relations.
da | Acquisition date | Date on which item was acquired by library being queried. Supports relations.
la | Language code | Language codes are defined by each library.
ab | Abstract | Library records rarely include abstracts.
note | Note | May include table of contents notes.
af | Conference as author name | For instance, the Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association Meeting for a given year might have ``Philosophy of Science Association'` as its author. Contrast with ``au'`, personal author name