Finding the oldest record

Question

I am trying to write a query that finds the oldest book in a libary and displays its location and book name. its returning with the wrong output so far
insert into OLDESTBOOK(LOCATION, NAME)
     select
          l.location, b.book_name
     from
          libary l, books b
     where exists
          select
               Min(published_date), s.shelve_id, l.location_id
          from
               books b, shelve s, libary l
          where
               s.shelve_id = l.location_id
          and
               s.book_id = b.book_id
     )

Answer 1

Yes, sorry, it should have been 'and' and not 'where'.
If you're getting multiple rows back, that mean that there are multiple books with the same oldest date, provided that your JOINs are correct. Are you getting different locations and book names in the multiple rows?
Edited by: SeánMacGC on Jul 23, 2009 3:33 AM
Another way to get the oldest would be:
SELECT Location, Book_Name,
  FROM (
select l.location, b.book_name,
RANK() OVER (ORDER BY published_date) rnk
from books b, shelve s, libary l
where s.shelve_id = l.location_id
and s.book_id = b.book_id)
WHERE rnk <= 1;But again, if there are multiple locations and books with the same mininum published date, you'll get more than one record back.