The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.1001  Tuesday, 1 May 2001

From:           Jim Harner <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Monday, 30 Apr 2001 15:39:25 -0500
Subject: 12.0986 Re: World Shakespeare Bibliography
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.0986 Re: World Shakespeare Bibliography

I think that Gabriel Egan's reviewer is referring to the Dynatext search
engine used on the World Shakespeare Bibliography on CD-ROM (published
by Cambridge University Press). In that interface, a user did have to
use 'and' to connect forename and surname. However, in the World
Shakespeare Bibliography Online it has always been possible to search
for an author by surname forename (as I described below). This is true
of the original search interface and the revised one; some of you
(including Gabe) saw the new interface in Miami or Valencia, but it (and
the revised data covering 1974 to mid-2000) will not be available on the
public server for another few days.

While the Verity search engine that Arden Shakespeare uses has its
limitations, I would not go so far as to call it "rotten."

Jim Harner

>Jim Harner writes about the World Shakespeare Bibliography:
>
>> Actually, searching for an author is quite simple: typing
>> 'harrison peter' in the Search screen box or in the Author
>> Name field in the Advanced Search screen will quickly
>> pull up all documents authored by Peter Harrison. (This
>> is a process common to searching so many databases
>> that I assumed even a novice would know this.)
>
>This is true of the new interface you've just implemented in the last
>few days, and my comment was about its predecessor:
>
>:GIE> Surprisingly, the answer was to put in a search like this:
>GIE>
>GIE>    Author: Peter and Harrison
>GIE>
>GIE> That is, you had to do a logical 'and' within a single field
>
>The reviewer who reported this problem was anything but a "novice" and
>was in no way ignorant of common processes.  The fault was entirely the
>rotten interface.
>
>The new interface and the new data appear to be vast improvements and
>the subscription costs are extraordinarily reasonable. If only there was
>a CD....
>
>Gabriel Egan

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