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Subject Access in the Digital Age

Subject Access in the Digital Age. Presented by Carol Bradsher. “Our users expect simplicity and immediate reward and Amazon, Google, and Itunes are the standards against which we are judged.” -- from the UC Libraries Bibliographic Services Task Force Report. Subject access issues.

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Subject Access in the Digital Age

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  1. Subject Access in the Digital Age Presented by Carol Bradsher

  2. “Our users expect simplicity and immediate reward and Amazon, Google, and Itunes are the standards against which we are judged.” --from the UC Libraries Bibliographic Services Task Force Report

  3. Subject access issues • Ease of use • Cost • Time

  4. Controlled vocabulary problems • Complexity, which impacts ability of catalogers to assign and general public to use • No guidance on determining “aboutness” • Inconsistency of heading assignment, influenced by subjectivity, cultural biases, differing perspectives of catalogers

  5. Evaluating subject catalogs • Recall • Relevance • Precision • Exhaustivity • Ease of use • Cost

  6. Advantages of keyword • Greater recall • Requires less knowledge to search • Can access entire bibliographic record, table of contents, summary

  7. Keyword assumptions • Authors writing about the same concepts will use the same words in their writings; • Searchers will be able to guess what words those authors used for the concepts

  8. Language—the biggest obstacle for searching • Synonyms • Homographs • Determining the meaning of words • Changes in meaning • Usage changes

  9. Synonyms • Words can have the same meaning, or not, e.g. • Attire, dress, clothing • Technical Services

  10. Synonyms • Singular vs. plural form doesn’t always have the same meaning • Apple (fruit and/or tree) • Apples (fruit only) • Art (visual art) • Arts (various subdisciplines including visual, literature, performing)

  11. What about synonym lists? • not large or general enough • Implemented in small and specialized domains • No knowledge of adjectives and nouns and which kind of words could be used together to make a phrase • Aircraft = planes • Big = large • Big aircraft = large planes

  12. Homographs • Words that look the same but have different meanings: • Mercury: liquid metal, planet, car, Roman God or Freddie • Bridge: structure, dental device, card game, musical conveyance

  13. Determining meaning • Gay • Sober • Virginia Woolf • discount

  14. Changes in meaning • Medal • Goggles • gay

  15. Changes in usage • Third world countries • Creme rinse

  16. Unforgiving keyword searches • One word vs. two word forms, hyphenated words • Singular vs. plural

  17. Advantages of controlled vocabulary • Can handle variations in language and terminology • Synonyms • Homographs • Can combine terms into phrases, relate phrases to one another • Cross reference structure to direct users to valid terms

  18. Keyword’s biggest weakness • “Subject analysis so far has defied automatic techniques such as word counting; only a human can attach words to a concept that is the subject of a document but is never explicitly named in that document.” -- Arlene Taylor

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