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Using Authorities to Improve Subject Searches

Edward T. O’Neill, Rick Bennett & Kerre Kammerer OCLC Research. Beyond Libraries – Subject Metadata in the Digital Environment and Semantic Web, 17-18 August 2012, National Library of Estonia, Tallinn. Using Authorities to Improve Subject Searches. Authorities.

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Using Authorities to Improve Subject Searches

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  1. Edward T. O’Neill, Rick Bennett & Kerre Kammerer OCLC Research Beyond Libraries – Subject Metadata in the Digital Environment and Semantic Web, 17-18 August 2012, National Library of Estonia, Tallinn Using Authorities to Improve Subject Searches

  2. Authorities • Are primarily a cataloger’s tool. • Improve quality and consistency. • Include valuable information and entry points. • Are under utilized in the search process. • Role in the semantic web will be limited unless re-envisioned.

  3. Cataloging Process

  4. Search

  5. Two Step Indirect Search The authority file is first searched to find the appropriate subject heading. The bibliographic file is then searched to identify the resources with the subject heading.

  6. Indirect Searching

  7. searchFAST • Is a prototype that uses an authority file as the source of subject headings rather than the headings from bibliographic records. • Uses the FAST subject headings. • Uses the WorldCat.org bibliographic records. • Complements other access methods. • Is freely available at http://fast.oclc.org/searchfast.

  8. FAST • Faceted Application of Subject Terminology, • Is a faceted subject heading schema derived from the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). • Was developed by OCLC in cooperation with the Library of Congress. • Establishes all headings. • Supports the generation of search trees. • Is available as linked data.

  9. Keyword Search Sailboats

  10. Sailboats

  11. searchFAST Phase Indexes • In addition to the keyword index, searchFAST supports four phrase indexes: • Heading index. • Subfield index. • Source heading index. • See also reference index.

  12. Full Heading Search Cataloguing

  13. Full heading Searches

  14. Subfield Search Education, higher

  15. Related Term Search Philosophy

  16. Boolean Operators Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT are supported in keyword searches.

  17. Boolean Search Cats OR Dogs

  18. Special Geographic Searches • Most FAST authority records for geographic names—and those for many event records—include a geographic area code (GAC): • e-er, for example, is the GAC for Estonia. • GACs can be used as keywords. • GACs must be prefixed with gac: such as gac:e-er. • Keywords can be added to GAC queries to refine the search. • Feature types can also be added to limit the search but must be prefixed with feature: such as feature:lake.

  19. GAC Search e-er [Estonia]

  20. feature:lake

  21. Conclusions • The searchFAST prototype: • Demonstrates the effectiveness and practicality of using an authority file in searching. • Leverages authority work to benefit searchers as well catalogers. • Generates search trees that are easy to navigate. • Simple keyword searches generally produce very satisfactory results. • Supports sophisticated searches.

  22. Try it http://fast.oclc.org/searchfast/ Questions? ONEILL@OCLC.ORG

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