Online Public Access Catalogues in Latvia: Strategies for Subject Access

Libraries in Latvia, as in other Eastern European countries, have begun implementing automated systems. This article outlines the state of automation in Latvian libraries and discusses the problems associated with providing subject access in their computerized catalogues. Issues relating to subject searching and retrieval in Latvian online catalogues (MARC, keyword vs controlled vocabulary search, stemming and truncation, subject headings and thesauri, retrieval mechanisms, use-system interfaces) are discussed. Recommendations are made for further progress in Latvian online catalogues in general and for subject access in particular. User education and general library concerns (classification, retrospective conversion, data exchange and networking) are also considered.