Question for librarians

[yesthattom]

I remember waaay back when I was at Drew University and we replaced a paper card-catelog system with a computerized system. If I recall correctly, the query language was a standard that organizations like MLA and others promoted. Does anyone know what it is called? I just remember it had command like, “steinbeck NEAR apple” and “NEAR” had specific meaning.

Comments

[scherzoid.livejournal.com]

I don't remember it having a specific name, but I seem to recall that it was a standard set by OCLC (www.oclc.org).

[moose]

Those are called Boolean operators.

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

Where did I learn NEAR meant in the same paragraph? Before I went into programming, I think.

[dossy.livejournal.com]

The syntax used is called CQL, or Common Query Language. NEAR is one implementation of the set of proximity operators (sometimes "PROX" is used instead of "NEAR", depending on implementation).

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but this is what I'm familiar with. Hope this helps.

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for.

[dossy.livejournal.com]

Cool, glad I could help.

Now, if only the folks who read my blog knew the answers to my questions. Sigh. :-)