Keyword vs. Subject Heading

KEYWORD SEARCH is quick and dirty.

SUBJECT HEADING search uses the "controlled vocabulary" — also known as descriptor, thesaurus term, subject heading — created by the Library of Congress system.

Advantages

• Allows natural language searching
• Searches anywhere in the record
• Created by you, the user
• Don't need to know the "controlled vocabulary"

Advantages

• Computer interprets your search — by matching your search with an organized list of subjects
• Better, more precise results because it only searches the Subject field in the record

• Results can be messy because some of them are irrelevant to your needs
• Risky: Garbage in, garbage out; what you type is what you get — there is no interpretation

• Subject headings are not flexible because they use a "controlled" list of words
• Requires thesaurus or index
• No guessing allowed