When I search for a title with special characters I get zero results.
Symptom
- Search for a title with special characters returns zero results
- Example: Who Can Afford to Improvise? : James Baldwin and Black Music, the Lyric and the Listeners
- Returns 0 results
Applies to
- WorldCat Discovery
- WorldCat.org
Resolution
If you are trying to search for a title in WorldCat Discovery that contains special characters, such as colons, parentheses, or question marks:
Option 1: Omit special characters from the search and replace them with a space
- Example: Who Can Afford to Improvise James Baldwin and Black Music, the Lyric and the Listeners by Ed Pavlić
Option 2: Use a phrase search
- Example: "Who Can Afford to Improvise? : James Baldwin and Black Music, the Lyric and the Listeners"
Option 3: Search using the Primary Title index
- Example: te: Who Can Afford to Improvise? : James Baldwin and Black Music, the Lyric and the Listeners
If you are still having difficulty finding a title that contains special characters, you can contact OCLC Support for assistance
Additional information
Why am I getting no results when I use a wildcard in my search?
Learn more about anchored and unanchored searching in WorldCat Discovery