[Koha] Experimenting with Authorities LinkerOptions and Elasticsearch

[Myka Kennedy Stephens]

Hello again,

I may have partially answered my own questions after countless tests of all
sorts of authorities. Here are my findings, in brief:

I think the difference in behavior with manually searching and linking
authorities in the basic editor vs. advanced editor is a bug. I've
submitted it to Bugzilla:
https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=24226

With Elasticsearch and broader_headings enabled, the linker is behaving
differently based on authority record type. It works best with Meeting Name
and Geographic Name. Topical Term also works well except when the heading
includes parentheses. The ones with more linking problems are Uniform
Title, Personal Name, and Corporate Name.

I am still interested to hear from someone, anyone!, who is actively using
the linker with broader_headings enabled. I think it might also be helpful
to speak with someone who is doing deep authority work and still using
Zebra to compare notes about linker behavior based on record type. You're
welcome to reply off-list, if you prefer.

Thanks,
Myka

On Sun, Dec 8, 2019 at 9:29 PM Myka Kennedy Stephens <
mkstephens at lancasterseminary.edu> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I'm doing some testing/refining of authority record mapping in
> Elasticsearch and thought that I would also try the broader_headings
> setting for LinkerOptions as described here:
> https://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Bug7284_authority_matching_improvement
>
> I'm noticing some strange things and inconsistencies. Could someone who is
> more familiar with using broader_headings in LinkerOptions tell me if this
> is unusual or normal?
>
> 1. When adding a bibliographic record: the linker did not automatically
> link on a broader heading (i.e., it didn't strip the free-floating
> subdivision to find a match); it worked when there was an exact match.
> 2. When editing the bibliographic record with the basic editor and
> clicking the link icon next to the heading that didn't automatically link:
> the authority search box comes up with the entire heading + free floating
> subdivision; removing the free-floating subdivision and performing the
> search finds the authority record for the broader heading. Select the
> heading to link and the heading + syntax remains the same in the basic
> editor. Save changes and the heading is now linked to the authority record
> for the broader heading. (Without broader_headings in LinkerOptions, the
> free-floating subdivision disappears when I try this.)
> 3. When editing the record with the advanced editor and using
> ctrl+shift+L: do an authority search same as above. Selecting the heading
> to link will change the syntax in the advanced editor, stripping the
> free-floating subdivision and punctuation.
>
> I'm testing this using Koha Testing Docker on master with ES enabled.
>
> It seems that broader_headings is partially working (see observation from
> action #2), but I'd really like it to link automatically on the broader
> heading. Is it supposed to? If so, is it not working for me because of ES
> or perhaps something else? I think the behavior I'm seeing with linking in
> the advanced editor (#3) is a separate issue.
>
> Thanks for your help,
> Myka
>
> --
> Deaconess Myka Kennedy Stephens, MDiv, MSLIS
> Seminary Librarian and Assistant Professor of Theological Bibliography
> Lancaster Theological Seminary
> 555 West James Street
> Lancaster, PA 17603
> 717-290-8704
> mkstephens at lancasterseminary.edu
> https://library.lancasterseminary.edu
>
>

-- 
Deaconess Myka Kennedy Stephens, MDiv, MSLIS
Seminary Librarian and Assistant Professor of Theological Bibliography
Lancaster Theological Seminary
555 West James Street
Lancaster, PA 17603
717-290-8704
mkstephens at lancasterseminary.edu
https://library.lancasterseminary.edu