EPA 220-F-92-006
Public Access to EPA's
Online Library System (OLS)
Books - Reports - Journals
Air Quality Global Issues Health Effects Hazardous Waste
Laboratory Methods Pollution Prevention Toxic Substances^ Water Pollution
The Online Library System (OLS) is a computerized list of bibliographic citations compiled by the
EPA library network. EPA provides this menu-driven, user-friendly system at no cost to support
public access to environmental information. The only charges that will be incurred through use of
the system are telecommunications charges.
~ OLS DATABASES ~
OLS consists of several related databases that can be used to locate books, reports, and
articles on a variety of topics. The material in OLS is updated every two weeks, and can be
searched by numerous access points, such as title, author, and keyword.
National Catalog
Hazardous Waste
Clean Lakes
EPA Region 1
Chemical Collection
System
Citations and summaries on environmentally related topics
encompassing biology, chemistry, ecology, and other basic
sciences; and EPA reports distributed through the National
Technical Information Service.
Citations and summaries for key materials on hazardous waste.
Citations and summaries on topics relating to lake management,
protection, and restoration.
Selected items owned by the Region 1 Library.
Citations for items relating to chemicals.
For information about the Online Library System, please contact the nearest EPA Library.
A list of the libraries is available on the system's HELP Screen.

Dialing Into The System...
Number For Dial-In Access: (919) 549-0720
Use these transmission & format settings:
300-9600 baud rate Half Duplex Even Parity
7 data bits per character	One Stop Bit
To Log-In: Dial into the system. At the first system
prompt, type IBMPSI. At the second system prompt,
type OLS.
To Print: Printing is only available through your
telecommunications software.
Access through Internet...
We encourage universities and institutions
with Internet connections to access OLS using
Internet links to EPA.
EPA's Internet address is:
EPAIBM.RTPNC.EPA.GOV
At the first menu, select "Public Access."
To Log-Out: Type Q or QUIT at the system prompt. At the second menu, select "OLS."
USER SUPPORT: Call EPA's National Computer Center for technical system assistance (help with
anything that happens before you type "OLS" at the system prompt) at 1-800-334-2405, or (919)
541-7862 (Outside the United States). Contact the EPA Public Information Center for the OLS User
Guide and other system documentation at (202) 260-2080

NOTE: EPA can not be responsible for any telephone charges incurred by non-EPA users.
It is the user's responsibility to release the telephone line connection.
Information Access Branch, Information Management and Services Division
Revised June 1992
Printed on Recycled Paper

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Search Options
The OLS search options correspond to fields in
the various databases. To search for items with
Information in a particular field, use the follow-
ing two-letter options:
AU Enter the author's whole name, or if the
author's complete name is not known, users
may search with the surname, first name, or
Initials. Format is irrelevant; OLS searches all
parts of the name separately.
CL The format of the call number depends
on the way it was originally entered; call num-
bers very from one database to another within
OLS. It is always wise to end the call number
search with a wildcard character
CS Enter a whole or partial name. OLS
searches all corporate source fields.
KY Enter a keyword or phrase which will be
searched In all title, subject and abstract fields
simultaneously. Use quotation marks if the
phrase includes spaces.
RN Enter the entire number, if known. Enter
only the beginning letters of the report if
searching for all reports from a specific agency.
Spaces and punctuation may be omitted It is
wise to use a wildcard character at the end
of the search statement.
TI Enter a word, phrase or complete title,
without articles such as "a" or "the". Use quota-
tion marks if the phrase includes spaces
YR Enter a four-digit publication year. It is
possible to use a wildcard character but the
resulting search will be extremely slow.

Searching Tips & Tricks
~ Use the wildcard character **" to
truncate a word or phrase.
Ex. Tl="env* prof* agency" or KY=*Hazard
A Search numbers without leading zeros.
Ex FIND OCLC=514174
A Search strings containing blanks MUST be
enclosed in double quotation marks.
Ex. "johnmuir" or "QH104.M85 1988"
A You may search for year of publication In
the format YYYY for a specific year, or
YYVY:YYYY for a range of years.
Ex. YR=1990, YR=1989:1991
A When searching numeric fields such as the
year of publication, you can search for
a set of values defined by the following
logical operators: Greater Than (GT); Less
Than (LT); Greater Than or Equal to (GE);
Less Than or Equal to (LE); or Equal to (EQ).
A You may "stack" some commands:
Ex # 1. H TI H AU - will provide information
on Title searching and then on author
searching without returning to the Patron
Menu in between.
Ex. #2: Tl="sllent spring" - will begin the
search with one step
A When searching using call numbers, it is
wise to end the search with a wildcard
"".because not all call numbers include
the date. Ex CL=QH104*
A When searching report numbers, spaces
and punctuation marks may be omitted
from the search request. It is wise to use
the wildcard ""as the last character in
the request. Ex. RN«epa540*
Frequently Used Commands
C or CLEAR
H or HELP
M
Q or QUIT
to clear the space used to
display up to 16 searches.
to display a list of sets or
items.also used to combine
sets.
to get more information
about a particular option
on one of the system menus.
to return to Patron Menu,
to exit the system.
SP
V or VIEW
to set session parameters; limit
search to local library holdings
or view abstracts with citations,
to go to the top of the Main
Title List (search results).
to look at a record.
NOTE: Users must use the print and capture
capabilities of their communications software
(for example, CROSSTALK, Smartcom. Procom,
etc.) to print or download Information from OLS.
Consult your software manual for assistance

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