On Sep 24, 2009, at 11:22 AM, Teresa Weisser wrote:
> ...As someone who does both cataloging and reference work, I was
> interested to note that, about a year ago, it became very difficult
> to locate relevant articles using keyword searches in our general
> periodical index. Whereas before it had sometimes been possible to
> help students locate articles without having to teach them how to
> use the controlled vocabulary, the thesaurus became essential once
> the database reached a certain size. The keyword searches simply
> retrieved too much irrelevant material...
This is a good example of service opportunity. Granted, it is not
exactly a service against texts, but it does represent a niche
librarianship can fill. The keys to success are multi-fold. For
example, provide the service in the manner the user expects -- don't
relay solely face-to-face communication -- embed the service in the
network. Search is all about indexes -- not databases, and therefore
we need to figure out ways to incorporate our expertise into indexes.
We need to learn how to create and exploit indexes. We need to index
or own content. Don't rely on third-parties to do this. We need to
learn it ourselves.
Approach this particular problem from another direction. What steps
would you go through to identify "relevant" information? What
questions would you ask yourself? What qualities does the relevant
information embody? What characteristics does it have? Take the
answers to these questions and create an automated system -- because
that is what the user expects -- that enables others to benefit for
your experience. In the long run you will save the user's time and
they will go "Wow, that library really helped me."
--
Eric Lease Morgan
Received on Thu Sep 24 2009 - 13:13:52 EDT