Whoa Andrea, you're thinking like a librarian! Think like a patron for a moment. They don't know subject headings from a hole in the ground. They could care less about LCSH and MARC and 650s and all of that. Not only DON'T they know, but 98% of them don't want to know. They understand key words because they can use them on Google. They don't understand controlled vocabularies and cross references and don't want to take the time to learn.
You are far better off with a library system that (invisibly) causes a keyword search to *also* search subject headings. The patron does not want to think or learn, they want their book. So make the software do the work. Don't confuse the patron, deliver him/her the information they want, and play tricks behind the scenes. Ted (who works for a library software company) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 at osu.edu AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
