The big problem I have with the library list of authors, disambiguated
with their dates of birth, is that there is no way in heck that users
know the birth date of the author. So authority control adds some data
that may keep authors apart but doesn't help the user find the author
they are looking for. So the Michael Fitzgerald on this list knew he was
#5, but if I were looking for him I'd have to choose between authors
born in 1946, 1949, 1955 or June 11 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959. How does
this help me? The books I get don't have the author's birth date on them.
What Amazon does give is a quick way of disambiguating by showing a
recent product. There's no reason why libraries couldn't add the title
(or cover art) of the most recent item they have by that author. Oh,
here's the Michael Fitzgerald who wrote about Asberger's syndrome, vs.
the Michael Fitzgerald who was in A Chorus Line. If a user is searching
on an author's name then most likely they have some idea of what type of
creative product that author produced.
kc
Ross Singer wrote:
> On 5/30/07, Michael Fitzgerald <mike_at_jazzdiscography.com> wrote:
>>> a lot of stuff...
>
> Out of curiosity, how does the average person navigate this:
> http://orlabs.oclc.org/Identities/find?fullName=%22michael+fitzgerald%22
>
> over this:
> http://amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-2774713-7821547?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=%22michael+fitzgerald%22
>
>
> ?
>
> This is no defense of Amazon, but depending on your name authority
> file for disambiguation is a big leap in assuming people know who the
> hell you are (and that includes librarians).
>
> -Ross.
>
--
-----------------------------------
Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://www.kcoyle.net
ph.: 510-540-7596 skype: kcoylenet
fx.: 510-848-3913
mo.: 510-435-8234
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Received on Thu May 31 2007 - 11:02:34 EDT