Enhanced Author and Subject Searching in CLIO

Are you sometimes puzzled about which form of a name (Rachmaninov or Rachmaninoff?)  to use when searching the catalog?   CLIO will now find variant forms of names and subjects.

Libraries use standard forms of names and subjects in catalog records to ensure that, for example, all works by a given author will be cataloged under the same form of the name. The challenge for libraries has been to enable researchers who may use different forms of these names or subjects in their keyword searches to find the records that contain the standard forms.

The Library of Congress Authorities file includes references from alternative forms to the standard forms that have been chosen for use in records.  CLIO now uses these to retrieve relevant records when alternative forms are used in keyword, author, or subject searches.

For example, library catalog records use the official Arabic name of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Munaẓẓamat al-Taḥrīr al-Filasṭīnīyah.  CLIO’s use of references from alternative forms will enable a patron’s subject search for the English forms PLO or Palestine Liberation Organization to include this standard form and retrieve all relevant books on this organization.

plopolitics

A search for Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich (the Wikipedia spelling of her name) will automatically retrieve records for Svetlana Aleksievich (the Library of Congress Authorities form).  If you are not sure why a CLIO catalog search has retrieved a record, you can view the variants by selecting the “MARC view” display
marcviewand scrolling down:

chernobylvariants

Have a question or comment about CLIO?  Click on “Help” in the upper right corner of each screen to connect to Ask a Librarian, view CLIO search tips, report an E-Resource problem or submit CLIO suggestions & feedback.

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