Comparison of Keyword Searching Using FAST vs. Using LCSH Presentation for the ALCTS CCS Program: FAST: A New System of Subject Access for Cataloging and

Comparison of Keyword Searching Using

FAST vs. Using LCSH

Presentation for the ALCTS CCS Program: FAST: A New System

of Subject Access for Cataloging and Metadata

New Orleans, Saturday, June 24, 2006

by Arlene G. Taylor

© 2006 Arlene G. Taylor 2

The Database OCLC (i.e., Ed O’Neill and team) created a

test database of bibliographic records Records were a subset of Worldcat records

Each record had both a set of LCSH headings and a set of FAST headings The FAST headings were “translated” from the

LCSH headings Two indexes were created by OCLC’s

research team – one to search FAST headings and one to search LCSH headings


The Project Participants were students at the

University of Pittsburgh in a Subject Analysis class

Two parts Search both LCSH and FAST indexes for

Newspapers in home state Search four topics of interest in both LCSH and

FAST indexes Students were asked to explain

differences found in the two indexes


Newspaper searches Searches for “newspapers” and any state

that has an authorized AACR2 abbreviation are almost always different in the two indexes A search retrieves both records for

newspapers themselves and records for works about newspapers

The state is abbreviated on some records, using abbreviations in AACR2, but the searcher almost always spells out the state name (some states, e.g., Ohio and Iowa, have no abbreviation)


Newspaper searches (cont.) A record about newspapers may have an

LCSH subject heading: 650 0 American newspapers $z Pennsylvania

$z Bucks County In FAST this is translated to:

650 7 American newspapers $2 fast 651 7 Pennsylvania $z Bucks County $2 fast

A keyword search for “Newspapers Pennsylvania” will retrieve the record in both LCSH and FAST indexes.


Newspaper searches (cont.) A record for a newspaper itself may have

the LCSH heading: 651 0 Clearfield (Clearfield County, Pa.) $v

Newspapers. In FAST this is translated to:

651 7 Pennsylvania $z Clearfield (Clearfield County) $2 fast

655 7 Newspapers $2 fast A keyword search for “Newspapers

Pennsylvania” will retrieve the record only in the FAST index.


Part II of the project While most students understood on

some level the different results they got in Part I, few of them understood their different results in Part II.

Therefore, the result of Part II was to generate 76 topics that I then searched again to determine results and the reasons for differences.


Basic statistics Number searches – 76 Number records found using FAST index

– 2371 Number records found using LCSH index

– 2340 Number records same using either index

– 2200 Number records not found using LCSH

index – 171 Number records not found using FAST

index - 140


Reasons for variation in searching results Invalid LCSH (or not established) not

translated to FAST $x and or $v in 600 and 610 fields not

indexed in the LCSH index Word indexed in FAST index because it

was in a 650 field with 2nd indicator 7 and a $2 at the end, but the $2 contained a code for a vocabulary other than FAST

Some names (personal or corporate) not translated to FAST

Differences between LCSH and FAST


Invalid LCSH (or not established) not translated to FAST At the time of creation of the FAST file we

were working with, the rule was to convert LCSH (6xx, 2nd indicator 0) to FAST, but then only those headings that matched a FAST authority record were kept as FAST headings in the record.

117 records found using the LCSH index were not found using the FAST index due to this “rule”

An example showing a result of searching for “information literacy” follows:

650 0 Business $x Research.

650 0 Business $x Research $x Computer network resources.

650 0 Information retrieval $x Study and teaching.

650 0 Electronic information resource literacy $x Study and teaching.

650 7 Business $x Research $2 fast

650 7 Business $x Research $x Computer network resources $2 fast

650 7 Information retrieval $x Study and teaching $2 fast

Search for “information literacy”:


Invalid LCSH (or not established) not translated to FAST (cont.)

“Electronic information resource literacy” is in the FAST authority file, but not “Study and teaching.”

Currently the heading would have the subdivision removed and a match would be made to the heading without the subdivision.

A keyword search for “information literacy” in the future would find this record through the FAST index as well as the LCSH index.


$x and or $v in 600 and 610 fields not indexed for the LCSH index

At the time of creation of the FAST and LCSH indexes we were working with, only subfields a,b,c,d (and q in 600) in fields 600 and 610 (with 2nd indicator 0) were indexed for the LCSH index.

72 records found using the FAST index were not found using the LCSH index due to this “rule”

An example showing a result of searching for “archives catalogs” follows:

610 20 Baptist Missionary Society $x Archives $v Catalogs. 650 0 Baptists $x Missions $z West Indies. 650 0 Baptists $x Missions $z Africa. 650 0 Baptists $x Missions $z Asia. 610 27 Baptist Missionary Society. $2 fast 650 7 Archives $2 fast 650 7 Baptists $x Missions $2 fast 651 7 Africa $2 fast 651 7 Asia $2 fast 651 7 West Indies $2 fast 655 7 Catalogs $2 fast

Search for “archives catalogs”:


$x and or $v in 600 and 610 fields not indexed for the LCSH file (cont.)

Currently these subfields would be included in the LCSH index.

A keyword search for “archives catalogs” in the future would find this record through the LCSH index as well as the FAST index.


Word indexed in FAST index because it was in a 650 field with 2nd indicator 7 and a $2 at the end

Not all 2nd indicator 7, $2 designated terms are FAST terms – some are from gsafd, nasa, ram, lctgm, etc.

40 records found using the FAST index were not found using the LCSH index due to this oversight

An example showing a result of searching for “dog training” follows:

650 0 Dog trainers $z Arkansas $z Blanchard Springs.

650 7 Animal training $z Arkansas $z Blanchard Springs $y 1950-1960. $2 lctgm

650 7 Dogs $z Arkansas $z Blanchard Springs $y 1950-1960. $2 lctgm

650 7 Photojournalism $z Arkansas $z Little Rock $y 1950-1960. $2 lctgm

650 7 Dog trainers $2 fast

651 7 Arkansas $z Little Rock $2 fast

Search for “dog training”:


Word indexed in FAST index because it was in a 650 field with 2nd indicator 7 and a $2 at the end (cont.)

Currently the indexing program would be refined so as not to include fields with 2nd indicator 7 and $2 unless “fast” is in $2.

A keyword search for “dog training” in the future would not find this record through either the LCSH index or the FAST index.


Some names (personal or corporate) not translated to FAST

The program that translated LC 6xx headings to FAST compared names to the “FAST authority file” and validated only those that were matched in the file.


An example showing a result of searching for “technical services” follows:

610 20 Kansas Real Estate Commission $x Auditing.

610 10 Kansas. $b State Board of Technical Professions $x Auditing.

610 10 Kansas. $b Board of Emergency Medical Services $x Auditing.

610 27 Kansas Real Estate Commission $2 fast

610 17 Kansas. $b State Board of Technical Professions $2 fast

650 7 Auditing $2 fast

Search for “technical services”:


Some names (personal or corporate) not translated to FAST (cont.)

The corporate name containing “technical” is in the FAST authority file, but not the name containing “services.”

A keyword search for “technical services” in the future would find this record through the FAST index as well as the LCSH index.


Differences between LCSH and FAST “Politics and government” as a subdivision in LCSH is changed

to “Political science” in FAST “Appropriations and expenditures” as a subdivision in LCSH is

changed to “Expenditures, Public” in FAST “Exhibitions” as a subdivision in LCSH is changed to

“Exhibition catalogs” in FAST “Columbia River Watershed” and “Pacific Coast (U.S.)” were

translated to FAST with “United States” as a geographic heading

“Arabic is a language element in LCSH and is also coded in the 008 field. This is considered redundant in FAST

“Library” as a subdivision in LCSH is changed to “Libraries” in FAST

“Study and teaching (Higher)” as a subdivision in LCSH is changed to “Higher education” in FAST


“Politics and government” as a subdivision in LCSH is changed to “Political science” in FAST

This change affects any keyword search using any one of the words: politics, government, political, or science

1 record found using the LCSH index was not found using the FAST index, and 27 records found using the FAST index were not found using the LCSH index due to this “rule”

Examples showing a result of searching for “government documents” and a result of searching for “religion and science” follow:

Search for “government documents”:

651 0 Egypt $x Politics and government $y 30 B.C.-640 A.D. $v Sources.

650 0 Legal documents $z Egypt $x History $v Sources.

648 7 30 B.C. - 640 A.D. $2 fast

650 7 Legal documents $2 fast

650 7 Political science $2 fast

651 7 Egypt $2 fast

655 7 History $2 fast

655 7 Sources $2 fast

Search for “religion and science”:

650 0 Islam and politics $z Algeria.

650 0 Religion and politics $z Algeria.

651 0 Algeria $x Politics and government.

650 7 Islam and politics $2 fast

650 7 Political science $2 fast

650 7 Religion and politics $2 fast

651 7 Algeria $2 fast


“Appropriations and expenditures” as a subdivision in LCSH is changed to “Expenditures, Public” in FAST

This change affects any keyword search using the word “appropriations” or the word “public”


An example is the search for “public service”:

Search for “public service”:

610 10 United States. $b Dept. of the Air Force $x Appropriations and expenditures.

610 10 United States. $b Defense Finance and Accounting Service. $b Denver Center $x Auditing.

610 17 United States. $b Defense Finance and Accounting Service. $b Denver Center $2 fast

610 17 United States. $b Dept. of the Air Force. $2 fast

650 7 Auditing $2 fast

650 7 Expenditures, Public $2 fast


“Exhibitions” as a subdivision in LCSH is changed to “Catalogs $v Exhibition catalogs” in FAST

This change affects any keyword search using the words: exhibition, exhibitions, or catalogs


An example is the search for “archives catalogs”:

610 10 United States. $b National Archives and Records Administration $x Photograph collections $v Exhibitions.

650 0 Photography $z United States $x History $y 20th century $v Exhibitions.

610 17 United States. $b National Archives and Records Administration $2 fast

648 7 1900 - 1999 $2 fast

650 7 Photograph collections $2 fast

650 7 Photography $2 fast

651 7 United States $2 fast

655 7 Catalogs $v Exhibition catalogs $2 fast

655 7 History $2 fast

Search for “archives catalogs”:


“Columbia River Watershed” and “Pacific Coast (U.S.)” were translated to FAST with “United States” as a geographic heading

This change affects any searches qualified by “United States” spelled out


An example is the search for “endangered species United States”:

Search for “endangered species United States”:

650 0 Endangered species $z Columbia River Watershed.

650 0 Logging $x Environmental aspects $z Columbia River Watershed.

610 20 Plum Creek Timber Company.

610 27 Plum Creek Timber Company $2 fast

650 7 Endangered species $2 fast

650 7 Logging $x Environmental aspects $2 fast

651 7 United States $z Columbia River Watershed $2 fast


“Arabic is a language element in LCSH and is also coded in the 008 field – redundant in FAST

This change affects any searches using the word “Arabic.”


An example is the search for “arabic books”:

Search for “arabic books”:

008 990614s1960 ru 000 0 ara d

500 In Russian and Arabic.

650 0 Russian language $v Conversation and phrase books $x Arabic.

650 7 Russian language $2 fast

655 7 Conversation and phrase books $2 fast


“Library” as a subdivision in LCSH is changed to “Libraries” in FAST

This change affects any searches using the word “library” or the word “libraries”


An example is the search for “medical libraries”:

Search for “medical libraries”:

650 0 Medicine $v Bibliography $v Catalogs.

610 20 Moody Medical Library $v Catalogs.

600 10 Blocker, T. G. $q (Truman Graves) $x Library $v Catalogs.

600 17 Blocker, T. G. $q (Truman Graves) $2 fast

610 27 Moody Medical Library. $2 fast

650 7 Libraries $2 fast

650 7 Medicine $2 fast

655 7 Bibliography $v Catalogs $2 fast

655 7 Catalogs $2 fast


“Study and teaching (Higher)” as a subdivision in LCSH is changed to “Higher education” in FAST

This change affects any searches using the words: study, teaching, education

1 record found using the FAST index was not found using the LCSH index due to this “rule”

An example is the search for “education policy”:

Search for “education policy”:

650 0 Arctic regions $x Research $x Government policy $z Canada.

650 0 Research $z Arctic regions.

651 0 Arctic regions $x Study and teaching (Higher) $z Canada.

650 7 Education, Higher $2 fast

650 7 Research $2 fast

650 7 Research $x Government policy $2 fast

651 7 Arctic regions $2 fast

651 7 Canada $2 fast


Conclusions A total of 62 records were affected

by real differences between LCSH and FAST – about 3%

The real differences affected 9 of the 76 searches – about 12% – (but only 62 of the records in those 9 searches were affected – 472 records in the 9 searches were the same in both indexes)


Thank you!

Arlene G. [email protected]

Documents

Comparison of Keyword Searching Using FAST vs. Using LCSH Presentation for the ALCTS CCS Program: FAST: A New System of Subject Access for Cataloging and