Karen Coyle wrote:
> You have to remember that the LC subject authority file is essentially a
> computer-readable, marked-up version of the LCSH "red books", and that
> both are guidance to catalogers, not a full taxonomy, and NOT a rigorous
> example of semantic web capabilities. It has a number of different
> problem areas, IMO. The one that really bugs me is that it defines
> geographic places as subjects, but no where in the library canon will we
> find geographic places as geographic places that can be used wherever
> they are needed. The place name "London" in the subject file cannot be
> used, for example, in a publication statement. Obviously, there should
> be a list of geographic names, with URIs, that can then be used where
> needed so that you can know that the London in the publication statement
> is the same London as in the subject heading.
>
> You don't solve modern problems by re-coding pre-modern data without
> making any changes. LCSH in SKOS is a start, but if we don't make the
> needed changes that will actually modernize the data, I don't think
> we'll see much uptake.
While this is true, it also forgets some of the earlier library conditions and the relative power of the card catalog, so that certain practices from back then seem ridiculous today. For example, there was never any problem with having "British Library. Dept. of Mss." as a heading because, while absolutely *nobody* would ever think to look for it that way either today or back then, in the card catalog, it was a much superior form since the users would find it just as easily by browsing the subdivisions of the British Library, and librarians could save both typing *and* space on the card. (Especially important in those days of Taylorism)
Of course, once the computers arrived and keyword became the prime method of finding records, this supposition didn't work any longer and things had to change. (Not everywhere I have discovered, and how anybody finds anything in those catalogs is beyond me!)
It looks like the library world accepted these minor consequences of keyword and at least stopped the incessant abbreviations, but other changes have just been waiting and waiting for far too long. Let's hope that now that the subject headings are out and in the hands of people like Bernhard, there will be some movement.
Jim Weinheimer
Received on Fri May 08 2009 - 10:11:04 EDT