The Petrarch problem is in part caused by libraries' use of the
word "Keyword" to refer to almost any word that happens to be in the
catalog, instead of to words specifically introduced into the catalog
record as keywords. Many catalogs do use real keywords, as do publishers
of journals: these are (usually) uncontrolled lists of important words
which the author of the record or of the journal article thinks people will
want to search under, and which are added to the text of the journal
article (whether they appear in the article or not) or added to the catalog
record. They include synonyms, related terms, broader terms, etc., and are
described by some as "word soup". Here's an actual example of real
keywords:
"Titian after Egypt into Flight on Rest The Arts Graphic Europe Italy Print
religious Engraving grazing mule lambs rabbits oranges laurel collecting
woman Baptist young landscape leafy tree against leaning Family Holy Giulio
di Antonio Bonasone Italian Tiziano Vecellio Titian 5050161212620069
A001469 1963.30.2779"
Note that "Titian" and "Tiziano" both appear. It would seem reasonable
that anyone stringing together such a list of Keywords for a book about or
by Francesco Petrarca would likewise fling "Petrarch" into the mix,
especially if, as in the example above, the cataloger is prepared to throw
in "The".
What most library catalogs offer in their so-called "Keyword search" is not
keywords but free text searching, like Google, which is a very different
matter. Some catalogues more accurately call it word search, or
just "search". That shows that the searcher is simply searching whatever
words happen to be in the catalog. It makes no claim for them to be "Key"-
anything.
However, "keywords", or even more "Keywords", sound more impressive
than "words", which is I suppose why some people use the term. But it
misleads quite a few searchers, to my knowledge, and distracts from the
merits of controlled access points, which do indeed provide for the
Petrarch/Petrarca problem.
William Schupbach Wellcome Library, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE,
England E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Catalogue: http://catalogue.wellcome.ac.uk
[British registered charity no. 210183]
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