Bernhard Eversberg wrote:
> .... when not counting GoogleBooksearch as well as WorldCat and all
> libraries in English-speaking countries.
> The trouble is that to do a successful LCSH search you need to have
> a valid term first and type it in correctly.
> Lacking one, you might want to browse in an index tosee what's
> available:
> http://www.biblio.tu-bs.de/db/lcsh/
>
> Once you find a promising term here, the display catapults you into
> Google or WorldCat right away. And yes, LibraryThing too, although with
> a somewhat lower chance for success. As of yet...
I think this is such an important project of Bernhard's that I use it instead of the official LC version. As an example of how it could work, I would suggest you look at the Online Books page under a specific heading, e.g. Wrongful imprisonment
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/browse?type=lcsubc&key=Wrongful%20imprisonment
The user sees the cross-reference to False imprisonment, then you click on it and you see the Broader and Narrower terms, plus links to specific items, some of which I don't understand how they were retrieved, but all quite pertinent to the search.
With more and better cross-references (based on how people really search, taking tips from logfiles, social tagging, other thesauri or subject headings, along with other resources), plus some creative thinking, I believe that users would prefer this to "relevance ranking" although it too, could be retained. Imagine this system with all of Google Books, Microsoft Live Books, and the Universal Library, plus other materials as well.
Finally, if this were connected to a "concept server" (where the concept gets a number instead of a text string), many other thesauri and subject heading systems could be included and the use increases enormously for everyone.
James Weinheimer
Received on Mon Dec 17 2007 - 09:38:19 EST