Introduction: This paper presents a qualitative exploration of university students' experience of searching an online public access catalogue. The study investigated how students conceptualise their searching process, as well as how students understand themselves as seekers of information. Method: Following a search task, thirty-eight…

Perhaps the greatest power of folksonomies, especially when set against controlled vocabularies like the Library of Congress Subject Headings, lies in their capacity to empower user communities to name their own resources in their own terms. This article analyzes the potential and limitations of both folksonomies and controlled vocabularies for…

Review of the 1987 subject access literature covers: (1) general works; (2) organization, history, theory, and method of classification; (3) classification systems; (4) subject headings and the Library of Congress; (5) subject authority control through the Library of Congress Subject Headings; (6) subject searching in online catalogs; and (7)…

Discusses problems with subject searches in online library catalogs and examines theoretical principles for the design of effective information retrieval systems. Probabilistic ranking methods are discussed, and an experimental online catalog called CHESHIRE is described. It is noted that CHESHIRE uses classification clustering, provides natural…

Describes the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) project and the TEI header, which documents electronic text in a standard interchange format understandable to both librarian catalogers and nonlibrarian text encoders. The form and function of the TEI header is introduced, and its relationship to the MARC record is explained. (10 references) (KRN)

The purpose of this study was to examine the inter-indexer consistency in the assignment of selected access points between OCLC and RLIN (Research Libraries Information Network). Both databases are used by many libraries as bibliographic sources for copy cataloging. Access points were compared for differences in wording, MARC coding, and…

Discusses the problems encountered by elementary school children in retrieving information from a library catalog, either the traditional card catalog or an OPAC (online public access catalog). An alternative system of classification using colors and symbols is described that was developed in the Common School (Amherst, Massachusetts). (Author/LRW)

Describes a prototype for a shelf-browsing search system that can be tailored to meet the needs of marginalized user groups. Terms in an online thesaurus are linked to relevant classification numbers. Users can search the thesaurus, identify appropriate classification numbers, and use them as vocabularies appropriate to particular user…

The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) system has become a primary subject retrieval tool in an environment that is very different from that for which it was designed and developed. This book is a comprehensive guide to the principles and application of LCSH that reflects changes and developments in the field. The text is divided into…

Explores the potential usefulness of the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) system as a tool in online retrieval. Unique features of LCC are described and a theoretical analysis of its potentials and limitations in terms of subject browsing, enhanced vocabulary, and class number searching are presented. (CDD)

Review of the 1991 literature on subject access in online systems discusses users and subject searching; subject access in online catalogs, including improvement of the database, search processing, the user interface, and user understanding; subject cataloging and indexing; information retrieval; thesaurus and indexing approaches; classification;…

There are 16 papers in this collection from the Division of Bibliographic Control: (1) "Report from the Section on Cataloging" (Tom Delsey); (2) "Section on Bibliography Report" (B. C. Bloomfield); (3) "Report from the Section on Classification and Indexing" (Robert P. Holley); (4) "The Cost of Cataloging" (French and English versions; Genevieve…

Describes the Dewey Online Retrieval System (DORS), which was developed at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to experiment with classification-based search strategies in online catalogs. Classification structures in automated information retrieval are discussed; and specifications for a classification retrieval interface are…

Techniques for building a world-wide information infrastructure by reverse engineering existing databases to link them in a hierarchical system of subject clusters to create an integrated database are explored. The controlled vocabulary of the Library of Congress Subject Headings is used to ensure consistency and group similar items. Each database…

A new subject list was generated for the Alzheimer's Association's Green-Field Library catalog, resulting in a mix of Medical Subject Headings and Library of Congress Subject Headings, augmented by local- and reviewer-supplied terms. The list gives the Library authoritative terms to use for original and copy cataloging. It can also be placed with…