Wow, Jenn, this is really great. I had wondered if
anyone was doing this. In my master's program I just
finished a course on content representation and spent
a lot of time in indexing projects choosing subject
headings with exactly the right degree of specificity.
After all the work we put in to using thesauri, it
seems like we need to make them easier for our users
to understand and make use of as well. Catalogs sort
of do this, under the right circumstances and if the
user takes the time to figure out how, but a lot of
other systems don't and could.
Great development. Thanks for sharing!
Megan
--- "Riley, Jenn" <jenlrile_at_INDIANA.EDU> wrote:
> (Changing the subject line as this is veering off
> into new territory...)
>
> Hollly, you've really hit on something here. While
> incorporating the
> syndetic structure of controlled vocabularies into
> search and browse
> isn't without its issues, it's strongly supported by
> a significant
> amount of user research. While we aren't using
> anything like this in the
> vended ILS at Indiana University, we are
> increasingly doing it in our
> home-grown digital library systems.
>
> For a good example, see our Charles W. Cushman
> Photograph Collection at
> <http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/cushman/>.
> Any search that
> matches a lead-in term (see reference) from the LC
> Thesaurus of
> Graphical Materials I: Subject Terms (TGM I)
> immediately maps that
> lead-in term to the authorized term and shows the
> user search results
> right away. There's an indication on the results
> page that the lead-in
> term maps to something else, but the user sees
> results immediately just
> as if she's typed in the authorized term. No telling
> the user she's
> using the "wrong" words in her search. Any search or
> browse that matches
> a subject heading (either directly or through a
> lead-in term) retrieves
> results using that term or any term narrower than it
> in the hierarchy.
> For example, a search/browse on "sports" would
> retrieve images cataloged
> with "sports" but also images cataloged with
> "basketball," "baseball,"
> and "curling" if those terms were also used in the
> collection. On the
> results screen, for each subject term matched, the
> next broader and
> narrower terms for in the thesaurus are listed,
> allowing the user to
> expand or refine her search based on what she sees
> in the initial result
> set.
>
> To see some of this in action, search for "boats"
> from the collection
> search page.
>
> This process was developed through our
> dissatisfaction with literal,
> string-based subject searching, studying the
> literature on controlled
> vocabulary usage, a series of user studies, and
> support from a number of
> people in the IU Digital Library Program for a
> vision of how we might
> better meet our users' needs. This type of
> functionality comes from a
> perspective that says the system should get people
> where they want to go
> no matter *what* they type in - that users should
> focus on *using* the
> materials they find, rather than expending that
> effort learning the
> "right" way to discover those same materials. Our
> users can do better
> work with library materials if they don't have to
> spend so much of their
> time looking for them.
>
> We're incorporating these ideas into our larger
> digital library
> infrastructure as we speak. A brief explanation of
> how this is all
> accomplished in the Cushman collection can be found
> at
>
<http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/projectInfo/techImplementation.
> jsp>. A larger, more in-depth explanation including
> the user studies we
> performed that convinced us this strategy was the
> right way to go can be
> found in Dalmau, Michelle, Randall Floyd, Dazhi
> Jiao, and Jenn Riley.
> "Integrating Thesaurus Relationships into Search and
> Browse in an Online
> Photograph Collection." Library Hi Tech 23, no. 3
> (2005): 425-452;
>
<http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/07378830510621829>.
> (That link
> should provide free access to the paper, at least
> for the time being.
> Please let me know if that's not the case!)
>
> Jenn
>
> ========================
> Jenn Riley
> Metadata Librarian
> Digital Library Program
> Indiana University - Bloomington
> Wells Library E170
> (812) 856-5759
> www.dlib.indiana.edu
>
> Inquiring Librarian blog:
> www.inquiringlibrarian.blogspot.com
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
> [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Holly
> Ledvina
> Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 10:15 AM
> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] who is the primary
> user?
>
>
> I agree that we need to examine how patrons
> use the catalog to
> determine if they are finding vs searching. I have
> been using the search
> transaction logs in our system to determine which
> subject searches
> retrieve no hits. After examining the results the
> patron sees - i.e.
> where does the "no results" search take them in the
> index, I add the
> term used as a 4xx see reference in our authority
> files. The 4xx see
> reference will then take the patron to a catalog
> message that the term
> is not used in this catalog but to search using the
> "subject heading"
> listed which links directly to the subject term.
>
> While this referral directs the patron to
> the "term used" it is
> nonetheless an intermediary step and click. What I
> would really like is
> a natural language interpretation within the catalog
> software that
> authomatically directs the patron to the correct
> term of the controlled
> vocabulary, seamlessly. Maintain the controlled
> vocabulary but make it
> invisible to patron. And yes, there are a gazillion
> problems with this
> thought but its patron friendly and merits
> exploration. It may even be
> working somewhere in a library - anyone?
>
> Holly Ledvina
>
>
>
>
>
> K.G. Schneider wrote:
>
> I'm less interested in defining who
> users are than
> examining what they do
> and working backwards from that
> premise.
>
> I have a hypothesis: search logs
> (not transaction logs;
> but special logs
> that generate information about
> search behavior) for a
> wide variety of
> libraries would yield highly similar
> data on the types
> of queries performed
> by users-right down to top queries,
> lowest queries, top
> successes, top no
> hits, and patterns such as number of
> terms and
> complexity of queries.
>
> I have a bet: most libraries don't
> generate search logs
> or any similar
> search analytics for their user
> behavior. Much, much
> discussion; little,
> little data.
>
> I have an observation: companies
> such as Google aren't
> spending a lot of
> time worrying about their various
> "communities." That's
> not to say that
> it's necessarily bad to do so... but
> as an initial
> preoccupation, we may be
> barking up the wrong tree.
>
> Why don't we start from the user
> data and work
> backwards? Re search logs,
> I'll show you mine if you show me
> yours...and we aren't
> even an OPAC (though
> due to our name a lot of users think
> we are, as our logs
> show-something we'd
> like to address by building better
> no-results pages).
>
> Karen G. Schneider
> kgs_at_bluehighways.com
>
>
>
> --
> Holly Ledvina
> Catalog Librarian
> Outagamie Waupaca Library System
> 225 N. Oneida Street, Appleton, WI 54911
> hledvina_at_mail.owls.lib.wi.us
> 920-832-6386
>
> "If we are to have an educated and informed
> population we need a
> strong and open library system supported by a
> committed administration.
> We cannot call for a revival of quality education in
> America and close
> our libraries. We cannot ask our children to learn
> to read and take
> away their books." Jimmy Carter.
>
>
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Received on Fri Jun 09 2006 - 09:04:10 EDT