Martha,
This is one of the more innovative notions I've seen recently on the list,
IMHO.. most of the complaints come from "we don't have the right (meta)
data, so we can't make a good search" camp and also, we have to have browse
*and* search, and the "Google" has made one single search box the Gold of
Findability.. I almost typed God of.. so, if you get a chance to experiment
or nibble with others in this area, I'd encourage you to try.. tools of the
day to move rapidly (think breadcrumbs on speed) between pieces of the pie
are around.. like > (jump 1 page) >> (jump 100) and so on.. I don't think
this is a repro of a card catalog, inasmuch as taking the raw material
within data into more usable and browsable forms..
My $.02 won't buy anything these days.. but, back in the day, it wouldn't
either.. well, maybe a piece of bubble gum..
Best,
DrWeb
On 7/31/07, Martha Yee <myee_at_ucla.edu> wrote:
>
> I have always thought users of libraries were pretty smart, smart enough
> to
> be able to tell us whether they were doing a search for a known work or a
> search for works on a particular subject, thus enabling us to provide them
> with more precise searching. However, if most of you violently disagree
> (especially those of you who are fans of Google's single search box),
> perhaps a compromise could be reached by reviving what used to be called
> the
> "dictionary catalog," that is an A to Z listing of all headings (authors,
> works and subjects). In other words, if we could combine all browse (i.e
> .,
> headings) indexes into one (and include TITLES AND WORK HEADINGS, which
> have
> been left out in most systems), we could offer a keyword in heading search
> of that dictionary browse file in a single search box as the default
> beginning search (with a keyword in record search with faceted browse a la
> Endeca offered as a back-up if the user indicates dissatisfaction with the
> results of the initial search). The results of the dictionary browse
> would
> be a list of headings and see references labelled as to type, e.g.:
>
> (personal creator) [used for 100 (bib.), 700 (bib.), 400 (auth.)]
> (corporate/institutional creator) [used for 110 (bib.), 710 (bib.), 410
> (auth.)]
> (conference proceedings) [used for 111 (bib.), 711 (bib.), 411 (auth.)]
> (person as topic) [used for 600]
> (corporation/institution as topic) [used for 610]
> (conference or event as topic) [used for 611]
> (work) [used for 1XX/245 (bib.), 1XX/240 (bib.), 130 (bib. and authority),
> 730 02 (bib.), 430 (auth.), 4xx/$t subfield (auth.)]
> (title) [used for 24X (bib.), 740 (bib.)]
> (series title) [used for 440 (bib.), 830 (bib.), 130 series authority
> records]
> (topic) [used for 650/651 (bib.), 150/151 (auth.), 450/451 (auth.)]
> (genre/form) [used for 655 (bib.), 155 (auth.), 455 (auth.)]
>
> These labels could begin the process of educating users about our
> categories, so that they could conceivably use them in more complex
> boolean
> searching. The results screen should also offer a prominent hot link to
> be
> used "if these results are not yet satisfactory" or some such language
> (which, as stated above, would re-do the search as a keyword in record
> search with facetted browsing display a la Endeca).
>
> When any given heading is chosen from the dictionary browse, the user
> should
> be offered hot links to:
>
> (under personal creators), other bibliographic identities
> (under corporate/institutional creators), earlier and later names
> (under works), related works (730 _0, 7XX 1_/$t subfield)
> (under topics), broader, narrower and related terms
> (under genre/form), broader, narrower and related genre/forms
>
> What do you think?
>
> Martha
>
>
>
> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
> Martha M. Yee
> Cataloging Supervisor
> UCLA Film & Television Archive
> 1015 N. Cahuenga Blvd.
> Los Angeles, CA 90038-2616
> 323-462-4921 x27
> 323-469-9055 (fax)
> myee_at_ucla.edu (Email)
> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
>
> "The good ended happily and the bad ended unhappily. That is what fiction
> means"--Miss Prism in The importance of being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.
>
--
DrWeb aka Michael
drweb2_at_gmail.com
Received on Tue Jul 31 2007 - 17:28:15 EDT