OT Search is not a full-text database. It
is primarily a bibliographic index to help you query and identify
documents related to a specific topic. The Wilma
L. West Library has a print copy of all items
indexed in OT Search.
Visit the American Occupational Therapy Foundation
website for the most current listing of literature
indexed in OT Search.
OT Search is not case sensitive. Search
terms could be entered in either upper or lower case.
The Occupational Therapy Thesaurus is a
searchable database of controlled vocabulary terms used to index materials
catalogued in OT Search. It is a powerful tool to help you identify
valid subject headings useful in streamlining your query. Of all search
modules, the thesaurus-based search interface is probably the easiest
and most focused. In contrast to a generic keyword search, using subject
terms from the thesaurus will narrow down your bibliographic references
to only the most relevant documents. The new thesaurus allows you to browse subject term hierarchies
and link dynamically to the library catalog.
OT Search recognizes the following catalog
searching techniques:
Boolean , positional, and relational operators, precise phrase searching,
nesting, searching keyword index, synonyms, searching specified entries,
stopwords, substitution and truncation, searching numbers in a list,
and punctuation. Please consult the FAQS for further information on
these techniques.
Boolean operators are AND, NOT, OR, XOR. They
link search terms and define the relationship between them. These
operators help to focus the search and locate records containing matching
terms in the index selected. If you use:
AND: OT Search will locate records containing all of the specified
terms.
NOT: OT Search will locate records containing the first search term
but not the second.
OR: OT Search will locate records matching any or all of the specified
terms.
XOR: OT Search will locate records matching any one of the specified
terms but not all of the specified terms.
Positional operators are SAME, WITH, NEAR,
ADJ. These operators will find records in which the search terms are
in close proximity. Positional operators can be used to connect words
or phrases within a single field entry. If you use:
SAME: OT Search will find records in which a bibliographic record
field contains all of the specified terms.
WITH: OT Search will find records in which a field contains a sentence
with all of the specified terms.
NEAR: OT Search will find records in which a field contains all of
the search terms adjacent to each other; however, the order of the
terms does not have to match the order they were typed. You may append
a number to this operator to limit or broaden the proximity between
words.
ADJ: OT Search will find records in which a field contains all of
the search terms adjacent to each other and in the order they were
typed. You may append a number to this operator to limit or broaden
the proximity between words. For example, ADJ2 means that the words may
be within two searchable words of each other, but they must be in the
order they were typed. The title "The effects of occupational therapy
with sensory integration emphasis on preschool-age children with autism"
could be searched as follows: Occupational ADJ1 Therapy
ADJ3 Integration.
Relational operators are <, >, =,
<>, <=, >=. These operators allow you to search numeral
expressions. Use relational operators by enclosing a field name or
entry tag number in braces {}, then typing a relational operator and
number. OT Search then locates records meeting this criteria. The
following search finds records with a publication year in 2004 with
"autism" in at least one indexed field: autism {pbyr} = 1998. The
following search finds all records with a publication year after 1995:
{pbyr} > 1995. The following search finds all records with Dunn
as an author where the publication year is in or before 1990. Dunn
{au} and {pbyr} <= 1990. If you want to search a term that contains
a relational operator, you must enclose the term with quotation marks.
For example, if you wanted to search for p=5, type the following in the
"Words or Phrase" search index: "p=5".
The default operator in OT Search is SAME.
If no operator is specified in a search, the system will only retrieve
records in which all the search terms occur in the same field.
For example, a book with more than one author has two author fields in its
catalog record, so a search without AND will not bring up the co-authored book.
For best results, use the connector AND when searching for more than one keyword.
You can maximize your search by using the operator
"or" which broadens your search strategy. You can also use the wildcard
character$" to retrieve all possible variations of your search term.
To narrow down your search, use subject or Thesaurus-based
terms, or use the operator "and" to combine sets in your query.
If the operator "or" broadens your search, the
opposite is true for the operator "and." Thus searching for "brain
or injury" generates everything dealing with brain, along with everything
else related to injury. However, searching for "brain and injury"
will only retrieve records dealing with both concepts in conjunction.
OT Search defaults to the operator "SAME".
The operators "and" and "or" can be respectively
substituted in your search by "&" and "|" for brevity reasons.
Therefore, the query "sensory & integration" is equivalent to
"sensory and integration" as either search will generate the same
number of records.
You can modify the number of documents retrieved
with the "near" operator by specifying the maximum number of searchable
words that can occur between your search terms in a sentence. For
example, "model near2 human near2 occupation" will retrieve all the
variations this concept is likely to have (i.e. Human Occupational
Model and Model of Human Occupation). with a maximum of two words
in between.
You can modify the number of documents retrieved
with the "adj" operator by specifying the maximum number of searchable
words that can occur between your search terms in a sentence. For
example, "model adj2 human adj2 occupation" will retrieve all the
variations this concept is likely to have (i.e. Human Occupational
Model and Model of Human Occupation) with a maximum of two words in
between.
OT Search allows a set of terms to be marked as a single phrase by enclosing
the expression in single quotes. This enclosed search expression must be matched
in the catalog exactly as typed in the search field. In the located records,
the matched term(s) must also display in the same (adjacent) order as the order
they were typed. However, the search expression can display in any of the heading
fields searched using the index selected.
For example, to search for a tile entry
with the terms "think first", select the title index and type 'think first'. This
will retrieve the matching title in the catalog with the exact terms.
OT Search allows search expressions to be grouped or
nested using parentheses. OT Search searches the expression located in the
innermost set of parentheses first. Then it continues the search, moving outward
to the terms at the edges of the expression.
For example, to search for
brain injury and children, use ((brain and injury)and children). OT SEARCH will look for
brain injury first, then correlate that with children.
Operator Precedence: When the search expression
consists of a combination of terms, the order in which these terms
are searched can be defined. If two operators are at the same level
in the list, OT Search first searches the term at the left, then moves
right. Refer to the following list for operator precedence with the
highest listed first:
=
< >
<
<=
>
>=
NEAR, ADJ
WITH
SAME
AND, NOT
XOR, OR.
Relational Operators Symbol Description:
| Symbol |
Description |
| < |
Less than |
| > |
Greater than |
| <> |
Not equal to |
| <= |
Less than or equal to |
| >= |
Greater than or equal to |
Substitution and Truncation
OT Search allows the symbols ? and $ to be used to represent
substitution and truncation. Use the ? symbol as a substitute
for a missing character in a search term. Use the $ symbol to
truncate a search term. These two symbols can be used together
or separately. These symbols may only be used at the middle
or end of a term, not as the first character of the term.
Substitution: The ? symbol is used as a substitute for a missing
character in a search term, usually when you are unsure of a
spelling or when you want to find two forms of one word. For example,
Type wom?n in the search field. OT Search locates the appropriate
records containing either "woman" or "women."
Truncation: Truncation is unlimited character substitution.
The wild card $ symbol is used to truncate search terms and
can represent a single character, many characters, or no characters.
If you follow the $ symbol with a number, OT Search limits the
number of characters matched. When more than one term in a search
expression is truncated, each term is searched for all variations.
When truncated words produce too many variations to search,
a browse list is retrieved. For example, type child$ in the search
field. OT Search locates records containing the terms "child",
"childhood" and "children."
Searching Specific Entries:
Every record in OT Search has a particular format
consisting of standard MARC entry tags. Searching can be limited to certain fields and
entries within a bibliographic record by typing a search expression followed by
the entry tag(s) enclosed in braces {}. OT Search will,
subsequently, only locate records with your search term in the specified entries/fields.
For example, to find documents by Slagle as an author, select "Words or Phrase" and enter: Slagle {100}. OT Search will search for Slagle as the primary personal
author (tag 100). Multiple entries separated by a space can be used. In the following
example, OT Search will search the main title (245) entries and the primary (100) personal
author entries: Slagle {100 245}.
Here are some of the most common MARC tags used in OT Search:
| MARC Entry Tag |
Description |
| 001 |
Key Number |
| 020 |
ISBN |
| 022 |
ISSN |
| 060 |
NLM Call Number |
| 072 |
Tree Number |
| 100 |
Personal Author |
| 110 |
Corporate Author |
| 222 |
Journal Title |
| 245 |
Title |
| 246 |
Variant Title |
| 260 |
Publication Information |
| 490 |
Series |
| 500 |
Note |
| 520 |
Abstract |
| 590 |
Volume |
| 592 |
Issue |
| 593 |
Date |
| 650 |
Subject Term |
| 700 |
Added Author |
You can perform complicated searches using field qualification.
This feature allows you to limit your search to certain fields and entries within a
bibliographic record without having to type several entry tags. This technique can only
be performed in the "words or phrase" index field using OT Search designated
field qualification tags. To use this feature, use the following syntax:
term {field_qualification_tag}.
Here are some examples:
Slagle$ {AU} will search for Slagle as an author.
Slagle {TI} will search for Slagle as a word in the title field.
SLAGLE {SU} will search for Slagle as a subject term.
Refer to the following list of OT Search equivalent search fields
for field qualification tags.
| Keyword Index |
Synonym |
MARC Entries |
| Author |
AU |
100,110,111,700,710,711 |
| Title |
TI |
130,245,440,730,740 |
| Subject |
SU |
600,610,611,630,650,651,690,691 |
| Series |
SER |
400,410,411,440,490,800,810,811,830,840 |
Stopwords
OT Search ignores specified stop words when searching the catalog.
These stopwords are usually articles, prepositions, or conjunctions.
Forexample, the following words are typically defined as stopwords:
A, AN, AS, AT, BE, BUT, BY, DO, FOR, IF, IN, IT, OF, ON, THE,
TO.
If you type The Work of Our Hands in the Title field, OT Search
locates items with the title: Work our Hands. If the search
expression contains all stopwords, the following message appears:
Your search contains all stopwords. Enclose your expression
in double quotation marks to prevent the stopwords from being
ignored. For example, to search for but with it, enter "but
with it".
Searching Numbers in a List
To individually search numbers in a list, you must type a space
between each number. OT Search searches numbers separated by
commas as if the numbers were not separated. For example, OT Search
searches 1,2,3,4,5 as a single term, but will search 1 2 3 4
5 as 1 SAME 2 SAME 3 SAME 4 SAME 5. OT Search searches 5000
and 5,000 as the same term.
Punctuation: When the following marks
of punctuation are included in a search expression, OT Search
either replaces the punctuation marks with spaces, or searches
variations of the search expression containing the punctuation,
or ignores the punctuation marks. To search a punctuation mark
as a literal character, the expression must be enclosed in quotation
marks.
Periods: OT Search searches periods based on how this punctuation
mark displays in the search expression. If not used as a decimal
mark within a numeral, the period is replaced with spaces. If
the period is used as a decimal mark, it is not replaced with
a space. For example, the title "Occupational Therapy in the U.S.A."
will be searched as the following: title => Occupational
Therapy in the U S A. The title "Occupational Therapy: A Primer"
will be searched as the following: title => Occupational
Therapy A Primer
Commas: OT Search also replaces commas within a search expression
with a space. For example, the title "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow"
will be searched as the following: title => Yesterday Today
and Tomorrow.
Hyphens: Search expressions containing hyphens are searched
with the hyphen included. A search without the hyphen displays
words both with and without the hyphen. For example, searching for
the title "Task-Oriented Approach" will be searched as the following:
title => Task-Oriented Approach. Only titles that include
a hyphen between by and laws will display. To broaden the search
to include the phrase "Task Oriented" with and without the hyphen,
use the following search: title => Task Oriented Approach.
Miscellaneous Symbols
The following table contains additional special characters.
These characters do not affect searching. Some of these characters
are replaced by a space; some are ignored.
| Punctuation Name |
Punctuation Mark |
Replacementor/Action |
| Accent |
` |
Space |
| Ampersand |
& |
Ignored |
| Apostrophe/Single Quote |
' |
Ignored |
| Asterisk |
* |
Space |
| At |
@ |
Space |
| BackSlash |
\ |
Ignored |
| Brackets |
[] |
Spaces |
| Circumflex |
^ |
Ignored |
| Colon |
: |
Space |
| Exclamation Point |
! |
Space |
| Forward Slash |
/ |
Space |
| Number/Pound |
# |
Space |
| Percentage Sign |
% |
Space |
| Plus Sign |
+ |
Space |
| Semicolon |
; |
Space |
| Tilde |
~ |
Space |
| Underscore |
_ |
Space |
Find It Fast! acts as a reference librarian by
providing instant searches of the Wilma L. West library’s catalog.
This feature is designed as a group of icons which represent preconfigured
searches arranged topically and alphabetically. All of the searches
are subject searches, and are based on the
Occupational subject Thesaurus Therapy . The user has only
to click on an icon to generate documents on a selected topic. Once
at a hit list, the user is in the library's catalog, just as though
the search had started using the standard catalog search elements
with the same features and capabilities.
If you are
unsuccessful generating any search results, use the wildcard character "$" at
the end of your term, or the operator "or" between your terms to maximize your
search results. If OT Search is unable to find records matching your search
criteria, you will get the following message: Items not found--perhaps the
following list will help. You can select any of the items listed to
perform a new search. It could be that you are using a term which does not occur in the
database. Try an alternative term (eg aged instead of elderly), or
use the thesaurus to identify a valid term. You may also search
our additional resources seamlessly via our gateway system. Just select
any of the options under "Search for Items" in either Web Resources
or AOTA website. This will search for your concept against these resources
and generate results in a new browser. If all else fails, you may
be looking for a concept that is not indexed in OT Search. Contact
the Wilma L. West Library for
assistance on an appropriate search strategy.
Clicking on the URL directs you to the full text-document.
This can be a journal article, a web resource, a graphical picture, etc.
Not all records in OT Search have abstracts.
If no abstract is provided in the original document, it will not not
be featured in the database.
Clicking on "Details" displays two tabs: "Item Information"
which displays brief information of the record, and "Catalog Record" which
shows all the fields of the bibliographic record.
To download your search results, click on
the keep button on your screen and select Kept to save, print or email
your records.
The Wilma
L. West library has a copy of all items indexed in OT Search.
You can send the library an email from within the system. Just mark
and save the records you are interested in and then press the e-mail
button. Your search results will be forwarded to us automatically.
Please allow for a turn-around time of at least three working days.
Also, please note our service
charges before submitting your request.
To contact the Wilma L. West Library, you
can call 1-800-729-2682, extension 2557 (AOTA members only ) or 301-652-6611
(non-AOTA members), or email wlwlib@aotf.org.
Institutional subscribers have the option of requesting
IP screening to bypass the logon/authentication screen. Please contact
AOTA Information Systems Department
if you are interested in this feature.
The configuration you need for EZProxy is:
Title: OT Search
URL: http://www.aota.org/otsearch/index.asp
DJ: aota.org
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