As a fall-back aid to subject searching on the Net or any miscellaneous compilation or collection covering many subject fields As a subject tagging code applied to individual items or records in wide angle collections or compilations. You may draw a blank or be presented with an offering which is not quite what you were looking for. At such times BSO could often help in suggesting alternative search approaches. Similarly, if you are not quite sure of the appropriate subject word to begin your subject search with, a glance at the index and systematic schedules of BSO could help to set you on your way. Most subject searchers fall somewhere between these two extremes.
Real polymaths are rare.
On the other hand, most of us with interest or close involvement with particular subject areas tend to think about the contents of these limited areas in a more or less structured way. Problems begin when our search needs take us to the very fringes of our familiar subject areas and beyond. There are all sorts of possible overviews of knowledge, systematic at various levels and in varying degrees. BSO is a compilation of about 6800 terms, arranged in an order which is systematic or structured at the level of meaning. View the same cyclic arrangement with the skeleton clad with subject names.