What is romanization? Does HOLLIS use it?

Romanization is the practice of converting a non-Latin script into the Latin alphabet. HOLLIS uses romanization extensively. 

How should I romanize my search terms?

Use the relevant ALA-LC Romanization Table to convert your search terms. You may need to anticipate variations in how a word is romanized: this is especially true if you are searching Catalog & Articles, or if the romanization table you’re using has changed over time. 

Pro tip: use the OR operator to build multiple variations into a single search. More about HOLLIS Search Operators.

Some languages have well-established guidance, while for others the romanization practice is not well settled, or there are multiple romanization tables available. (For example, there are several different well-established Cyrillic romanization tables used internationally that are different from the ALA-LC tables.) 

Additionally, languages are typically romanized to a standardized pronunciation, which may be different from what you’re most familiar with. For some languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew, romanization also involves the supplying of vowels that are not represented in the written spelling.

Please ask us for help! A cataloging expert can help you double-check your romanizations and alert you to tiny variations that make a huge difference in your search results.

Why is there so much variation in HOLLIS? It’s really frustrating!

For Catalog & Articles records: the “articles” portion of Catalog & Articles pulls information from a wide variety of data sources. The citations are not under the control of Harvard staff, and they may follow different romanization practices than the ALA-LC tables used by Harvard catalogers. This is also true for e-books from international vendors.

For Library Catalog records: our catalog records reflect the guidance available at the time the record was created. Harvard’s catalogers generally follow the current ALA-LC romanization tables. For some scripts, like Hebrew and Cyrillic, the Harvard’s Library Catalog reflects longstanding and consistent romanization practices. For other languages, changes over time in romanization standards as well as in cataloging practice require you to search more flexibly. 

We know it is frustrating. The inconsistencies you find in HOLLIS are common across most search systems. For American libraries, the reliance on romanization dates to the 1960s and 1970s, when the Library of Congress began to replace its paper catalog cards with a computerized cataloging system. Early computerized catalogs could not handle non-Latin character sets, so catalogers had no choice but to rely entirely on romanization. There are ongoing efforts to improve the search experience.

Is romanization the same thing as transliteration?

Transliteration is the general term for the practice of converting text from one writing system to another, typically via letter-for-letter substitution. 

Romanization is a specific kind of transliteration: it uses the Roman (or Latin) alphabet as the target script, and often prioritizes pronunciation over spelling.

Related FAQs

How can I search HOLLIS using a non-Latin script (character set) such as Arabic, Cyrillic, Devanagari, Chinese, Japanese, or Korean?

Have another HOLLIS question? Our HOLLIS User Guide provides an overview of HOLLIS's features and functions.