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Using the Philatelic Union Catalog (PUC)
One of the most important services that the American Philatelic Library’s website provides is access to the Philatelic Union Catalog. The Philatelic Union Catalog (PUC) combines records of the holdings of numerous philatelic libraries in North America (including the APRL) and presents them as one integrated data base. This enables a researcher to search the holdings of all participating libraries simultaneously for a specific title, works by a specific author, or information on a specific topic without ever leaving home.
Getting Started: To access the PUC, go to the website: catalog.stamplibrary.org.
Filling in the blanks:
- Word or Phrase: For the purposes here, “Word or Phrase” can be a subject heading (broad or narrow), a Library of Congress classification number, or an author’s name.
Warning: this is not the location to search for an item by title; searching by title will be explained below. For additional information, click on the entry “search help,” located in parentheses after the heading “Word or Phrase.” (“Word or Phrase” is the name of the first blank.)
- Record Type: The middle blank specifies “Record Type.” “Record Type” is library terminology for type of publication, such as book, journal, auction catalog, or exhibit. For a complete list of the record types recognized by the PUC, click on the entry “about record types,” located in parentheses after the heading “Record Type.”
- Not all libraries use all of the record types listed. Check the list for the record types used by the APRL.
- Be careful to spell the record type exactly as it is listed: i.e., “catalog,” not ”catalogue.”
Library Code: The bottom entry is a drop-down box which lists the library codes for all of the libraries whose holdings are included in the PUC. To search the holdings of a specific library, click on the code for that library. For example, to search the holdings of the APRL, select the code “APRL.” To search the holdings of all of the libraries simultaneously, click on the entry “All Libraries and Indexes.” A key to the codes is located in the column on the right-hand side of the page.
Entries: Entries in the PUC contain the following information:
- Basic bibliographical information
- Record type: in parentheses in italics following the bibliographical information
- Call number (if there is one), plus additional information about location in the library if necessary (Reference, Vertical File, Maps, etc.)
- For additional information, click on the phrase “full display” located under the entry
Searching by Author’s Name: To search for works in the APRL by author, enter the author’s name (either last name first or first name first - the PUC will recognize either form) in the “Word or Phrase” blank. Be sure to spell the author’s name correctly, because the PUC does not recognize misspellings. The search will automatically include works about, as well as by, the author. Then:
- Leave “Record Type” blank
- For “Library Code,” select “APRL”
- Hit the “Submit Query” instruction
Try searching for works by (and about) the following authors:
- Stanislaw Mikstein, who has been described as “the Nestor of Polish Philately”
- Aleksander Sniezko, the author who described Mikstein as “the Nestor of Polish Philately.” Note that Sniezko’s biography of Mikstein (subtitled The Nestor of Polish Philately) is listed under “Mikstein” as well as “Sniezko.”
- See whether the APRL has a copy of the postal history of Poland by Norman Davies, To and From, which was reviewed in Polonus Bulletin nr 535 (Summer 2009). (Note: the “Word or Phrase” blank does not work for search by title, so enter the author’s name). To see whether other philatelic libraries have copies of it, conduct a second search by returning to the PUC’s Home Page and hitting the “Reset” instruction. Then change the Library Code from “APRL” to “All libraries and Indexes” and hit the “Submit Query” instruction.
Searching by Library of Congress classification number: In the APRL books are shelved by subject rather than in alphabetical order by author. Books about specific countries or regions are shelved according to the Library of Congress classification for geography: by continent, subdivided by country. The classification numbers for Poland in the geography section start with G6520. For a list of books on Poland shelved in the geography section of the library, truncation is used; and the “magic number” is G652*. Truncation - the use of an asterisk - makes it possible to obtain a list of all of the books on a given subject (in this case, Poland) by using one abbreviated (or truncated) classification number, rather than conducting separate searches for each of the classification numbers for books on Poland.
- The space labeled “Word or Phrase” type in “G652*”
- Leave “Record Type” blank
- For “Library Code,” select “APRL”
- Hit the “Submit Query” instruction
Searching by Subject: It is also possible to search by subject. For example, for the APRL‘s holdings on Polish philately, start by searching several subject headings, two broad (“Poland” and “Polish”) and one narrow (“Polonus Philatelic Society”)
- In the space labeled “Word or Phrase” type in “Poland”
- Leave “Record Type” blank
- For “library Code,” select “APRL”
- Hit the “Submit Query” entry
- To conduct another search, return to the PUC’s Home Page and hit the “Reset” instruction.
- Follow the instructions given above and search the subject headings “Polish,” and “Polonus Philatelic Society,” one by one.
Searching by Subject - Adding Terms: It is possible to narrow and customize a search by subject by adding terms (additional subject headings) in the “Word or Phrase” blank.
- For instructions on adding terms, click on the phrase “search help,” which follows the “Any Word(s)” blank. Then select the entry “narrowing a search.”
- Try the following subjects in the “Word or Phrase” blank: “Poland & Philately,” “Poland & Postal History.” Be sure to follow the format and use the “&” sign. Then select “APRL” for “Library Code” and hit the “Submit Query” entry.
- Experiment with other combinations. Some will work better than others. Remember: the more terms added, the more limited the search. This may be an asset or a liability.
Searching by Subject -- Record Types: Filling in the “Record Type” blank (the middle blank) is another way to narrow and customize literature searches. For example:
Books: To limit a literature search to books:
- In the space labeled “Word or Phrase,” type in “Poland.”
- In the space labeled “Record Type,” type in “Journal.”
- For “Library Code,” select “APRL.”
- Hit the “Submit Query” entry.
- For additional information about any journal listed, such as the specific issues in the APRL, click on the phrase “full display,” located under the title.
Journals: For a list of journals in the APRL on a given topic, such as Polish philately:
- In the space labeled “Word or Phrase,” type in “Poland.”
- In the space labeled “Record Type,” type in “Journal.”
- For “Library Code,” select “APRL.”
- Hit the “Submit Query” entry.
- For additional information about any journal listed, such as the specific issues in the APRL, click on the phrase “full display,” located under the title.
Articles: Searching for articles on a subject is a two-step procedure. Entries for articles in the PUC give the bibliographical information necessary to locate the article but do not list the libraries which have the journal containing the article. First:
- In the space labeled “Word or Phrase,” type in a subject heading, such as “Poland,” “Poland & Philately,” or “Poland & Postal History.”
- In the space labeled “Record Type,” type in “Article.”
- For “Library Code,” select “All Libraries and Indexes,” since articles are not listed by individual libraries.
- Hit the “Submit Query” entry. Note: although the literature search for articles using the subject heading “Poland” produces a list of hundreds of entries, it may not contain
all of the relevant articles in all of the journals in all of the libraries that participate in the PUC. The indexing of journals for the PUC is a time-consuming procedure carried out by volunteers and, as such, is a work in progress.
Then: To determine whether the APRL has a specific article:
- For complete bibliographical information on an article, click on the phrase “full display,” located under the article entry. This will list the issue of the journal in which the article appears.
- Return to the PUC Home Page.
- In the space labeled “Word or Phrase,” type in the name of the journal in which the article appears.
- In the space labeled “Record Type,” type in “Journal.”
- For “Library Code,” select APRL.
- Hit the “Submit Query” entry. This will determine whether the APRL has the journal which published the article.
- If the APRL has the journal, click on the phrase “full display” located under the journal title. This will list the issues of the journal which the APRL has.
Advanced Search: In addition to the Basic Search, the PUC also provides an “Advanced Search” option. Advanced Search is another way to narrow and customize a literature search, since it provides additional blanks to fill in. To switch to “Advanced Search,” click on the phrase “Switch to advanced search” located in the column on the right-hand side of the page. “Advanced Search” provides blanks for author, title, subject, and publication date, so it can be used to search for a specific item. It also includes a language specification. For example:
For books in the APRL on Poland in Polish:
- For “Record Type,” type in “Book”
- For “Subject,” type in “Poland”
- For “Language,” type in “Polish”
- Do not fill in any of the other blanks
- For “Library Code,” select the APRL
- Hit the “Submit Query” entry
For a list of journals in the APRL on Poland in Polish, change “Record Type” to “Journal” and follow the same procedure.
I suggest working through these instructions to become familiar with the literature on Polish philately in the APRL and use of the PUC as a research tool
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