The place where a sort function which ignores articles is most likely to run into a serious problem is if it checks for articles in multiple languages: in French un, une, le la and les etc... however the German article die would probably be caught when it is the English verb of the same spelling but obviously different meaning. So if you were to design a librarian sort function for someone like me who has many titles in languages other than English there would in fact be a mistake for example when sorting with the financial planning book "Die Broke" (which should probably have a comma in the title...), however that was the only English language book I was able to find easily on Amazon.com which would pose a problem for a multi-lingual librarian sort tool, although I suppose the hypothetical book title "The Day I Die" would incorrectly precede a book with the hypothetical title "The Day I Arrived". I will continue to maintain that a sort tool for librarians which ignores articles would solve far more problems than it would cause and thus be very beneficial.
Jason ----------------------------------------> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected]> Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 10:46:42 -0700> Subject: RE: [users] Two questions on open office>>> The French word for tea is thé with the accent again not something that would be caught by a search for "THE". Generally a good librarian reads the abstract of a book before cataloging it, or at the very least before acquiring it. As I said while you may in fact be able to come up with a few legitimate exceptions, in general the fact that half of all books or even phrases use articles which we would ignore in a sort make a sort tool for librarians that ignores them very useful. When I entered the bug into the Q.A. database I requested that they create an additional sorting mechanism not change their current alpha numeric sort function.>> Jason>>> Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 17:15:36 +0000>> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]>> To: [email protected]>> Subject: Re: [users] Two questions on open office>>>> On 07/11/2007, Jason Wexler wrote:>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 09:10:53 +0000>>>> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]>>>> To: [email protected]>>>> Subject: Re: [users] Two questions on open office>>>>>>>> On 06/11/2007, Jason Wexler wrote:>>>> >>>>>>>> I was trained as a Librarian, so I cannot think of a scenario when I>>> would>>>>> sort a list of phrases or sentences, where I would want to take into>>>>> consideration of the articles, nor since I am a linguist can I think>>> of a>>>>> language which uses its articles as a searchable perameter. If you>>> have a>>>>> scenario where keeping the articles searchable would be of value, I>>> would>>>>> most definitely like to learn (thats the problem with being a>>>>> librarian/scientist, must always learn something new LOL).>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Jason>>>>>>>>>>>>>> So you'd be happy to file my book "THE DANSANT" under D for "DANSANT">>> would>>>> you?>>>>>>>>>> In the original French it would be Le Dansant, and une bibliotechniciane>>> francais would also ignore the "Le" so I have no problem ignoring the "THE",>>> there are of course going to be exceptions as someone already mentioned "The>>> A to Z Guide..." would of course be an exception as would the children's>>> alphabet book "A to Z". However fixing those handful of rare exception is>>> quicker and far easier than the other option when half or more of all Titles>>> begin with an article either "The", "An" or "A".>>>>>> No, sorry. "THE DANSANT" is French for "TEA DANCE", the sort of dance people>> [used to] go to in the afternoon. That's why I chose that example. I'm sure>> one could come up with several others. The one I like best, that fools>> librarians but not sort software is where to file a book called "Trees,>> Forests and Rearranging". No, not forestry but computer [sorting]>> algorithms. A real book.>>>>>>>> -->> Harold Fuchs>> London, England>> Please reply *only* to [email protected]>> _________________________________________________________________> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Café. Stop by today.> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline _________________________________________________________________ Boo! Scare away worms, viruses and so much more! Try Windows Live OneCare! http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/purchase/trial.aspx?s_cid=wl_hotmailnews
