Today I'd like to explain some of the changes made to lcsh-es.org in May and let you know of more changes to come.
First of all, there are now two versions of the database, each with its own set of searches. The original will be remain available for a while, but sooner or later it will be eliminated.
In order to use the searches in the new database, you must first register and log in. There are two reasons for this. A number of people have asked for the ability to make corrections to the database; registration is an important first step in making this possible. Secondly, with anonymous access there have been some problems with robots abusing the system. Registration will help control the abuse and I plan to require it even for the old searches.
In the new version, all the data is stored in the MARC21 authorities format. Most of the original data did not come from MARC sources, so I had to convert it. It was impossible to make a perfect conversion, so in some cases the MARC coding is incorrect or improvised (xx9 fields and subfield 9). You can view Spanish language authority records by clicking on the source codes (BX NE CS SF QB) or LC records by clicking on the image next to the English headings. You can also download the MARC records for importing into your local system! If you try this you will probably have some problems with accented characters, but a solution for this is coming.
There is one big change in searching: the "n" and "ñ" are treated the same. If you type one letter, it will also retrieve terms with the other. When the terms are displayed, the alphabetical order makes no distinction between the two letters.
A significant improvement is that there are now cross references for the new Spanish-English search. "See" reference are always shown and there is an option for displaying "See also" references as well. I hope that very soon there will be cross references for the new English searches, too.
There is also a completely new search: you can search a copy of the LC authority file. Remember, these are not the most up to date LC records.
If you haven't already tried the new searches, please do! And please share your experiences. How do the searches work for you? Should anything be different?
