Many records in the MHLS catalog now include Lexile Measures and Accelerated Reader notes.
Library staff may use Sierra’s Create Lists function to help identify titles by these criteria.
For Lexile measures:
Lexile measures will be found in MARC tag 521|a
To find a list of items at your location that match a specific Lexile measure:
Store Record Type as ITEM
And set your query to:
| Operator | Type | Field | Condition | Value A | Value B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITEM | LOCATION | starts with | (your library’s 3-letter location code) | ||
| AND | BIBLIOGRAPHIC | MARC Tag 521|a | equal to | (Lexile Number) |
Be sure to include the letter “L” at the end of the Lexile number, Ex: 750L
Some materials may have a 2 letter code before the Lexile number. Ex: HL650L
To find materials in these categories with your Lexile search, you will need to include the 2-letter prefix in your search
Possible values for Lexile prefix codes are:
– AD (Adult Directed) – Better when read aloud to student rather than having student read it independently.
– NC (Non-Conforming) – For high-ability readers who still need age-appropriate content
– HL (High-Low) – To engage older students who need materials that are less complex and at a lower reading level
– IG (Illustrated Guide) – Nonfiction materials often used for reference
– GN (Graphic Novel) – Graphic novels or comic books
– BR (Beginning Reader) – For emerging readers with Lexile reader measure below 0L
– NP (Non-Prose) – Poems, plays, songs, recipes and text with non-standard or absent punctuation.
To find a list of items at your location that fall into a Lexile range:
You can also search a larger range of Lexile scores by uing “between” instead of “equal to”:
| Operator | Type | Field | Condition | Value A | Value B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITEM | LOCATION | starts with | (your library’s 3-letter location code) | ||
| AND | BIBLIOGRAPHIC | MARC Tag 521|a | between | (starting number) | (ending number) |
Please Note:
The range search won’t work correctly when starting with a 3-digit number and ending with a 4-digit number, such as 925L-1010L.
To get a list of all titles included in this range, it would have to be broken up into two separate lists:
List 1: 925L-995L
List 2: 1000L-1010L
For Accelerated Reader:
Numeric values will be found in MARC tag 526|c
Points value for a book is found in MARC tag 526|d
To find a list of items at your location that match a certain Interest Level:
Store Record Type as ITEM
And set your query to:
| Operator | Type | Field | Condition | Value A | Value B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITEM | LOCATION | starts with | (your library’s 3-letter location code) | ||
| AND | BIBLIOGRAPHIC | MARC Tag 526|b | equal to | (Interest level – LG, MG, MG+, or UG) |
Possible values for interest level are:
– LG (Lower Grades) for grades K-3
– MG (Middle Grades) for grades 4-8
– MG+ (Middle Grades Plus) for grades 6 and up
– UG (Upper Grades) for grades 9-12
To find a list of items at your location that match a specific numeric value:
Store Record Type as ITEM
And set your query to:
| Operator | Type | Field | Condition | Value A | Value B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITEM | LOCATION | starts with | (your library’s 3-letter location code) | ||
| AND | BIBLIOGRAPHIC | MARC Tag 526|c | equal to | (Accelerated Reader score) |
To find a list of items at your location that fall within a range:
You can also search a larger range of Accelerated Reader scores by using “between” instead of “equal to”:
| Operator | Type | Field | Condition | Value A | Value B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITEM | LOCATION | starts with | (your library’s 3-letter location code) | ||
| AND | BIBLIOGRAPHIC | MARC Tag 526|c | between | (starting number) | (ending number) |
Please Note:
The range search won’t work correctly when the starting number has a single digit before the decimal, and the ending number has a double digit before the decimal, such as 9.8 – 10.1
To get a list of all titles included in this range, it would have to be broken up into two separate lists:
List 1: 9.8 – 9.9
List 2: 10.0 – 10.1
Combining criteria:
Any of these fields can be combined to meet multiple criteria
Example:
Accelerated Reader number falls within the range of 2.0 and 2.9, has an interest level for Middle Grades, and point value is more than 0.5
| Operator | Type | Field | Condition | Value A | Value B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITEM | LOCATION | starts with | mhl | ||
| AND | BIBLIOGRAPHIC | MARC Tag 526|c | between | 2.0 | 2.9 |
| AND | BIBLIOGRAPHIC | MARC Tag 526|b | equal to |
MG | |
| AND | BIBLIOGRAPHIC | MARC Tag 526|d | greater than | 0.5 |