On Apr 2, 2008, at 11:43 AM, Emily Lynema wrote:
> In the context of this discussion, just wanted to note that we've
> experimented with the idea of using the uncontrolled text in
> bibliographic records (like title and table of contents) to point
> users
> to possibly relevant subject headings that have been assigned to the
> records retrieved for their natural language search. It works well for
> some types of searches, but not as well for others.
>
> [example deleted]
>
> The one problem I'm not sure about with generic dictionary tools is
> whether we will end up suggesting terms and topics to our users that
> don't exist within our local collections. Is that a bad thing? I
> can see
> the advantages of using the data within your own collection for
> suggesting more appropriate terminology in that it will lead users to
> fewer dead ends.
There are obviously advantages and disadvantages of using generic
dictionary tools versus dictionaries created from local collections.
Personally, I don't think there is a single right answer to the
question, but after a bit of systematic experimentation a best
practices approach might emerge.
--
Eric Lease Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame
Received on Wed Apr 02 2008 - 11:29:12 EDT