The Difference Between Subjects & Keywords

A keyword is a search term (in library lingo, we call it an “access point,” because it is a means of accessing information) which will look through the entire text of a catalog record – including the title, author, subject terms, abstract, everything – for the word(s) you entered.

A keyword search can be really great if you’re just browsing, or haven’t narrowed down your research yet. It can be useful for a sort of ’shot-in-the-dark’ search… But it can also turn up a lot of extraneous records if you have a more defined research topic in mind.

If you want to narrow down your search, try using the drop down menu in the catalog and switching your search from “Keyword” to “Subject Heading.” Once you’ve entered a term, you’ll be taken to a list of headings from various different thesauri, sorted in a table. The actual headings appear as links, so choose the one you want, click, and off you go! You’ll also be able to see how many resources we have under that subject heading from the table.

A little about thesauri: In order to help organize resources, librarians develop thesauri so as to standardize the terms used to describe items. It avoids confusion, and helps to bring related resources together under one common descriptor – the subject term. They also show broader and narrower relationships between terms, helping you to quickly broaden and narrow your own subject search!

As always, feel free to ask for more information and help at the Information Desk.