Description
Book Synopsis
Using Subject Headings for Online Retrieval is an indispensable tool for online system designers who are grappling with developing new systems or refining existing ones. This ready reference describes subject analysis and subject searching in online catalogs, including the limitations of retrieval, and demonstrates how such limitations can be overcome through system design and programming. The practical reference also describes the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) system and system characteristics; it shows how information is stored in machine-readable files; and it offers examples of and recommendations for successful retrieval methods. Tables are included to support these recommendations, and diagrams, graphs, and bar charts are used to provide results of data analysis. Practitioners in institutions using or considering the installation of an online catalog will continuously consult this book to generate specifications. The book also appeals to researchers in library syste
Trade Review
"The well-designed empirical research presented here and the extensive use of reference citations throughout the book provide its readers with ample opportunities for scholarly discussion and further investigation in the area of subject access and OPAC user studies." --JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE
Table of Contents
Subject Analysis in Library Catalogs. Subject Authority Records in the Machine-Readable LCSH. Subject Information in Bibliographic Records. Subject Heading Compatibility between LCSH-mr and Bibliographic Files. Studies of the Subject Queries Users Enter into Online Systems. An Overview of User Queries. Queries for Topical Subjects That are Likely to Succeed. Other Queries Likely to Succeed. Queries for Topical Subjects Not Likely to Succeed. Other Queries Not Likely to Succeed. The Exact Approach to Subject Searching. Choosing among Existing Subject Search Approaches as Responses to User Queries. Search Trees for Subject Searching. The Future of Subject Headings for Online Information Retrieval. Appendix A: SULIRS Subject Search. Appendix B: ORION Subject Search. Appendix C: LS/2000 Subject Search. Appendix D: Multiple-Heading Match Categories. Index.
