[dlpdev] subject indexing terms/keywords etc./classifciation systems

Sun, 28 Mar 2004 17:53:24 +0100

Hi all,

Most definitely some more more flexible subject indexing would be a good 
idea... how to do this however is something of a thorny issue...

Dewey is copyrighted by OCLC (in the US) and they defend their copyright on it 
quite vigorously (the bastards) - dewey is also more about "how to organise the 
books on the shelves rather than how to use controlled language to describe 
them.  I think that the classification system (book arrangement on shelves) is 
something that is to be decided at an individual library level - but the 
subject indexing terms (if we're all using the DLP stuff together) should be 
shared (so folks can find stuff in any node)
It could be possible to use something like the LCSH (Library of Congress 
Subject Headings) but again I think these are either copyrighted or tricky to 
use and as the famous cataloguer from Hennepin County libraries in the states 
Sandy Berman spent his life picking holes in the rather antiquated and un-pc 
language used by them... (see his rather engaging book the "joy of cataloguing" 
(yes it was in reference to Alex Comforts Joy of Sex)

I think I quite like the idea of a wiki type set up where people add their 
subject terms to an onlline thesaurus - eventually there would be consensus on 
the best terms to use... (could be the subejct of a whole separate discussion 
list) besides i'm guessing all the different libraries within the DLP will have 
their own collection strengths where they can add most to the selection of 
subject index terms... - how practical is all this in terms of the DLP software 
(the programming side not being the bit I understand).  At the 1in12 in 
Bradford we started putting together a keyword list covering the majority of 
our collection (broadly anarchist with some other bits of lefty politics too) 
so I'd be willing to share that as a starting point - alternatively we could 
use something like LCSH - (LCSH terms are often included in the CIP data which 
can be found on the reverse of the title page of lots of books for those who 
don't know what they're like - also if you go and talk to your friendly local 
librarian they can probably show you the hefty books in which they are 
contained)

Also we'd be most keen to be able to allocate more than one keyword or subject 
term to a particular item/record - this would make the whole thing much more 
user friendly (books don't tend to have just one thought or current moving 
through them and folks may read the same book for lots of different reasons (so 
subjectively picking one subject area to prescribe the "meaning" of that item 
is probably flawed)

daft question to which I should know the answer #53: Is the fulltext of the 
review within DLP records searchable by keyword?

erm... other than that - I hope all are well.... and I hope that at least a 
tiny bit of that makes sense!

Ellie ;-)

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> Today's Topics:
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>    1. fine-grained dlp subject search: possible direction? (Douglas Carnall)
> 
> --__--__--
> 
> Message: 1
> From: "Douglas Carnall" <dougie@navarino.net>
> To: Dlpdev <dlpdev@theps.net>
> Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 21:02:10 +0000
> Subject: [dlpdev] fine-grained dlp subject search: possible direction?
> 
> It might be interesting to enable more finely granular subject indexing
> in the dlp by allowing users to create their own classifications.
> 
> These classificatory lists (?) could be shared. A sensible default would
> be provided, which the user could overwrite (or not). A semantician could
> later analyse the resulting user-generated classification-variations and
> attempt to map them to each other, and perhaps also a reference subject
> standard such as Dewey.
> 
> I guess something to do this would be potentially hackable though I'm not
> saying I could do it.
> 
> Does this make any sense to anyone reading this list? Do let me know...
> 
> D.
> 
> --
> Douglas Carnall
> +44 (0) 7900 212 881
> http://navarino.net:8080/blog
> there are DNS problems with carnall.org
> please see http://navarino.net for further details
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Ellie Clement
Subject Librarian (Engineering, Design and Technology)
JB Priestley Library
University of Bradford
BRADFORD
BD7 1DP

tel: 01274 233374
email: e.l.clement@bradford.ac.uk

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