On 4/14/16 7:40 AM, Joseph Montibello wrote:
>> Real use of LCSH
>> would search the reference vocabulary as well as the preferred term
>> headings which get into bib records. Working with LCSH bib headings alone
>> misses the point of a sophisticated controlled vocabulary, where much of
>> the terminological and semantic richness for searching is contained in
>> "see" and "see also" references, complex references and scope and other
>> kinds of notes. The controlled vocabulary itself needs to be integrated
>> into search results so that searches call up not only bib records with a
>> matching heading but vocabulary records which can expand the user's search
>> vocabulary and point to related controlled terms outside those generated by
>> the retrieved bib records' themselves.
> Are there discovery systems out there that attempt this? It would be great to use all the work that has gone into these vocabs to improve end-user experience, not by telling them to click a "see also" link but by doing that work for them in some way.

We tried that in an early version of the U of Calif's MELVYL system (I'm
talking early 80's here). The difficulty is in trying to coordinate a
keyword search, that can bring up a wide variety of headings in very
different "hierarchies", and some direct linking that would make sense
to the user. The best we could do was to combine the keywords from the
authoritative and non-authoritative headings for retrieval, thus
increasing both the desired retrieval but also the false drops. If you
could isolate the subject "graphs" and present them it would be cleaner,
but in some cases the number of different graphs retrieved would make
for a very difficult presentation for the user.

The disconnect between keyword searching and headings is something that
needs more analysis.

kc
>
> Joe Montibello, MLIS
> Library Systems Manager
> Dartmouth College
> 603.646.9394
> [log in to unmask]

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Karen Coyle
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