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Gateway to the Mountain Knowledge: New Searching Features of Advanced Keyword Searching

Third Annual Hong Kong INNOVATIVE User Group Meeting 9 December, 2002 University of Hong Kong Library. Gateway to the Mountain Knowledge: New Searching Features of Advanced Keyword Searching. Y iu-On Li, Assistant Librarian (Systems), yoli@hkbu.edu.hk

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Gateway to the Mountain Knowledge: New Searching Features of Advanced Keyword Searching

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  1. Third Annual Hong Kong INNOVATIVE User Group Meeting 9 December, 2002 University of Hong Kong Library Gateway to the Mountain Knowledge: New Searching Features of Advanced Keyword Searching Yiu-On Li, Assistant Librarian (Systems), yoli@hkbu.edu.hk Paul Lee, Assistant Librarian (Reference), plee@hkbu.edu.hk Revised: 15 Dec., 2002

  2. Outlines Paul Lee I. Introduction II. Searching HKBU’s theses in Web OPAC III. Survey on Other Libraries IV. Usability Engineering Li Yiu On V. A New Approach VI. Searching Strategies VII. Advantages of Using Enhanced AVS Forms VIII. Conclusion

  3. I. Introduction 1A. OPAC: A Gateway to a Mountain 1B Searching Special Collections

  4. 1A. OPAC: A Gateway to a Mountain (I) • OPAC is an essential tool to access a mountain of library information resources • Of all access points, keyword search offers flexibility that a user can apply various strategies to search specific types of library materials in OPAC. • truncation • adjacency • boolean operators • proximity • field searching

  5. 1A. OPAC: A Gateway to a Mountain (II) • In other words, the sophisticated search engine (OPAC) is there and it depends on how a user can effectively utilize various features of OPAC • Very often, users may not be able to master all searching skills to locate particular items or subsets of library materials easily. • It will be useful if the Library can do SOMETHING for users to facilitate the process of searching particular library materials

  6. 1B. Searching Special Collections • Like other libraries, HKBU Library has its own unique or special collections, some of which are frequently inquired by users • Theses by HKBU students • Monographs by HKBU faculty and staff • Electronic books • These materials are also catalogued in OPAC just like other new acquisitions • Let us take an example of searching theses and dissertations by the postgraduate students

  7. II. Searching HKBU’s theses in Web OPAC 2A. Current Approach 2B. Examples 2C. Limitations

  8. 2A. Current Approach • Author search and title search do not really help because such information is often not known in advance • Subject search or keyword search plus limiting is useful but it involves a series of steps that users generally may not remember especially when repeating the same search at a later time. • We will take a look at the following examples using keyword search

  9. 2B. Example 1 Dissertation* or theses or 論文 • For example, a list of all theses for browsing

  10. 2B. Example 2 a:(dept of biology OR department of biology) AND NOT (Ph.D. or 哲學博士 ) • For example, master’s theses by Dept. of Biology

  11. 2C. Limitations (I) • Current approach can be a complicated procedure which requires a user to: • have some pre-knowledge of bibliographic record structure • Need to know “theses”, “dissertations” or “論文” in subject field • be familiar with a number of features available in Web OPAC • Hidden commands such as boolean operators, nesting, truncation, field searching, etc. • An average user may not be able to make use of these various commands and strategies effectively. • enter a long and complex search statement plus clicking here and there

  12. 2C. Limitations (II) • Such procedure or method is generally not preferred and it can easily confuse users, especially those who desperately need such information when approaching to the Reference Desk • Cannot directly limit the results by a combination of the following parameters • by degree (i.e. master’s or doctoral) • by department

  13. III. Survey on Other Libraries 3A. Approaches by Other Libraries 3B. Summary on Findings 3C. Examples by Other Libraries

  14. 3A. Approaches by Other Libraries (I) • Before looking for a new approach, we survey how other libraries do to facilitate searching their own theses, and are hoping that we can learn from them • For ease of comparison, we examined “Academic: ARL Libraries” in the U.S. that are also using III’s Web OPAC by following the list at http://www.iii.com/html/customers/c_type.php • Only college/university libraries on the list are selected for the purpose of this survey

  15. 3A. Approaches by Other Libraries (II) • A total of 37 libraries were surveyed. • Approaches of searching theses are categorized into the following: • Option 1: INNOPAC catalog subset • Option 2: Web listing or a separate database • Option 3: “do nothing” or not specified at all

  16. 3B. Summary on Findings (I)

  17. 3B. Summary on Findings (II) • Option 1: INNOPAC catalog subset • 3 libraries • Not to be considered due to the following limitations: • Cannot retrieve a complete list of ALL theses • Cannot search theses by Department or Degree • Option 2: web listing or a separate database • 6 libraries (including 3 of them from Ohio participate in OhioLink ETDs) • Option 3: “do nothing” or not specified at all • 29 libraries

  18. 3C. Example 1: Brown University • Only a web listing without sorting or a search engine

  19. 3C. Example 2: UC, Riverside • A Web page for browsing without a search engine

  20. 3C. Example 3: University of Arizona Not much different from OPAC Not convenient Because you need to limit after searching by dept • A search interface with limited flexibility

  21. IV. Usability Engineering 4A. What is Usability? 4B. Factors of Usability

  22. 4A. What is Usability? • Before doing anything, we looked at usability engineering and used it as a guideline for developing a new approach. • What is Usability? • Usability is the measure of the quality of a user’s experience when interacting with a product or system – whether a Web site, a software application, mobile technology, or ay user-operated device. (Source: Usability Basics, http://www.usability.gov/basics/index.html)

  23. 4B. Factors of Usability • (1) Ease of learning • How fast can a user learn to use the system if s/he has never seen it before? • (2) Efficiency of use • Having learned to use the system, how fast can a user accomplish tasks? • (3) Memorability • Can s/he easily remember how to use the system the next time? • (4) Error frequency • Will s/he easily make errors when accomplishing tasks? • (5) Subjective satisfaction • How much does s/he like using the system?

  24. V. A New Approach 5A. Enhanced AVS Forms 5B. Demonstration Sites 5C. Searching Strategies

  25. 5A. Enhanced AVS Forms • Our approach to facilitate users to retrieve records from collection subsets are: Enhanced Advanced Keyword Searching (AVS) Forms • The design of these searching forms conform to the Usability principle. • The structures are based on: • Innopac AVS capabilities, and • MS Active Server Pages (ASP) script

  26. 5B. Three Enhanced AVS Forms • Currently, three forms are designed • HKBU Theses • Contains the catalog records of all doctoral and master's theses by HKBU postgraduate students • Electronic Books • Contains the catalog records of electronic books subscribed by HKBU Library • HKBU department and staff publication • Contains the publications by HKBU staff and departments • Demonstration site: http://lib-nt.hkbu.edu.hk/avs_test/searching2.html

  27. VI. Searching Strategies 6A. Workflow 6B. Two Types of Searching Strategies 6C. AVS URL Based on Bib Location 6D. AVS URL Based on Keywords 6E. More Library Catalog Subsets

  28. 6A. Workflow • Enter searching data elements to the Enhanced AVS Form. • The form will automatically use ASP scripts to generate a AVS URL to retrieve records from Innopac server. • Record results are displayed on a pop up window.

  29. 6B. Two Types of Searching Strategies • Searching strategies are based on two type of AVS URLs • 1. AVS URL based on bibliographic location, e.g. • HKBU Theses, and Electronic Book Collection. • 2. AVS URL based on keywords or phrases, e.g. • HKBU Staff and Department Publications.

  30. 6C. AVS URL Based on Bib Location (1) • Useful to retrieve records kept at the same bib location. • For example, the bib locations for BU Theses catalog records in our Innopac system are "th___“. • Special subject headings are assigned: • English Records: Hong Kong Baptist University -- Dissertations  • Chinese Records: 香港浸會大學 -- 論文

  31. 6C. AVS URL Based on Bib Location (2) • Accordingly, we may use the following AVS URL to retrieve the whole BU Theses collection: http://hkbulib.hkbu.edu.hk/search/X?SEARCH=%28su%3Adissertations+or+%BD%D7%A4%E5%29&searchscope=5&SORT=D&l=&m=&p=&b=th+++&Da=&Db= Where

  32. 6C. AVS URL Based on Bib Location (3) • Searching examples in HKBU Theses: • Whole collection • Theses from Dept of Biology • Doctoral theses from Dept of Biology • Records have keywords "heavy metals" • No entries found (i.e. keyword = “aaa”)

  33. 6D. AVS URL Based on Keywords (1) • Useful to retrieve records scattered in different bib locations and contain different types of materials. • For example, the records in this HKBU Staff and Dept Publication collection should contain one of the following phrases: • Hong Kong Baptist University, or • Hong Kong Baptist College, or • 香港浸會大學, or • 香港浸會書院, or • Faculty/staff publication • But, at the same time, we want to exclude all the HKBU theses titles, thus the below searching criteria should be added: • And not_s:(dissertations_or_'論文')

  34. 6D. AVS URL Based on Keywords (2) • Accordingly, we may use the following AVS URL to retrieve the whole BU Staff and Department collection: http://hkbulib.hkbu.edu.hk/search/X?SEARCH=%28%28%27hong+kong+baptist+university%27%29+or+%28%27hong+kong+baptist+college%27%29+or+%28%27%AD%BB%B4%E4%AE%FB%B7%7C%A4j%BE%C7%27%29+or+%28%27%AD%BB%B4%E4%AE%FB%B7%7C%AE%D1%B0%7C%27%29+or+%28%27Faculty+staff+publication%27%29%29+and+not+s%3A%28dissertations+or+%27%BD%D7%A4%E5%27%29&searchscope=5&SORT=D&l=&m=&p=&b=&Da=&Db= Where

  35. 6D. AVS URL Based on Keywords (3) • Searching examples in HKBU Theses: • Whole collection • Technical Reports (Dept of Mathematics) • All videorecordings • No entries found (i.e. keyword = “aaa”)

  36. 6E. More Library Catalog Sets • Given the sophisticated capabilities of the Enhanced AVS Forms, we may create as many virtual special collections or library catalog subsets for OPAC as we wish. • Examples include: • Works on/by a famous author • Collection has a main theme, HK music, HK movies provided • you can retrieve the catalog records by special keywords or phrases. • your collection has reached a reasonable size.

  37. VII. Advantages of Using Enhanced AVS Forms 7A. Awareness 7B. Extendibility 7C. Flexibility 7D. Measurability 7E. Cost

  38. 7A. Awareness • Many users are not very clear about what to find in a collection subset. • Some of them also have difficulty in using Boolean operators to combine different data elements such as degree type and department name when searching the theses collection. • Each Enhanced AVS Form with drop down list boxes serves two purposes: • Amplifies the Library’s collection subsets, and • Simplifies the searching process • Also refer to the concept of Usability discussed above.

  39. 7B. Extendibility • INNOPAC’s scoped searching option restricts the confines of a search to a particular collection based solely on bibliographic locations, or material types, or a combination of the two (see INNOPAC Manual page# 101264). • The Enhanced AVS Forms, however, extend searching by combining keywords with bibliographic location and material type. • It thus allows the retrieval of records scattered in various locations with different material types as shown in the Enhanced AVS Forms for searching the HKBU Department and Staff Publications.

  40. 7C. Flexibility • The settings of scoped searching have to be carefully pre-defined as their implementation and subsequent modifications can only be handled and charged by III. • The Enhanced AVS Forms, on the other hand, allow the library the flexibility and convenience to design new forms for collection subsets as needed.

  41. 7D. Measurability • The program will keep track of the usage of each form by logging the access date, time, user’s IP (on/off campus access), and the search fields used. http://lib-nt.hkbu.edu.hk/avs_test/test1.txt

  42. 7E. Cost • Other than the initial programming efforts, there are no ongoing maintenance costs.

  43. VIII. Conclusion 8A. OPAC As Mountain Knowledge 8B. True Shape of Mountain OPAC 8C. Su Tung-Po’s Poem 8D. Why Can’t Tell the True Shape 8E. Hints to Provide More Angles 8F. Enhanced AVS Forms as Effective Gateway to Mountain Knowledge

  44. 8A. OPAC As Mountain Knowledge • As said, OPAC is an essential tool to access a mountain of library information resources • OPAC problems to library users • What can be found? • How/Where can start? • Easily to get lost in a large mountain OPAC

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