That looks more like an old-style index browse than what I'd think of as a suggestion.  You've returned nothing until the user has typed enough characters to restrict the number of index terms to be returned to a rational number.

An example of the difference between an Index Browse and AutoSuggest can be seen in our VIAF service where a browse on the name "shak" (http://viaf.org/search?operation=scan&scanClause=local.mainHeadingEl+exact+"shak"&version=1.1&responsePosition=10&maximumTerms=1000) returns just slightly over 1000 names, with "shakespeare, william" buried somewhere in the middle.  Whereas sending "shak" to the AutoSuggester (http://viaf.org/AutoSuggest?query=shak) gets back a ranked list of the top ten names that begin with "shak" ("Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616", "Shākyamuni, fl.ca. v560-ca. v480", "Shakuku", ...).  In addition, the AutoSuggester will return something in response to a single keystroke (http://viaf.org/AutoSuggest?query=s).

Ralph


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Ed Summers
> Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 2:52 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Auto-suggest and the id.loc.gov LCSH web service
> 
> In the interests of all-that-is-agile, and the HolidaySeason™ I took a
> quick (imperfect) stab at providing some basic suggest functionality
> at id.loc.gov which you can find documented in the OpenSearch
> Description:
> 
>   http://id.loc.gov/authorities/opensearch/
> 
> I used the OpenSearch Suggestions extension defined at:
> 
> 
> http://www.opensearch.org/Specifications/OpenSearch/Extensions/Suggestions/
> 1.1
> 
> For example:
> 
>   curl http://id.loc.gov/authorities/suggest/?q=folklore
> 
> Or with an offset:
> 
>   curl "http://id.loc.gov/authorities/suggest/?q=folklore&offset=50"
> 
> It's something to throw darts at. Comments, questions, suggestions
> (ahem) welcome :-)
> 
> //Ed