Lemb Digital

The main purpose of this list is to establish standardized subject headings, that are capable of becoming a reliable tool for the cataloguing of materials, the conformation and construction of modules of authorities in MARC format and a precise source in the access of public catalogues.

In addition, LEMB Digit@l aims to increase the degree of availability of information in the different libraries and to elevate the index of right answers to the questions asked by users of the information services.

LEMB Digit@l contains all the records of the subject headings available at the Luis Angel Arango Library’s authority database, and a select group of the authority records coming from the Library of the Congress LCSH.

LEMB Digit@l owns search software built in a powerful search engine that allows the following operations:

Text search on subject titles, both in plain text or MARC record.
Text search on the whole record, on the subject title, on the subject description in English and on specific MARC labels.
Use of Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT.
Search using the truncation character (*) for any text search (ex. Art*) and the wildcard (?) for any letter’s search (ex. Art?).

Note: LEMB Digit@l highlights all instances of those words consulted, within all the subject titles that satisfy the search.

Its optimal projection is to become the basis for developing cooperative work at Ibero American level, by leading a network that allows exchanging information to consolidate a bilingual database of common use in all Spanish speaking countries.

Control of Authorities:

Objectives:

To update and unify thematic subjects and names used in the different information units.
To establish criteria and conceptual guidelines for creating and assigning processes of the subject headings.
To make new terminology known among users of the System, in order to update the already existing list (LEMB).

At the same time, each institution member has the following functions:

To report the new terms, the inconsistencies found in the system and the modifications and updating made to LEMB.
To analyze and document each one of the terms reported as new.

In order to carry out the mentioned functions the updating methodology initially defined by ICFES for the members of the University Libraries Network was retaken. This means, to make each cataloguer or information analyst responsible of the new term created, including the minimum data stipulated in the format designed for such purpose; to subdue this contribution to study and analysis by the responsible of the module of authorities and to present the new term.

Methodology :

Meetings in order to structure and to analyze the new terms reported by the different information units.
Review the terms in different thesaurus, specialized lists and the Library of Congress subject heading (LCSH) in order to provide a bibliographic support and to establish relations with other thematic areas to accept the authority as such.
Report the term as accepted so it can be codified and entered in the Database of authorities.

The contracted work team performs as follows:

The terms created in the process of information analysis and which do not exist in the List of Subject Headings for Libraries LEMB are submitted.
The work group reviews the submitted terms in accordance with the lists of headings and thesaurus, and also structures each of the thematic authorities.
The analyzed terms are submitted to the members of the faculty in each specialty, to verity their current standing within their thematic area, their usage, new terms that replace existing ones, and other forms of denomination to be taken into account.
There is a confrontation of the equivalent terms and related forms for each term, in order to verify the way they appear in the Database of authorities. The way in which they appear in the Database must be registered and if there are changes, they ought to be reported according to what was established in the investigation.
The terms are codified and entered to the Database of authorities.
Reports on all the new terms in the File of authorities are presented.

standardization operations. Nevertheless, the obstacles found during the searching processes and the loss of information in the stage of recuperation of the documents have shown that it is not that way. Even though it is truth that the automated catalogues have improved and widened the possibilities of searching, it has also been demonstrated that if there is not a previous standardization of the data introduced in the automated bibliographic databases, the recuperation can be defective, inaccurate, and in some cases, impossible.

In order to succeed in the standardization process from the thematic point of view, the headings lists are a fundamental tool, if we pretend that the result of the searches really respond to the necessities of information of the users.

LEMB Digital is an electronic tool that makes agile the processes of cataloging and classification of documentary material and incorporates a modern search system of the terms accepted as subject headings. In the next three images you can see the history to reach the Digital and today Cloud Edition.