blog.lcsh-es.org

Happy New Year!

2021-01-01T22:08:00.000-05:00

As far as I know the service is functioning again. There may be some unforeseen errors, so please, let me know about any problems (admin@lcsh-es.org).

NOTICE!

2020-12-19T22:29:00.000-05:00

Due to an essential server update this site will not be functional for a while. I hope to have the service available again after the new year. Happy Holidays!

NOTICE!

2020-12-07T09:14:00.003-05:00

Due to an essential server update this site will stop functioning around the middle of December. I will make every effort to restore the service but it may not be feasible.

A few adjustments

2016-11-10T20:48:00.000-05:00

Today I made some changes to the system to help insure the arrival of the emails that communicate temporary passwords. Over the last few months I did some testing with the email sent when someone asks for a new password. The number of problems seemed to lessen and now I've implemented the same change for the email generated when someone signs up for the first time.

If one of these emails ever fails to appear in your inbox, don't forget to check your spam folder. If you can't find it there, either, let me know by email (admin(fancy-a)lcsh-es.org).

Access restored

2014-05-22T13:05:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's problem (May 21) has apparently been resolved. Please report any further difficulty.

Service interruption

2014-05-21T13:26:00.003-05:00

Sometime between 11:00 and noon today the lcsh-es.org site stopped working. It is still not working, but at least the home page is visible with this message. Apparently the problem was due to a software update on the server. I have reported it to the hosting service and am working on it with them. Unfortunately I have no idea how quickly it will be fixed.

Migration completed

2014-03-29T13:46:00.000-05:00

The migration of data to the new server is complete. You can continue using the system as always. If you were logging in to the “test” site with a password different from the one for the normal site, you need to revert to using that one or request a new password using the “Forgot your password?” link. If you encounter problems please let me know via mail to test@lcsh-es.org.

Final weeks of testing (link corrected)

2014-03-16T18:17:00.001-05:00

Various people have logged into the new site (http://test.lcsh-es.org) and it seems to be working for them. At least no one has notified me of any problems!

In case you have tried to log into the new site unsuccessfully, please let me know as soon as possible by email to test@lcsh-es.org.

I plan to retire the old server and launch the new one the weekend of the 29th/30th of March.

A New Server--Your help please!

2014-02-19T18:31:00.000-05:00

Currrently this site is hosted on a server that will soon become obsolete. A new server is ready for testing at the following address:

http://test.lcsh-es.org

Please try to log in to the new site and report any problems via the email address indicated on the search page of the new site.

lcsh-es.org at IFLA in San Juan

2011-06-17T08:18:00.002-05:00

I will be making a poster presentation at the IFLA General Conference and Assembly in San Juan, Puerto Rico. If you'll be there, come meet me on August 15 or 16 between noon and 2:00 p.m. I especially hope to meet lots of Puerto Rican and other Latin American colleagues.

Service interruptions

2011-05-11T12:29:00.000-05:00

Due to testing of the electrical system, there will be service interruptions May 11-13. Please pardon the inconvenience.

lcsh-es.org@ALA

2009-07-08T21:51:00.002-05:00

During the American Library Association Annual Meeting I'll be making a brief presentation as part of the ACIG program, whose title is "Future is Now: Global Authority Control." It will take place this Sunday, July 12. For more information: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alcts/resources/ano/v20/n2/event/igevent.cfm.

New Links to Presentations About lcsh-es.org

2008-08-25T13:50:00.004-05:00

On the lcsh-es.org links page there are now three additional presentations listed. One is from the Public Library Association in Minneapolis last March, another is a poster presented at the Jornadas Mexicanas de Biblioteconomía in May, and the other is from the recent IFLA meeting in Québec. The IFLA paper is available in Spanish, German, and Chinese translations as well as the original English (thank you, translators, María Jesús Morillo Calero, Yvonne Jahns, and Yu Fei!).

About the New Version of lcsh-es.org

2008-07-24T12:57:00.004-05:00

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?

A Welcome and a Warning!

2008-05-14T00:07:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the new version of lcsh-es.org! You can read the details about it here in the coming days but you can try it out right away. If you have any comments, you can leave them here on the blog (look for the "Add comment" link below).

The warning: due to testing of the electrical network, the server will be unavailable from approximately 5:00 p.m. EDT today, May 14, until about 8:00 a.m. the morning of May 15. There may be other unexpected outages through May 16. Please excuse the inconvenience.

LC Headings Validated

2007-08-17T15:48:00.000-05:00

Most of the English terms in the database have now been validated against LC authority records from Simon Spero's Fred 2.0 project. These records were harvested over a period of time in late 2006 and so are not the most current ones. For this and other reasons, the validation performed on the lcsh-es.org database is a not a hundred percent reliable, especially for subdivisions, but it's a step forward. I hope to improve the process in the future.

Terms that could not be validated appear in a lighter font weight. Some of these were identified as "see from" tracings in the LC records and are italicized; at some point I will turn them into cross references and insert the valid term.

Headings from the National Library of Spain

2007-06-09T12:05:00.000-05:00

As of today, the database includes headings from the National Library of Spain (Biblioteca Nacional de España).

Interruption in service, Tuesday, May 15

2007-05-10T19:02:00.000-05:00

Due to a planned power outage, lcsh-es.org will be unavailable for a while on Tuesday, May 15. The outage is scheduled for 6:00-7:00 a.m. EDT (-4:00). I will be out of town that day, so I'm relying on my coworkers to make sure the server comes back up. Please pardon the inconvenience!

Updated data from Queens Borough Public Library

2007-03-17T21:46:00.000-05:00

A few days ago I received the final version of the data from the Queens Borough Public Library. It contains translations for about 2000 additional headings and subdivisions as well as numerous corrections. We congratulate Jane Jacobs and her colleagues on finishing this important task and offer our thanks for their willingness to share the fruits of their labor. I installed the new data on the server this morning.

Welcome to the blogs

2007-03-03T11:37:00.000-05:00

The number of people using this site has been growing the last few months and I have very little knowledge of who you are. That's why I've set up these two blogs, one in English and one in Spanish. Even though I will mostly duplicate my posts in each blog, I don't expect all the readers will do the same with their comments. So if you're bilingual, read both blogs!

Anyway, I would love for you to share your comments and suggesions with me and the others who use this service. Where are you from? How did you hear about this site? How do you use it? What do you like about it? What improvements are most needed?