Re: HIT: keyword/subject search

[Allison G Kaplan <akaplan@UDEL.EDU>]

LM_Netters,

I'd like to add a bit more information to Cindy's posting about keywords
and subject headings.

Yes, subject headings are controlled vocabulary and yes, keywords are from
the bibliographic record without concern for control. However, one must be
aware that in most of the automated systems in our libraries, NOT every
MARC tag in the bibliographic record is indexed. That is, the information
for keywords is taken from the fields in the MARC record. So for starters,
your keywords will only be as good as your records. Next, not every tag is
used in compiling keywords. So if you put great information in, say the
590 tag (local notes) but your system does not index this tag, you will
never recover that information in a keyword search.

There is nothing inherently wrong with a system not indexing every tag.
After all, searching each tag takes time and companies are trying to
provide us with the most information in the least amount of time possible.
But one should be aware of which tags are not indexed and make other
arrangements as necessary. Check your system manual, there should be a
list of which tags are indexed and which are not.

I hope I have not clouded the issue too much. Just trying to show that
keywords are not everything they are touted off as being.

Allison G. Kaplan
Cataloger
Education Resource Center
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716-2940
(302) 831-1584
akaplan@udel.edu