.. include:: /include.rst Search for an existing bibliographic record - best practices ============================================================ When you are trying to add an item to Next Search Catalog, the first thing you want to do is to search to see if a copy already exists in the catalog. The steps below outline the best practices for searching Next Search Catalog thouroughly. 1. Search by ISBN ----------------- A. Select "Home > More > Cataloging" |search_for_existing_0010| B. Search for the item by ISBN or or UPC number (you can usually do this simply by scanning the UPC label on the item) |search_for_existing_0020| C. If you find results, verify that the items actually match by verifying the ISBN in the 020$a, or the UPC number in the 024$a but also verify that the title, author, year, publisher, physical description (page numbers, large print, etc.) match |search_for_existing_0030| |search_for_existing_0040| D. If you have a match, add your item to the existing record - :doc:`See instructions for adding items ` 2. Search by author/title ------------------------- A. If you do not find a match on the ISBN or UPC number, you should then do a search by title/author. It is possible that a copy exists that matches in every way except ISBN or UPC number. This can especially be true for items that are quite old or have been self-published |search_for_existing_0050| B. If you find a match based on title/author, go to step C above and verify that the year, publisher, physical description (page numbers, large print, etc.) match C. If you have a match, you can just add the item you're cataloging to the existing record - :doc:`/cataloging_basics/adding_item_to_record` 3. Look for records to copy from outside of Next ------------------------------------------------ If you do not find a match already in Next Search Catalog, your next step in adding an item to Next Search Catalog is to look to other cataloging resources. - :ref:`Step 2B: Record is not in catalog, but can be found elsewhere`