About the KVK

The KVK is a meta-search engine that indexes hundreds of millions of books, journals, and other media in library and bookstore catalogs worldwide.

• Search queries entered are forwarded to multiple library catalogs simultaneously, and the respective results lists are displayed.
• The KVK does not maintain its own database. It depends on the availability of the target systems on the Internet. It also cannot offer any more search functionality than the individual target systems themselves.
• By default, the system searches all catalogs that are checked. The links from the short-title lists lead to the original full-title records of the individual systems. These are not further processed by the KVK.
• The system was developed at the Karlsruhe University Library (now the KIT Library) in collaboration with the Department of Informatics. The KVK was made available to the public on July 26, 1996. 
• In addition to the “classic” KVK, there are other catalogs and bibliographies based on KVK technology.

General Information

• Stop Words
  Stop words such as “der, die, the, and ...” should be avoided
• Wildcard Search (Truncation)
  Right truncation using “?” (for authors, this is sometimes done automatically)
• Response
  Times Response times depend on the target systems. If a target system does not respond, the search is aborted after 120 seconds. This is usually the cause when very long response times occur. Please let us know if this happens.
• Completeness of Credentials
  Please note that in some cases, not all books held by the libraries are listed in their online catalogs. You can order older literature via interlibrary loan or other delivery services (e.g., Subito).

Search Fields

Search terms entered in different search fields are automatically combined with “and.”

• Free-text
  The free-text search corresponds to a search in a “Basic Index” of the target catalog. Depending on the target catalog, such a Basic Index may include only a few or all search aspects of the catalog. The search looks for bibliographic records that contain all search terms (AND operator), in any combination. In some target catalogs, important information (publication year, ISBN, ISSN, etc.) is not included in the Basic Index. Therefore, the free text entered is checked for such elements, and a targeted search is performed based on the specific search aspect (e.g., ISBN). For example, when searching by year, entering “linux database 2009” results in an AND search for “Free Text=linux database” AND “Year=2009.”
• Title
  In the “Title” search field, you can search for one or more words from the title of the publication. Multiple title words are automatically linked with AND. Wildcard search using “?”.
• Author
  In the “Author” search field, you can search for an author, editor, or other individuals who have made a significant contribution to a publication. For a comprehensive search, include the first name. Authors are often listed without umlauts in English catalogs, i.e., “Muller” instead of “Müller.” Important: Search for authors in the following format: “Last Name, First Name.”
• Organization
  In the “Organization” search field, you can search for societies, associations, institutes, colleges, conferences, universities, companies, countries, municipalities, government agencies, etc. In many consortia, organizations can only be searched to a limited extent! If you get “zero” results, you should repeat your query in the “Title” search field.
• Subject
  Headings In the “Subject Headings” search field, you can search for standardized terms describing the content of a publication. So-called “subject heading chains” cannot be searched.
• Year
  In the “Year” search field, you can search for the year of publication of a publication. In most union catalogs, publication years can only be searched to a limited extent.
• ISBN, ISSN
  In the “ISBN” search field, you can search for the International Standard Book Number of a publication. The ISBN consists of 10 or 13 digits. When searching, you generally do not need to enter the hyphens.
  In the “ISSN” search field, you can search for a publication’s International Standard Serial Number. Newspapers, journals, series, etc., are usually assigned an ISSN. The ISSN consists of 8 digits.
• Publisher
  : In the “Publisher” search field, you can search for the publisher of a publication. Publishers are not searchable in most union catalogs.

FAQs on the Responsive KVK Version

In November 2015, a revised version of the KVK—optimized for display on mobile devices—was released. Questions and answers regarding this can be found in the following list:

• Question: What’s actually better about the new layout?
  Answer: The new layout is responsive and can now be used on virtually any device (PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone).
• Question: Can I now use the KVK on my smartphone as well?
  Answer: Yes, because the new design is what’s known as a responsive design. Some fields are hidden. The full-title display is more of an issue there, since there are hardly any responsive full-title displays in the other catalogs.
• Question: Why isn’t there a “worldwide” checkbox?
  Answer: Because many catalog providers were bothered by the high load on the KVK, since KVK users search for terms in their catalogs that are highly likely to yield meaningful results only in German catalogs. If you often search “worldwide,” you can set it up once and then bookmark it!
• Question: The former “My Catalogs” feature is missing. How do I save my settings?
  Answer: Saving catalog settings (previously “My Catalogs”) has been replaced by using bookmarks. This means that when you’re using the KVK, the URL in your browser changes whenever you check or uncheck a checkbox. You can easily save these URLs as bookmarks. This ensures that your saved settings won’t be lost even if your browser deletes all cookies or if you’ve been working in incognito mode.
• Question: How can I clear my entries from the search bar?
  Answer: Use the reddish “Text” button with the trash can icon to clear the text entries. To clear the catalog settings, please use the reddish “Catalogs” button with the trash can icon
• Question: How do I quickly navigate through the results list?
  Answer: You can “scroll” through the results list using the up and down arrow keys and then simply press Return. This will take you to the full title. From there, you can use Alt + Left Arrow to return to the search results list. Very convenient—you don’t even need the mouse!
• Question: How can I copy the short titles in the search results list using Copy & Paste?
  Answer: Just like with many links whose text you want to copy, position the mouse next to the link, then hold down the mouse button and drag it across the text. The text will then be selected and can be copied using Ctrl+C. You need to click next to the KVK search results list and then drag to the left. In the Mac version of the Chrome browser, you can also use the context menu (i.e., right-click on the text and select “Copy”).
• Question: Why don’t I see the old yellow digitized copy icon anymore?
  Answer: The digitized copy icon now looks different. It resembles the PDF icon. It now always appears in red at the right margin of a short title line.