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LocatorPlus® Fact Sheet

LocatorPlus is the National Library of Medicine® (NLM®) online catalog available at http://locatorplus.gov.

Coverage and Scope:

LocatorPlus is continuously updated and includes:

  • over 1.2 million catalog records for books, audiovisuals, journals, computer files, and other materials in the Library's collections
  • holdings information for journals and other materials
  • links from catalog records to Internet resources, including online journals
  • circulation status information for materials, including those on-order or in-process at the Library

Search Capabilities:

Search LocatorPlus by keyword, author, title, journal title, MeSH® (Medical Subject Headings), call number, and other specific fields using simple and advanced search menus.
You can limit keyword search by type of media, format, language, date of publication, or shelving location.

Retrieval is listed alphabetically or in rank order by relevancy. Each retrieved item displays NLM holdings, detailed bibliographic information, MARC records, and electronic links (if available). You can print, download, or e-mail them to any address.

LocatorPlus provides direct access through its "Other Databases" menu to additional free resources:

  • NLM databases, including MEDLINE®/PubMed®
  • Consumer health information and MedlinePlus®
  • History of Medicine databases
  • NLM Catalog
  • PubMed Central®
  • TOXNET® and toxicology databases
  • Health services research and HSTAT
  • Catalogs of other U.S. medical and consumer health libraries

LocatorPlus and NLM's Integrated Library System

LocatorPlus is one component of NLM's integrated library system, Voyager. This system, developed by the Ex Libris Group, is an integrated information management system designed for academic and research libraries. NLM uses Voyager for acquisitions, serials control, cataloging, collection management, circulation, preservation, and as an Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC)

Differences between LocatorPlus and the NLM Catalog

The NLM Catalog, available at (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=nlmcatalog), is an alternative search interface to NLM bibliographic records for journals, books, audiovisuals, computer software, electronic resources, and other materials using the NCBI Entrez system. The NLM Catalog links to LocatorPlus for access to NLM holdings information.

Search LocatorPlus to:

  • find author or organization names if unsure about the exact name
  • find NLM holdings or the circulation status of a title
  • view or use bibliographic records in MARC 21 format
  • view or use authority records for names and titles

Search the NLM Catalog to:

  • retrieve over 10,000 citations
  • explode on MeSH headings
  • identify or search primary subjects
  • Broad Subject Terms (LJI subject headings) assigned to indexed journals
  • find a known name of the author or organization
  • view or use bibliographic records in XML format

Either database may be searched to find a known item.

Learn more about LocatorPlus:

For further assistance contact:

Reference and Customer Services
National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20894
1-888-FINDNLM (1-888-346-3656) (Voice)
(301) 594-5983 (Voice)
custserv@nlm.nih.gov (E-mail)
http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/mainweb/siebel/nlm/index.cfm/ (Internet)