The LCSH should be a first choice to users who are having trouble narrowing their terms. According to Mann, cross-references are not always visible on the screen display. And to this end, tracings do not show narrower terms and are not an adequate substitute for LC subject headings. In addition to using LCSH in assisting users to narrowly define their terms, it is equally important for catalogers to clean up their databases. Other alternatives should be sought, such as enhancing the MARC record by including the table of contents, expanding the MARC record by scanning in an abstract, or by enhancing the OPAC with amenities such as relevancy ranking or search trees.
Authority control is another weapon of catalogers.
Kristin Gerhard, Collections Officer at Iowa State University noted that from 1991 to 1998, his library was able to lower their zero hit searches by 10 percent by focusing on authority control. The speakers agreed that if OPACs are cleaned up and integrated with cross-references and authority control along with using LCSH, a user's search should not result in zero hits when the library actually owns an item. And See Also. Back to Issue 2 American Library Association For questions or comments, contact the Webmaster.