LIBR 210 – Reference & Information Services
Fall 2012 – Discussion Board Post – Week #2
“Resources and Online Searching”
Patricia Ayame Thomson
Exploring Resources and Search Techniques
In Dr. Mary Bolin’s LIBR 202 Course I took last Fall 2011 Semester, we learned about the taxonomy of search engines and the components that operate them. For example, Dr. Bolin explained to us the three primary components that Google uses to make their search engine robust, effective, reliable, and user-friendly. Google’s search engine combines the use of three components including: controlled vocabulary, full-text (or natural language,) and classification (or subject headings). Fortunately, from the course mentioned above, I now have a very good idea of the search engine works implicitly (or the interior mechanism) which is not always visible or available on the user-side of the database’s interface for reference librarians and patrons.
Based on our reading materials, I understand this class focuses more on online resources, searching skills and techniques, as opposed to examining the inherit mechanism of the search engine itself. The above are necessary training and acquired skills which are imperative to becoming an efficient, effective, and helpful reference librarian in the 21st Century.
Controlled Vocabulary
As mentioned above, in the course LIBR 202 we studied “controlled vocabulary” in terms of the “controlled vocabulary” embedded in the search engine, which is also accessible to the end user on the database interface. In the article titled: “Tools Every Searcher Should Know and Use,” Bell (2007) continues by stating: “Use of controlled vocabulary should help you get all the database has to offer on a topic, without having to think of all the possible synonyms. It should also ensure that your results are more precise. . . . because they disambiguate among words with several meaning” (p.23). I tried to envision how the implicit and explicit controlled vocabulary works together between the search engine and the end user. When the user enters the search term (or query) in the search box, the search engine will recall and match embedded controlled vocabulary terms retrieving and matching the query using: “subject headings, a thesaurus, descriptors, or authority control” (Bell, p. 23)
Boolean Logic
I found the article helpful in understanding the Boolean logic as follows: “At the most fundamental level, Boolean logic controls how the search system interprets your search terms to produce a set of results” (p. 22).
In addition, we also covered the “Boolean Logic” or (Boolean operators) embedded in the search engine from the developer’s point-of-view. From the database designers’ point of view, the Boolean operators are there to aggregate or discriminate the search; in other words, narrow the search. Bell (2007) points out that initially to new searchers, the Boolean operators are counter-intuitive in terms of the “ordinary usage of the words ‘and’ and ‘or’” (p. 23).
For example, the term AND usually implies inclusivity, yet as a Boolean operator it functions to discriminate, and “represents the intersection of two sets, and will always, in practice, return a set that is smaller than either of the original sets” (Bell, p. 23). The article explains further: “While an OR search represents a union of two sets, so in practice, a Boolean OR almost always retrieves more,” Bell states (p. 22). The third Boolean operator “AND NOT (frequently expressed simply as NOT,”) means what it usually means; exclusion (Bell, p. 22).
Field Searching
I was interested in learning about the search technique called “Field Searching” and in her article Bell (2007) describes as follows: “Field searching means the ability to restrict your search to a specific field, or structural element, of the database record” (p.24). I have seen the “Field Searching” options in many drop-down menus listings specific fields on the database interface. Bell continues: “Examples would be author, date, journal name, company name, patent number, descriptor, or industry/product code” (p. 24).
Along the same vein as the above examples, I tried to envision which part of the search engine might be used to conduct a query by field search and seemed to be from the system’s embedded “classification” or (subject headings) based on what I learned before.
Proximity Searching
It says in Bell’s article (2007) that “many subscription database systems offer proximity operators. . . . and you have some text to work with (at least, an abstract, if not full text) proximity searching is a wonderful way to get greater precision in your results” (Bell, p. 24). From the point of view of the technology that makes the search engine work called “natural language” (of full-text) is clearly associated with the “Proximity Search” as Bell describes in the article as follows: “Indeed, the more searchable full text a database has, the more important the ability to do proximity searching becomes, as it is the only useful way to really mine all that text for everything it has to offer. However, the significant difference is as follows: “Proximity searching, other than for exact phrases, is almost universally lacking in Web search engines” (p. 25).
In conclusion, I am pleased that I am learning these very helpful and advantageous online searching skills. There are too many to mention hear, but noticed that the textbook: Reference and Information Services in the 21st Century” more conceptual & cerebral pointers about the approach to online searching. In contrast, the article was more technical application and training towards online learning. I also learned that visiting and becoming familiar with a reasonable set of online resources that are credible, accurate, and peer-reviewed (i.e., databases, periodicals, newspapers, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other websites for resources). I realize online searching or any reference service work can be improved with practice and experience.