User-centered Web cataloging policies

[Karen G. Schneider]

The discussion about deep linking is an interesting segue for this post,
because there is more than one way to flummox a deep link.  If the query
based on the deep link is predicated on a subject structure that
changes... well, that is another. But let that hang as a prefatory
meditation.

Here beginneth the question [also posted to AUTOCAT with a different
preface].  Once upon a time, lii.org records used local controlled
vocabulary for subject headings.  For a variety of reasons--some OBE'd
(overcome by events) and some still quite extant--we moved to Library of
Congress subject headings, and we have done recon on nearly all of our
records.  For at least the near future, we will continue to use LCSH for
our records.  Because of this, we very much need policy and procedure to
guide this continued practice.

I am in the early stages of developing a user-centered cataloging policy
for our records.  My earliest draft of this policy is based on my
assessment of the impact of LCSH on user access issues--an assessment
informed both by anecdotes and data--and on interviews with catalogers
and other staff at similar Web portals. 

We are familiar with all of the manuals for cataloging Internet
resources; the technical details are not in question.  What I am seeking
are similar user-centered cataloging policies that take into account
user behavior, the limitations of LCSH, the limitations of Web portal
platforms, and similar real-world challenges of the online cataloging
environment.  

I'll post a summary to the list (and if AUTOCAT agrees, I'll include the
input from that list, as you might find it an interesting
compare-and-contrast).

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Karen G. Schneider kgs at lii.org  http://lii.org 
Coordinator, Librarians' Index to the Internet
lii.org  New This Week:     http://lii.org/ntw 
      lii.org: Information You Can Trust!
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