Browsing is Hard, And Taxonomies Are Dead Sexxy

With the debut of the BookFinder at SBTB, readers can now search the website's internal database of books by subgenre, trope, and archetype - or combinations thereof. The results display in a virtual shelf of book covers, mimicking an in-person browsing experience, something that online book retail and reference outlets struggle with. In this panel, Sarah Wendell from SBTB will discuss the reader-influenced development of the BookFinder, and the problems it attempts to solve. BGSU librarian Stefanie Hunker will discuss their approach to cataloging and classifying romances, and the similarities and differences between institutional and reader-driven cataloging and search terms. Taxonomies drive databases and search engines, but the development thereof can be thorny and complex, highlighting the innate differences between the languages the developers and the end users speak. The panel will also look at the larger and specific intricacies of how websites and libraries attempt to reach their common goal: to connect readers with the books they most want to read.