Ex Libris MELvyl Tells (EL Mel Tells)!
Volume 2, Number 7, November 2003
In this issue:
Author/Title vs. separate Author and Title searches
Q: Why is there a difference in the results of a search when I search by the Author/Title field vs. using separate Author and Title fields? For example, if I search for Author/Title pfeifer technologies, I get zero results, but when I use separate indexes for Author pfeifer and Title technologies, I get the work for which I’m looking, Technologies for detection of DNA damage and mutations / edited by Gerd P. Pfeifer.
A: The design of the Author/Title index was the effort of the Melvyl Transition Database and Technology Team, which included campus technical staff versed in cataloging practices as well as the CDL staff.
The Author/Title index currently draws only from Combinations of 100 (name) or 110 (corporate name) fields, and their related titles, 240 (uniform title) or 245 (main title). Added entry fields with a 700, 710, 79X and $t (title) subfields are also included.
When you search by Author alone, you are drawing from the following MARC Records:
Personal Name - Main Entry (100)
Personal Name - Series Statement/Added Entry (400)
Personal Name - Added Entry (700)
Personal Name - Local Added Entry (79X)
Personal Name - Series Added Entry (800)
Personal Name - Local Series Added Entry (89X)
Corporate Name - Main Entry (110)
Corporate Name - Series Statement/Added Entry (410)
Corporate Name - Added Entry (710)
Corporate Name - Series Added Entry (810)
When you search by Title alone, you draw from these fields:
100, 110, 130, 210, 212, 214, 222, 240, 241, 242, 243, 245, 246, 247, 400,
411, 440, 490, 700, 710, 730, 740, 780, 785, 79X, 800, 810, 811, 830, 840,
89X
When you look at the MARC record for your Pfeifer work, you will see that there is no entry for Pfeifer in the 100 (name fields), and that in the 700 (added entry) field, there is no $t (title) subfield included, so this record would not be pulled up in an Author/Title search.
When searching in different ways, your results will vary depending on how
items were cataloged.
| Search Words |
Author/Title Search Results
|
Author & Title Separate Results
|
| Stegner candy | 5 |
5 |
| Bronte wuthering | 150 |
128 |
| Samuelson economics | 48 |
54 |
For the record, here is why the Database & Technology Team did not include all the authors listed in 7xx's: Some time ago, LC quit coding the 7xx's to let you know whether the person listed there was an editor, a translator, had written the preface, was the caterer for the film, or was a co-author. So often the person in the 700 field is not a co-author. Some examples:
The first person listed without a $t in the 700 was an editor. Does it make sense to make an Author/Title entry for Ian Graham-Jones, with the title "Symphonies"? He probably never wrote a symphony.
1001 |a Marsh, John, |d 1752-1828
24500 |a Symphonies / |c John Marsh ; edited by Ian Graham-Jones
260 |a Middleton, Wis. : |b A-R Editions, |c c2001
300 |a 1 score (2 v.) : |b facsims. ; |c 28 cm
1 in D major (1800) ; No. 2 in B-flat major (1801)
650 0 |a Symphonies |v Scores
650 0 |a Orchestral music |v Scores
7001 |a Graham-Jones, Ian
70012 |a Marsh, John, |d 1752-1828. |t Favorite symphony
70012 |a Marsh, John, |d 1752-1828. |t Conversation sinfonie
70012 |a Marsh, John, |d 1752-1828. |t Finales, |m orchestra
In this one, Nabokov and his son worked on the translation together. Neither of them authored the book. Would it make sense to see "Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich. Geroi nashego vremeni" in an Author/Title browse? Most people would assume that means he wrote it.
1001 |a Lermontov, Mikhail IUr'evich, |d 1814-1841.
24010 |a Geroi nashego vremeni. |l English
24512 |a A hero of our time : |b a novel / |c by Mikhail Lermontov ; translated from the Russian by Vladimir Nabokov in collaboration with Dmitri Nabokov.
260 |a Ann Arbor, Mich. : |b Ardis, |c 1988, c1958.
300 |a xix, 210 p. : |b map ; |c 19 cm.
500 |a Translation of: Geroi nashego vremeni.
70010 |a Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, |d 1899-1977.
70010 |a Nabokov, Dmitri.
Here's another good one: did Nabokov write his own memorial speeches?
24500 |a In memoriam Vladimir Nabokov, 1899-1977 / |c Harold W. McGraw, Jr. ... [et al.].
2600 |a New York : |b McGraw-Hill, |c 1977.
300 |a 42 p. ; |c 21 cm.
500 |a Speeches made during a memorial service at the McGraw-Hill Book Store, New York, July 21, 1977 by Harold W. McGraw, Jr., Alfred Appel, Jr., Julian L. Moynahan, Alfred Kazin, John Updike, and Dmitri Nabokov.
7001 |a Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, |d 1899-1977.
70010 |a McGraw, Harold W.
And once again with the wily Russian, who would be given credit for Kafka's work via this record (Nabokov wrote a Commentary in this edition):
1001 |a Kafka, Franz, |d 1883-1924.
24514 |a Die Verwandlung / |c Franz Kafka ; mit einem Kommentar von Vladimir Nabokov.
260 |a Frankfurt am Main : |b S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, |c 1988, c1982.
300 |a 108 p. : |b ill. ; |c 18 cm.
4900 |a Fischer Taschenbuch ; |v 680
7001 |a Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, |d 1899-1977.
You can imagine how messy our Author/Title index would be if we made all of these non-authorship associations. Yes, we did lose some actual co-authors from our index, but since the catalog record doesn't distinguish between types of roles, we did not have a good alternative.
Suggestions for changes to indexes will certainly be added to a list of suggested enhancements to Ex Libris, which must then be considered and reviewed by SOPAG. In the case of changing an index, this is a major task as it involves reindexing the entire database.