Magic Search: Getting the Best Results from Your Catalog and Beyond

Kornegay, Rebecca S., Heidi E. Buchanan and Hildegard B. Morgan. Magic Search: Getting the Best Results from Your Catalog and Beyond. Chicago, ALA, 2009. 025.47 Korne ISBN 978-0-8389-0990-4

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 quick reference format, along with a handy 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; and, 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.