Book description
Subdivide and conquer! Magic Search: Getting the Best Results from Your
Catalog and Beyond showcases how to increase the power of Library of
Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) subdivisions to produce astonishing
results from your searches. Rebecca S. Kornegay and Heidi E. Buchanan,
experienced reference librarians, and Hildegard B. Morgan, an expert
cataloger, explain how, when used wisely, LCSH subdivisions can save
time and provide a new level of precision in information retrieval for
patrons of the library. Magic Search presents the 467 best-performing
LCSH subdivisions that speak to the kinds of research questions
librarians handle every day. This handy reference format and index
offers a useful tool to keep for quick reference rather than a
cumbersome tome to be read from cover to cover. In addition, this book
provides A thematic arrangement of LC subdivisions that yield the most
successful search Chapters on discipline-specific subdivisions to hone
effective search terms Precise, professional vocabulary useful in
searches and explained in easy-to-understand language Grasping the
importance and having command of LC subdivisions, now appearing in
unexpected places beyond the library catalog, is key in this rapidly
evolving, 21st-century information environment. No other work explores
the LCSH subdivisions is such detail or with such commitment, making
this book vital to every Reference Desk. “... an upbeat, free-wheeling
and entertaining book that is thoroughly grounded in the authors'
knowledge of LCSH. Because they know the rules, we don't have to ... Buy
this book. Buy this book and add it to the ready reference collection.
Buy this book, add it to the ready reference collection and bribe the
reference librarians into reading it. And don't forget to place it near
public workstations for quick reference by patrons.” Virginia A.
Walter holds a BA in world literature, an MLIS from the University of
California, Berkeley, and a PhD in public administration from the
University of Southern California. Before joining the faculty in what is
now the Information Studies Department at UCLA in 1990, she had worked
for more than twenty years in public libraries, most recently as
children's services coordinator at Los Angeles Public Library. She
retired in June 2008 with the rank of professor emerita. She is the
author of two books for young people, nine monographs, and more than
thirty-five articles in scholarly and professional journals. Heidi
Buchanan is a reference librarian at Hunter Library. Her MSLS is from
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2000).
