For that matter, someone doing a Google keyword search for "Librarians"
and "SARS" would find hundreds of items about the 2003 Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome scare in Toronto and how it scared thousands of
librarians away from the AJL and ALA conferences that took place there
that year. The person might find an item or two about Series Authority
Records, but that person would have to sift through 164,000 results in
order to find them.
Authority control is necessary to give context to data, for only when
data is given a context can it be called "information". I like to
compare keyword searching to the microwave: they're both quick and easy
to use for basic needs, but if you want higher quality results you need
to use more tried and true methods. A kitchen in which the only
appliance is a microwave is a batchelor pad, not a kitchen. A catalog in
which the only method of searching is keyword searching is a database,
not a library information system.
Steven
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Steven Bernstein
Goldsmith Catalog Librarian
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America
3080 Broadway
New York, New York 10027
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PHONE: (212) 678-8044
FAX: (212) 678-8998
E-MAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL
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