Karen Coyle writes:
> I think this is very useful for subject searching compared to the
> left-anchored browse because it allows you to search on terms that
> aren't at the beginning of the string. In fact, I could call this a
> "facet terms in context" search. It's especially good for geographical
> term searching since those are often buried in the LCSH string. It has
> the disadvantage that you can't actually "browse" - that is, you can't
> see a similar heading that wasn't retrieved with your keyword search.
It's deja vu all over again. The first OPAC I ever installed, DOBIS,
allowed one to enter a browse list through any term in a heading,
by using a keyword in context browse (KWIC) display. By placing the
word from the heading that most closely matched the search term 1/3
across the screen, the user could see both what was to its left (if
anything) as well as what followed. This served both discoverability
of terms inside headings and the sequential browsing structure.
We use a rotated headings feature in our current Unicorn catalog
for much the same reason for the subjects browse index, although
the display is left-anchored, which makes it less obvious that
terms have been rotated (e.g., 3-5, below):
1) Civil war. [52]
2) see related headings for: Civil war
3) Civil War, 43-31 B.C.--Drama. Rome--History [6]
4) Civil War, 43-31 B.C.--Fiction. Rome--History [1]
5) Civil War, 43-31 B.C.--Historiography. Rome--History [5]
This is a true browse list, in that you can page forward and
backward indefinitely.
Whatever the considerable benefits of browse displays (I read, and
took to heart Thomas Mann's comments), the fact remains that, when
I look at our search log stats, users (as opposed to librarians)
simply do NOT browse (and it's not for lack of instruction).
June search stats:
All Searches Total 90,280
Browse Total 4,877
Author 791
Title 2,628
Periodical Title 1,217
Series 46
Subject 190
Other 5
Looking at the actual terms that people are entering, I'm willing
to speculate that library staff account for as much browsing activity
as all other users combined, which makes the discrepancy even greater.
--
Selden Deemer, Library Systems Administrator
Emory University Libraries
Atlanta, Georgia
EMAIL: libssd_at_emory.edu
PHONE: 404-727-0271
FAX: 404-727-0827
Received on Thu Jul 26 2007 - 06:39:05 EDT