Author (lastname firstname) Search: Help

Author searching in Orbis enables you to locate materials by the name of authors, editors, composers, translators, arrangers, illustrators, and other people associated with a title.
Authors can also be organizations, institutions, governments, government bodies, or the names of symposia.

Search limits are not available for Author searches. Boolean operators (and, or, not) do not function in Author (sorted by name) searches.  Results are displayed in a Search Results List and may be browsed, forward and backward.

You may also wish to try Author (Sorted by Title) when searching for works by prolific authors or composers, such as Shakespeare or Mozart.

Note:
If you are looking for materials about someone (real or fictional) or about a government body, company, or organization, use the Subject search option.

Search Strategies:

• Searches are automatically truncated and retrieve catalog records beginning with the words, word roots or phrases entered. Do not use the question mark (?) for truncation.

• Enter the author or creator's last name first, followed by the first name. A comma is not necessary. e.g., verdi giuseppe
• If you are uncertain  of the spelling of the last name, enter as much as you know, and omit first names: niet for nietzsche friedrich wilhelm
• Retain the hyphen in a hyphenated name: levi-strauss  
• For names with connectives (van, von, der), follow the conventions of the person's country or language: le court victor de

Group authors/creators (government agencies, organizations, conferences)

• As with individual authors, type or enter enough of the name to distinguish it.
• In many instances, department is abbreviated to dept; search using both forms to ensure that all relevant records are retrieved.
• Search hierarchical names in full descending order: catholic church diocese of arras
• Search both acronyms and full names to retrieve all relevant catalog records. Search apa as well as american psychological association.
• Proceedings of conferences, meetings, etc. can be found by searching on the full name of the conference: national symposium on wetlands

Author Search Examples:

 References and Scope Notes:

In search results, some retrieved headings will not link directly to catalog records, but will supply the user with links to related headings or scope notes (marked with the icon) as illustrated in the screen below. 

More detailed information on References and Scope Notes is available.

Alternative Search Options: