What happened to the Experimental Search System (ESS)?
The Experimental Search System (ESS) is no longer available. The ESS was developed to investigate new search and retrieval capabilities that were not available on the Library’s first mainframe-based online catalog (LOCIS) and the subsequent web-based online catalogs (WORD search and BROWSE search). Capabilities that were investigated included output options (such as email), relevance ranking, sorting options and linking from data in catalog records to digital resources available on the Internet. The ESS used copies of the library’s official catalog records; however, the ESS did not include all the cross references that derive from the Library’s subject and name authority records, and the ESS records were not as up-to-date as the official catalog records. Over time, the Library of Congress was no longer able to maintain the ESS, as staff and other resources were directed toward implementing the new Library of Congress Online Catalog. The new catalog includes many of the capabilities tha
