Searching OCLC for retentions

There are several indexes for shared print, including:

• sh: (all shared print at an institution, e.g. sh:LOY)

•  sg: (limits a search to symbols in a GAC, e.g. sg:EAST)

• l8: (Searches text in the 583$f, e.g. l8:EAST)

The  583 subfield f  is indexed in “l8″ (that’s a lower case L”).   This would be a good index to use if you wanted to determine if an item is under retention, e.g. 

l8:EAST and no:24373800 

More information on finding shared print in OCLC can be found at their help page "View shared print commitments". 

There is also a Google Sheets Add On that enables searching for retentions by OCLC Number for small batches. This Add On requires an OCLC Search or Metadata API key/secret.