assignFAST: An Autosuggest based tool for FAST Subject Assignment

Authors

  • Rick Bennett OCLC
  • Edward T. O'Neill OCLC
  • Kerre Kammerer OCLC

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v33i1.5378

Abstract

Subject assignment is really a three-phase task. The first phase is intellectual—reviewing the material and determining its topic. The second phase is more mechanical, identifying the correct subject heading(s).  The final phase is retyping or cutting and pasting the heading(s) into the cataloging interface along with any diacritics, and potentially correcting formatting and subfield coding. If authority control is available in the interface, some of these tasks may be automated or partially automated.

A cataloger with a reasonable knowledge of FAST[i],[ii] or even LCSH[iii] can quickly get to the proper heading, but usually needs to confirm the final details—was it plural? Am I thinking of an alternate form? Is it inverted? Etc. This often requires consulting the full authority file interface. assignFAST is a Web service that consolidates the entire second phase of the manual process of subject assignment for FAST subjects into a single step based on autosuggest technology.


[i] Chan, Lois Mai and Edward T. O'Neill.  FAST: Faceted Application of Subject Terminology, Prnciples and Applications Libraries Unlimited, Santa Barbara, 2010.
http://lu.com/showbook.cfm?isbn=9781591587224.

[ii] OCLC Research Activities associated with FAST are summarized at  http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/fast/

[iii] Chan, Lois M. Library of Congress Subject Headings : Principles and Application: Principles and Application. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, 2005.

Author Biographies

Rick Bennett, OCLC

Rick Bennett (Rick_Bennett@oclc.org) is a Consulting Software Engineer in OCLC Research,

where he works on processing and manipulating bibliographic and authority data. Currently he

is been focusing on developing, maintaining, and displaying authority data for the FAST project.

Rick was an undergraduate at Pennsylvania State University and a graduate student at Georgia

Institute of Technology, where he completed a program in Computer Engineering.

Edward T. O'Neill, OCLC

Edward T. O’Neill (oneill@oclc.org) is a Senior Research Scientist at OCLC Research and

project manager for FAST. Ed did his undergraduate work at Albion College and his

doctorial work at Purdue University in Operations Research. His research interests include

authority control, subject analysis, database quality, collection management, and bibliographic

relationships. He is active in IFLA and has served on IFLA's Section on Classification

and Indexing, the FRBR Review Group, the FRSAR Working Group, the FRBR Working

Group on Aggregates, and the FRBR Working Group on the Expression Entity.

Kerre Kammerer, OCLC

Kerre Kammerer (kammerer@oclc.org) is a Consulting Software Engineer in OCLC Research.

Kerre’s research interests include database quality control and authority data. Her current

research activities involve the creation and maintenance of FAST authority records and the

conversion of LC subject headings to FAST headings in bibliographic records. Kerre holds a BA

in Economics from DePauw University

References

Chan, Lois Mai and Edward T. O'Neill. FAST: Faceted Application of Subject Terminology, Prnciples and Applications Libraries Unlimited, Santa Barbara, 2010.

http://lu.com/showbook.cfm?isbn=9781591587224.

OCLC Research Activities associated with FAST are summarized at http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/fast/

Chan, Lois M. Library of Congress Subject Headings : Principles and Application: Principles and Application. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, 2005.

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Published

2014-03-25

How to Cite

Bennett, R., O’Neill, E. T., & Kammerer, K. (2014). assignFAST: An Autosuggest based tool for FAST Subject Assignment. Information Technology and Libraries, 33(1), 34–43. https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v33i1.5378

Issue

Vol. 33 No. 1 (2014)

Section

Communications

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