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Congrats Eric Lease Morgan. A real eye opener for me. Best wishes.... On Tue, Jun 7, 2016 at 10:18 PM, McAulay, Lisa <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hi Eric, > > I really enjoyed this message. Thanks for sharing! > > Best, > Lisa > > > On Jun 7, 2016, at 2:49 AM, Eric Lease Morgan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > > In the past few weeks I have had some interesting experiences with > WorldCat, VIAF, and the Levenshtein algorithm. [1, 2] > > > > In short, I was given a set of authority records with the goal of > associating each name with a VIAF identifier. To accomplish this goal I > first created a rudimentary database — an easily parsed list of MARC 1xx > fields. I then looped through the database, and searched VIAF via the > AutoSuggest interface looking for one-to-one matches. If found, I updated > my database with the VIAF identifier. The AutoSuggest interface was fast > but only able to associate 20% of my names with identifiers. (Moreover, I > don’t know how it works; AutoSuggest is a “black box” technology.) > > > > I then looped through the database again, but this time I queried VIAF > using the SRU interface. Searches often returned many hits, not just > one-to-one matches, but through the use of the Levenshtein algorithm I was > able to intelligently select items from the search results and update my > database accordingly. [3] Through the use of the SRU/Levenshtein > combination, I was able to associate another 50-55 percent of my names with > identifiers. > > > > Now that I have close to 75% of my names associated with VIAF > identifiers, I can update my authority list’s MARC 024 fields, in turn, I > can then provide enhanced services against my catalog as well as pave the > way for linked data implementations. > > > > Sometimes our library automation tasks can use a bit more computer > science. Librarianship isn’t all about service and the humanities. > Librarianship is an arscient discipline. [4] > > > > [1] VIAF Finder - http://infomotions.com/blog/2016/05/viaf-finder/ > > [2] Almost perfection - http://infomotions.com/blog/2016/06/levenshtein/ > > [3] Levenshtein - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levenshtein_distance > > [4] arscience - http://infomotions.com/blog/2008/07/arscience/ > > > > — > > Eric Lease Morgan > -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Parthasarathi Mukhopadhyay Associate Professor, Department of Library and Information Science, University of Kalyani, Kalyani - 741 235 (WB), India -----------------------------------------------------------------------