Alexander Johannesen said:
"...we should at least be able to say that 'title + author + subject headings combined' is what we've got so far, and that, perhaps, our subject headings are indeed what sets us apart from Amazon, Google, et co. (Or something else; this was an example)"
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that "our subject headings are indeed what sets us apart" from other online search purveyors and that they are far superior to any metadata used by these search providers. And, for example, let's say that searching our catalogs using our subject headings is superior to Google's keyword searching.
Other than being able to say that our subject searching (for books) is superior to Google's keyword searching (for a lot more than books), what does that get us? Pretty much nothing. Our superior data doesn't do the non-book searching world any good if no one (or next to no one) uses it but us. If the people in the non-book world won't add our data to the stuff they produce, it doesn't make any difference how much better our data is.
Bernie Sloan
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Received on Tue Aug 07 2007 - 09:59:32 EDT