Recently, we unveiled the newest version of our search tool, Acumen 3.0! Its new indexer (among other improvements) helps put more data at your fingertips faster.

See more info on the results page
The easiest way to get you more info — beyond the familiar title + thumbnail setup — without cluttering up the display is to show the item’s Genre(s), Subject(s), and Descriptions. Not everything, after all, can be in a title.

Subjects
For example, the genre for Letter from Elizabeth Hudson, Clarks Hill, Indiana, to Friend Mike, March 9, 1916 is pretty obvious, but the title can’t tell us what that letter is about. Scanning the subjects, you can see that it discusses love and marriage but also motion pictures. (In this case, it was D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation — before anyone knew it would be a classic.)

Descriptions
The description field is invaluable for learning more specific things about an item, especially a photograph. You can see that a particular image of Cattle and cowboys is depicting Wyoming — Crowheart, Wyoming to be exact.

Search by user-generated tags and transcripts
Until recently, the data generated by our user tagging initiative and transcription software was simply extra info that displayed with the item. Now, user tags and transcriptions are indexed along with the item, so that when you do a search, Acumen looks for them the same way it does any of the item’s other attributes.

Transcriptions
There are several undated letters sent between Charles and Mamie Manly for example. With a fellow patron’s transcription in the display, you can easily tell which letter is about a sickness spreading through the household and which discusses the effect of the war on their farm.

Tags
For images, this means you can know that the photo titled Paul (Bear) Bryant didn’t capture just any old moment he stepped up to a microphone — it was taken at a pep rally!

Let us know what you think of the new Acumen results page and item display!