Is the quality of subject access significantly better with the online catalog than with the card catalogs? For many years, librarians have been discontent with the quality of subject access in card catalogs, and they hoped that the online catalog would offer significant improvements. This new book addresses this question from five different perspectives--research studies, opinion pieces from public and technical services librarians, special needs, the international perspective, and a comprehensive annotated bibliography of previous work. By exploring the progress of the online catalog to date and making suggestions for future research, the contributors to Subject Control in Online Catalogs provide important reading for public services and technical services librarians, as well as systems librarians. In one this single volume, you will find research studies promising new paths for systems developments, descriptions of international developments that have vital implications for American subject access, and the valuable perspectives of innovative public and technical services librarians.

The Internet and World Wide Web have made access to information easy but do not solve the problems of finding exactly what is wanted, to the point of overwhelming the reader with information. Since the first edition of this classic librarianship text appeared, the development of computer technology has meant that the organization of information has become a hugely complex area. This fifth edition places emphasis on the intellectual effort required to make meaningful use of the enormous amount of information now accessible to the searcher. Fully revised and updated in comprehensive detail that includes bibliographies, ample examples and quotations, it focuses on: information retrieval systems database access systems online searching and OPACs hypertext networked systems. Foskett describes how we search for information by looking at the problems involved, at the theoretical principles suggested as solutions and their practical realization as classification schemes, lists of subject headings and thesauri. Readership: This influential text is widely acknowledged to be essential reading for all students of librarianship and information management, and an invaluable reference tool for practising library and information professionals.

International authority control will soon be a reality. Examine the projects that are moving the information science professions in that direction today! In Authority Control in Organizing and Accessing Information: Definition and International Experience, international experts examine the state of the art and explore new theoretical perspectives. This essential resource, which has its origins in the International Conference on Authority Control (Italy, 2003), addresses standards, exchange formats, and metadata—with sections on authority control for names, works, and subjects. Twenty fascinating case examples show how authority control is practiced at institutions in various nations around the world. Authority Control in Organizing and Accessing Information provides an essential definition of authority control and then begins its sharply focused examinations of essential aspects of authority control with a section entitled “State of the Art and New Theoretical Perspectives.” Here you’ll find chapters focusing on: the current state of the art—with suggestions for future developments the importance (and current lack) of teaching authority control as part of a library/information science curriculum the guidelines and methodology used in the creation of Italy’s SBN Authority File Next, “Standards, Exchange Formats, and Metadata” covers: Italy’s Bibliografia Nazionale Italiana UNIMARC database, which was created using authority control principles the past and present activities of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and an examination of IFLA’s Working Group on Functional Requirements and Numbering of Authority Records (FRANAR) metadata standards as a means for accomplishing authority control in digital libraries traditional international library standards for bibliographic and authority control the evolution and current status of authority control tools for art and material culture information the UNIMARC authorities format—what it is and how to work with it “Authority Control for Names and Works” brings you useful, current information on: changes and new features in the new edition of the International Standard Archival Authority Record (Corporate Bodies, Persons, Families) Encoded Archival Context (EAC)—and its role in enhancing access to and understanding of records, and how it enables repositories to share creator description the LEAF model for collection, harvesting, linking, and providing access to existing local/national name authority data national bibliographic control in China, Japan, and Korea, plus suggestions for future cooperation between bibliographic agencies in East Asia authority control of printers, publishers, and booksellers how to create up-to-date corporate name authority records authority control (and the lack of it) for works “Authority Control for Subjects” updates you on: subject gateways—with a look at the differences between the Program for Cooperative Cataloging’s SACO program and browsable online subject gateways MACS—a virtual authority file that crosses language barriers to provide multilingual access OCLC’s FAST project, which strives to retain the rich vocabulary of LCSH while making the schema easier to understand, control, apply, and use the efforts of Italy’s National Central Library toward semantic authority control the interrelationship of subject indexing languages and authority control—with a look at the “semantics vs. syntax” issue how subject indexing is done in Italy’s Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale “Authority Control Experiences and Proje

Leading figures pay tribute to an expert in the field Honoring the work of Ruth C. Carter upon her retirement as editor of Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, Cataloger, Editor, and Scholar is a unique collection that features 21 articles from experts in the field. Celebrating Dr. Carter’s dedication to technical services, cataloging, history, and management, these essays recall all the important aspects of her life and career. The important compendium also includes an interview with Dr. Carter and a review of Cataloging & Classification Quarterly (CCQ) during her 20 years at its helm. In four parts, this wide-ranging collection includes articles that not only span the length and breadth of Dr. Carter’s professional career, but also present new contributions to the field. The first section of Cataloger, Editor, and Scholar considers Dr. Carter’s personal history and direct influence on CCQ as well as what she sees as key issues in cataloging at the beginning of the 21st century. The studies in part two take an international look at cataloging and bibliographic history while new research in the field is presented in part three. Finally, part four offers papers that consider current trends as well as possible directions for the emerging digital future. Chapters in Cataloger, Editor, and Scholar include: a commemorative biographical sketch of Ruth Carter an interview where she discusses her career as a librarian, archivist, historian, and long-time editor a comprehensive review of the contents of Cataloging & Classification Quarterly from 1990-2006 an analysis of the availability of books and reading materials in Monroe County, Indiana, through 1850 annotation as a lost art in cataloging early twentieth-century British libraries twenty-five years of bibliographic control research at the University of Bradford the Italian cataloging tradition and its relationships with the international tradition technical services and tenure impediments and strategies the “works” phenomenon and best selling books measuring typographical errors’ impact on retrieval in bibliographic databases meeting the needs of special format catalogers copy cataloging for print and video monographs in academic libraries balancing principles, practice, and pragmatics in a changing digital environment the development of knowledge structures on the Internet and may more! A unique compilation of the many issues that appeared in CCQ during Dr. Carter’s 20-year tenure, Cataloger, Editor, and Scholar is an informative resource for librarians, LTS professionals, catalogers, students, educators, and researchers.