[Fwd: Re: [Web4lib] RE: Another Google question]

[Jennifer Heise]

 Coverage and indexing: things we should be thinking about in our library 
 catalogs.
 
 The advent of buying all cataloging from OCLC/LC really has reduced the 
 complexity of subject descriptions in catalogs, and thus the 
 web-useability even with keyword searching, of those catalogs. Adding 
 tables of contents makes a big difference in relevance searching, but 
 many items are not cataloged with T-of-C. For works that are edited 
 collections of articles, this is a major problem, especially if the 
 subject area is one that is poorly indexed.
 
 As a person with an interest in the material culture of pre-modern 
 history, I've formed the habit of trying to get tables of contents for 
 edited books I use out there on the web somewhere, so that there's some 
 chance people will find the articles when they need them. My best bet 
 for adding this value (as Taylor sez) to the information is putting it 
 out where Google and other web indexes can find it, as I'm not a 
 cataloger and even if I was, libraries have complex sets of rules 
 governing what goes into their cataloging records.
 
 This is a web question, really it is-- how can libraries increase 
 precision and recall of searching in their collections, and how do they 
 bring people in to their collections via the web?
 
 >The big, big win you get from Google is that its top hit (or second,
> >or third) is nearly always the one you want.  That's rarely true of
> >OPACs.  As we've agreed among ourselves many times on this list, its
> >biggest failing is -- paradoxically -- weak and uneven coverage.  (I
> >say paradoxically because its eight billion records comfortably
> >outweigh any library catalogue I know about by a factor of 160.)
> >Well, then: if we want to compete with Google, that's an obvious area
> >for us to push.  But the real question for me is whether "compete" is
> >the right thing for us to be doing at all.



-- 
/   Jennifer Heise, Helpdesk/Librarian, Email: jahb at lehigh.edu
\ \ Lehigh Library & Technology Services, Phone: (610) 758-3072
  / Fairchild-Martindale Library, 8A Packer Ave, Bethlehem PA 18015   

"Comment is free, but facts are on expenses." -- Tom Stoppard