Re: [IUG] Cataloging for Encore

["Cindy Harper" <charper at mail dot colgate dot edu>]

So maybe Encore should keyword-search the authority records, too. III
tried that with the "Related searches" option. Trouble with "related
searches" is that it return(s/ed) a "laundry-list" of marginally-related
headings if you happen to search a very generic keyword such as "dogs".
But if an Encore search looked at the authority records, and
automatically performed a subject search of any See references which it
then added to the keyword-only results, showing the valid term in the
tag cloud as well as the high-ranking keywords - that would add the
authority knowledge base to Encore results.

 

Cindy Harper

Colgate University

 

-----Original Message-----

From: innopac-bounces at innopacusers dot org
[mailto:innopac-bounces at innopacusers dot org] On Behalf Of Byron C. Mayes

Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 10:36 AM

To: IUG INNOPAC List

Subject: Re: [IUG] Cataloging for Encore

 

On Dec 17, 2007 9:28 AM, Wynn, Stephen <swynn at truman dot edu> wrote:

 

> I spoke last week about III's next-generation interface Encore, with
an

> III rep who told me that whenever they do a demo, the catalogers
present

> get very excited about the idea of adding tags in Encore. ..

 

 

 

> Since "Mountain biking" is a SEE reference in the authority record for

> "All-terrain cycling," why do you need to add it as an Encore tag?

 

 

The problem with SEE references in the catalog is that it results in an

extra step for the user. A subject search on "mountain biking" yields
the

decidedly unfriendly message:

 

"* Mountain Biking *" is not used in this library's catalog.

*All terrain cycling *is used instead.

Try a search for All terrain

cycling<http://mail.google.com/search/d?All+terrain+cycling>

 .

 

"All terrain cycling" is an active link, but the user still has a no-hit

search in front of him.

 

There's always the question of how many users throw a subject search at
the

catalog as a first run. A lot of catalogs default to keyword searches,
one

reason being to mitigate the general out-of-stepped-ness (is that a
word?)

of LCSH terms. However a keyword search only pulls up records including
the

search term. In our catalog at Temple, Zinn's cycling primer would not
be

found in a keyword search for "mountain biking" because neither the
phrase

nor the words "mountain" nor "biking" appear anywhere in the record.

 

One could go further and note that "Mountain biking" is not an

immediately related subject for "Outdoor recreation" nor for "Sports" (I

think you can get to them by traversing the hierarchy). Several works in

Temple's catalog cover mountain biking, but carry one of these subjects

instead of "All terrain cycling."

 

So a user using the term "mountain biking" in our catalog would
completely

miss Zinn's cycling primer in a keyword search, and experience "searchus

interruptus" when doing a subject search (which he may not even do).

Presumably a tag would mitigate both unsatisfactory experiences for the

user.

 

Of course, he could form a nerdy complex search involving parentheses,

truncations, and OR statements but mountain biking is supposed to be
cool.

:)

 

Byron

 

-- 

Byron C. Mayes, MLS

Head, Library Systems & Technology

Temple University * Philadelphia, PA

ByronC dot Mayes at temple dot edu

 

 

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