Adam:
Thanks for pointing this out--I've had little experience using WorldCat,
and wasn't really aware of these particular problems. This seems so
counterintuitive--libraries have been complaining for years that their
vendors have made so little use of the richness of MARC records, and
here's OCLC building systems that use even less. Liz's additional point
about how the data is "dumbed-down" then reconstructed ignoring data
that specifies the relationship of the person to the resource suggests
to me that OCLC might be going the way of Ford/GM/Chrysler. The current
downward trajectory of those three companies suggest that there isn't
much hope for organizations who stick with their broken strategies
despite all indications that the world is changing around them.
But at least the big three aren't requiring those who own their cars to
wear teeshirts with their logos everywhere they go.
Diane
Adam L. Schiff wrote:
Yet still, if you insist to be interested in none else than "Miller,
Henry - 1891-1980", then as of yet there are only library catalogs or
WorldCat to turn to. This ought to change, no?
B.Eversberg
Actually, you need to strike mention of WorldCat above, as it makes no
use
of authorized forms of names, and doesn't even show them. A search in
WorldCat for Henry Miller does A KEYWORD SEARCH on the words Henry and
Miller. You are never presented with a list of Henry Millers from which
you could narrow your search. In the "Refine Your Search" window, under
"Author", you do get Henry Miller as a facet, and the results are indeed
pretty good, but they will also include works by and about the other
Henry
Millers in WorldCat records. For example:
Study of the at-risk population of infants and toddlers in Maryland :
final report
by Henry Miller; Nancy Peterson; Maryland. Infants and Toddlers' Program
Interagency Coordinating Council.; Center for Health Policy Studies
(U.S.)
1989
The principles and practice of obstetrics. Including the treatment of
chronic inflammation of the uterus, considered as a frequent cause of
abortion.
by Henry Miller
1858
The saucy little widow down in Pimlico
by Henry Miller
1864
In displays such as above, the designers of WorldCat decided (god knows
why!) to remove any and all additions to names such as fuller forms of
name and dates. This means that users who wonder if the well-known
author
Henry Miller is the same as the medical writer or composer of The saucy
little widow are left to figure that out some other way. Those statements
of responsibility in the WorldCat displays, by the way, are not taken
from
the statements of responsibility actually found in the OCLC record, but
are made up by taking all the main and added entries, reversing the
inverted forms, and throwing them all together preceded by the word "by".
Adam Schiff
University of Washington Libraries
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
