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Cross-Language Access to Information and Practical Applications: The MACS Solution Patrice Landry

Cross-Language Access to Information and Practical Applications: The MACS Solution Patrice Landry Head, Subject Indexing Swiss National Library. Outline. Various solutions for multilingual subject access What is MACS From Prototype to a Production database

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Cross-Language Access to Information and Practical Applications: The MACS Solution Patrice Landry

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  1. Cross-Language Access to Information and Practical Applications: The MACS Solution Patrice Landry Head, Subject Indexing Swiss National Library

  2. Outline • Various solutions for multilingual subject access • What is MACS • From Prototype to a Production database • Moving into production (or how to move an international cooperative project into a library) • The (New) MACS Project

  3. Introduction • Goal of the presentation is to give an overview of MACS (as one solution to multilingual subject access) • The MACS project as an international project and the difficulties in moving to an operational phase • Moving from a theorical framework to a practical application

  4. Solutions for multilingual subject access - Constructionapproaches • Translation (RVM, MESH) • Satellite thesauri approach (linking various online thesauri) – with a common search interface • Switching (Renardus) • Direct mapping (equivalences between terms in different controlled vocabularies or between terms and classification numbers)

  5. Solutions for multilingual subject access – Methods used for link storage and access • Authority records (equivalences coded in a local or networked database): RVM, MSAC • Links database: MACS • Semantic Network (organised structure where each unit is linked to a cluster of equivalent terms): UMLS

  6. Why the MACS approach? • In 1997, the need to find a « neutral » solution for linking SHLs forced libraries to find a solution not based on translation • Approach to add value to existing data instead of creating new data (value added data) • Linking work and management outside of each library’s authority files

  7. Short reminder: What is MACS • A project that is developing a system that offers multilingual subject access using current subject headings languages (SHLs) • A project that is based on a coordinated approach between national libraries • A system that will permit users to search library catalogues in the language of their choice

  8. MACS Basic principles • Equality of languages and SHLs (no pivot) with autonomy of each SHL (only local, MACS is an external link database) • Establishment of equivalences (no translation) between the SHLs involved (no new thesaurus) • Equivalence links conceived as concept clustersMACS = mappings and numeric identifiers • Consistency of results (goal = users retrieval) • Extensible to other SHLs

  9. Sachkatalogisierung und Schlagwortsuche in einer einsprachlichen Umgebung Der Indexierer vergibt deutsche Schlagwörter Der Benutzer muss die Suche in deutscher Sprache durchführen Dok. in Russisch Dok. in Französisch Dok. in Deutsch Dok. in Englisch Indexierer deutschsprachig Italienische Schlagwörter Deutsch Schlagwörter Französische Schlagwörter Englische Schlagwörter ? ? ? Benutzer (englischsprachig)

  10. Sachkatalogisierung und Schlagwortsuche in einer mehrsprachlichen Umgebung Der Indexierer vergibt deutsche Schlagwörter Der Benutzer kann die Suche in englischer Sprache durchführen Die Schlagwörter aus verschiedenen Sprachen sind untereinander durch Links verbunden Dok. in Russisch Dok. in Französisch Dok. in Deutsch Dok. in Englisch Indexierer deutschsprachig Englische Schlagwörter Italienische Schlagwörter Deutsche Schlagwörter Französische Schlagwörter Benutzer (englischsprachig)

  11. Milestones • Proposal & Feasibility study (1997-1999) • Prototype development (2000-2001) • Specifications for developing the prototype in a productive system (LMI-II) (January-March 2002) • Various releases and testing of the LMI-II (10 releases) (April 2002-March 2005) • Formal letter acceptance of the LMI to Tilburg University (January 2005) • New Project Proposal: June 2005

  12. From Prototype to a Production LM database • Feedback from guest users re-inforced the value of MACS approach • Improvements based on prototype tests • MACS LM approach based on organisational principles

  13. MACS organisational principles • Partners share equal responsibility for link authorisation: no central editor • Each partner is responsible for validating links proposed to their own SHL • Partners may make proposals concerning any other parts of the link (but must be confirmed by the responsible partner) • All partners may comment links (annotations)

  14. Short overview of the Link management database and search interface • The project has produced a Link Management Database which presently contains: - 30’000 RAMEAU-LCSH links and 3’000 RAMEAU / LCSH / SWD links • A search Interface that was developed as part of the prototype and will be fully developed as part of the MACS development

  15. Moving into production (or how to move an international project into a library) • The « project syndrome » is a common occurance in international projects: succesful projects but difficulties in moving to production or applying results generally • The MACS project accomplished many tasks with a lot of enthusiasm (and human resources, and a little money) but …. • The longer a project exists, the more there is the risk of staff turnaround and the decrease of institutional committment to the project

  16. The four MACS Project constraints • Consortium agreement • Financing • Human resources • Strategic

  17. The solution: A new project proposal • A new project structure with roles and responsabilities (project and within each partner’s institution) • A project manual with specific action plan • A strategic plan (operational and development) • To be discussed with partners at the end of September 2005

  18. Current activities (SNL) • Internal project to investigate: - link creation tactics & support for adding SWD headings by translation students from the Geneva University - drafting MACS linking manual for ensuring consistent linking approach • Start of linking work process (adding and validating SWD terms) by staff of the Subject indexing service (September 2005)

  19. Future • Investigate the possibility of integrating MACS in TEL as one of the multilingual options • Possible funding in Germany for links creation • Cooperation with MSAC • Find new SHLs and partner • AND more importantly, implement action plan

  20. Topics for the workshop • Explain the organisation and work process of the Link management database with linking examples • Show how subject searches can be done in a library database (Helveticat database of the Swiss National Library

  21. Contacts • http://macs.cenl.org • Patrice.Landry@slb.admin.ch

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