Rinne, Nathan (ESC) wrote:
>
>
> Does anyone know how this could be done? Martha would like to know if
> its possible.
Sure, it's not only possible, it's been done. Well, I know of it being
done for names, but there's no reason why it couldn't be done for
subjects. Basically WWII is a synonym, a non-authoritative form. You
just add the non-authoritative forms to the authoritative form when
doing keyword indexing. (Go to the MELVYL catalog and do an author
keyword search for "Mark Clemens" -- you get both the Samuel Clemens and
the Mark Twain entries.)
Why doesn't it happen? Well, mainly because the LCSH "red book" in
machine-readable form does NOT give you what you need to do this. That's
why LC is now working on an authority file of actual headings rather
than the *instructions for constructing headings*, which is all we have
today. So in the records you have headings, and in the authority records
you have parts of headings, and not even all of the parts (free-floaters
and all). We need an authority file that is designed to connect to the
subject headings, not one designed to print the book of instructions to
catalogers.
Systems can do a lot, but they can't work with the data they don't have.
kc
--
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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 Jul 26 2007 - 11:54:32 EDT