Re: Keyword vs Authority records was Martha Yee article picked up by CARL from SLC website

Marian Veld wrote:
> On 8/31/07, Brenndorfer, Thomas
<tbrenndorfer@...> wrote:
>> I think using Amazon to show what's wrong with alternatives to
>> traditional cataloging and authority control is a bit of a straw-man
>> argument.
>>
>> Try searching the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) for "Tom
>> Holland."
> 
> Arguing against Amazon, Google, etc. is not a straw man simply because
> they are seriously being advanced as a model for us to follow by some
> in the library community. Personally, I like IMdb and use it a lot for
> my authority work. Ditto Wikipedia. I don't want to get into an
> argument about the authoritativeness of Wikipedia, simply to state (as
> others have before) that their method of distinguishing between people
> with the same name works well. 

They may prove nothing, but they're indications of alternative 
approaches and treatments which may be more palatable, maybe more 
useful, for users -- possibly even for librarians as users.

 > But I am pretty sure that IMdb and
 > Wikipedia are what they are because of human intervention in the
 > information stream. They offer models we can adapt and learn from, but
 > what they probably do not offer is the cost savings of automating (or
 > eliminating) the authority control process.

They also have the cost-benefit advantage that they're fundamentally 
single sites, remotely accessed; whereas library catalogues are multiple