On Apr 27, 2009, at 5:13 PM, Eric Lease Morgan wrote:

> What are the ways to accomplish exact title searches with z39.50?

Thank you for all the prompt and helpful replies. The most precise and  
complete "magic incantation" came from Larry Dixon of the Library of  
Congress:

   Exact match in Z39.50 is accomplished by using additional
   attributes. See the attribute table in the Bath Profile. [1]
   Below is a real-world example -- user is attempting to locate the
   journal "Canadian Poetry" and doesn't know any of the unique
   identifiers associated with it. A keyword search for "Canadian
   poetry" gets 90 hits -- exact match gets 3.

   Z> f @attr 1=4 "canadian poetry"
   Number of hits: 90

   Z> f @attr 1=4 @attr 2=3 @attr 3=1 @attr 4=1 @attr 5=100
        @attr 6=3 "canadian poetry"
   Number of hits: 3

This query takes advantage of many additional attribute types/names as  
alluded to by Tim Shearer: use/title, relation/equal, position/first  
in field, structure/phrase, truncation/do not truncate, and  
completeness/complete field. It would have taken me a long, long time  
to figure this out, and luckily my server supports it.

Wow, isn't the Internet cool, and /me wonders, "Did the Bath Profile  
come from... Bath? [2]"

[1] Bath Profile - http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/bath/tp-bath2.9-e.htm#a
[2] Bath, London, and ancient stone circles - http://infomotions.com/gallery/bath/

-- 
Eric Lease Morgan
Hesburgh Libraries, University of Notre Dame