For this database, I began searching in all fields w/text.
Facet 1: Collection Development 21,606 hits Facet 2: School 48,240 hits Facet 3: library 54,648
So I started with ((collection development) AND (school)) in all fields w/ text. I got 10,810 hits. Next I added library. ((Collection and Development) AND (school) AND (library)) in all fields w/ text. I got 5,931 hits. This is still way too many hits and I noticed that there are many about colleges or universities, so I added NOT (college) or (university) or (high). This removed very few document from the list because I still got 5,919 hits. I guess Carol was right in the Power Point that this search strategy is best suited when you are searching highly unique terms. I think my terms are too broad. So, I decided to narrow down and search all fields except text.
Facet 1: collection development 103 hits Facet 2: school 1,519 hits Facet 3: library 1,418 hits
This time I started with ((collection development) AND (library)). I got 47 results. Next I added school. ((collection AND development) AND (library) AND (school)) - 2 hits. Well neither one was very helpful to me for a paper I would write on this topic, but I chose this article because it was interesting. It is about the history of school libraries in South Dakota. I think for a different type of search I would like Project MUSE. I will continue to play with it to see its pros and cons.
Continuing with my search about school library collection development, I used the building block worksheet to build this search: Concept 1 - Library Possible synonyms - media center Concept 2 - school Possible synonyms - elementary, middle, NOT high, college, university Concept 3 - collection development Possible synonyms - selection, weeding I came up with this search string: (kw: library or (kw: media and kw: center)) and ((kw: school or kw: elementary or kw: middle) NOT (kw: high or kw: college or kw: university)) and ((kw: collection and kw: development) or kw: selection or kw: weeding) I got 1,543 results. This is too many results, so I limited them to: Language: English Subscriptions held by TWU This returned 417 results Here is the record I chose:
I like the building block search technique. I feel comfortable that this search technique will provide good results because of the use of synonyms.
I had to think hard about this part of the assignment because this database is different than the ones I am used to searching.This database uses controlled language.Here is a screen shot of the search fields:
The author and title fields are pretty much straight forward, so I decided to do my tests using the subject/genre and nationality features to see if it produced the author I had in mind.I decided to try this with an adult author and a children’s author.I first checked to see if the two authors I had in mind were present in the database.I searched “Palahniuk” in the author field and turned up a record for Chuck Palahniuk.(Note – I misspelled “Palahniuk” the first time, and it told me there were no records that matched my search).Then I searched “Sachar” in the author field and turned up a record for Louis Sachar.OK, now I’m ready to test.
Let’s start with Chuck Palahniuk.
Test 1: Nationality – American
Subject/Genre – Horror fiction
This search yielded 43 results, but to my surprise, no Chuck Palahniuk.No Stephen King either!?!
Test 2: Nationality – American
Subject/Genre – Mystery/Crime/Suspense Fiction
This search yielded 353 results, but again no Palahniuk!Hmmmm
Test 3: Nationality – American
Subject/Genre – Fiction
Well, needless to say, this search yielded tons of hits; 2390 to be exact.I sifted through and….No Chuck Palahniuk!!!!
OK, I stopped and looked at his record to see his subject headings.Well, there were none!How does that help a person who doesn’t know the name of an author, but is looking for a specific type of book?For a comparison, I looked at a record for Isaac Asimov.He has several genres listed: Mystery/Crime/Suspense Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Children’s Fiction, History, Literary Criticism and history, Science, Biography, Humor/Satire, and Fiction.I also noticed that most popular authors I looked for in the American Fiction search were nonexistent.Why do some authors have subject/genre tags while most don’t?
On to Loius Sachar.
Test 1: Nationality – American
Subject/Genre – Children’s Literature
I got 630 records on this search, so I was hopeful.No Louis Sachar!I do note that Richard Scarry is there.
Test 2: Nationality American
Subject/Genre – Humor/Satire
This search yielded 67 results, but (you guessed it) no Louis Sachar.I looked at his record and….no subject/genre tags.
I had one more idea.Both of these authors have had books turned into movies.I decided to search the Media Adaptations field.
Test 1: Fight Club – Immediately get the record for Chuck Palahniuk.
Test 2: Holes – Immediately get the record for Louis Sachar.
All in all, the exhaustiveness test of the Contemporary Authors database was a huge failure.I am very disappointed.
Specificity
This time I decided to search by title of work and see what I could find in terms of specificity.
Test 1: Title of Work – Harry Potter
Yields 18 results!?!OK, I clicked on the first record, which was for Bill Adler (don’t know who he is).It turns out he was a compiler or editor for a book titled Kids’ Letters to Harry Potter from Around the World: An Unauthorized Collection.
I scrolled down the list of records and, thankfully, J.K. Rowling was there.
Test 2: The Da Vinci Code
This search yielded 15 results including Dan Brown.The other records were mostly religious writers who had written books in response to The Da Vinci Code.
OK, I think the specificity test was a big failure too.If someone wants to know who wrote Harry Potter, they’d have to dig through lots of records before finding the answer.While the other authors listed should be there, they should be ranked by relevance.I could not find a way to rank the results by relevance.I clicked on the heading titled “score,” but still Dan Brown and J.K. Rowling did not get ranked first.Part 2 of this project is disappointing all around.I would recommend this database for patrons who know the name of the author they are looking for.The database gives good biographical information on authors, even if they aren’t easy to find if you don’t know their names.It would also be useful if a patron wanted to find a list of authors who have won certain awards, or who have had their works turned into movies.
I decided to revise my search on WorldCat first because it was the most frustrating for me, and turned up the worst results. WorldCat SS1: ((kw: collection and kw: development)) and ((kw: school and kw: library)) not ((kw: high or kw: college)). This search yielded 820 records. Still too many, but these results are much better than the ones I got on my previous try. I decided to limit my search to items only available at TWU and got 49 records. All of the records were relevant. Eric This time I looked in the thesaurus for subject headings and found library collection development. SS1:(((su= "library collection development")) and kw: school) not (kw: high or kw: college). This yielded 312 records, so I then limited to those only available at TWU library and got 163 records. Definitely different titles than in WorldCat, but again all good records. BIP SS1: ((kw: collection and kw: development)) and ((kw: school and kw: library)) not ((kw: high or kw: college)) and limited to books in English. I got 22 records. But wait, these records are no good. They have nothing to do with my topic. My original search was much better. I new understand the hatred many feel for BIP. Haha Library Literature SS1: ((kw: collection and kw: development)) and ((kw: school and kw: library)) not ((kw: high or kw: college)). This gave me 355 records, many of which were irrelevant. SS2: ((kw: collection with kw: development)) and ((kw: school with kw: library)) not ((kw: high or kw: college)). This one gave me 52 records, but again, not relevant. I notice there are subject headings listed on the left side, so I chose to search Children's literature/Selection as the subject search. This gave me 112 records, but were much more relevant. Still not a fan of Library Lit.
I actually enjoyed the books in print database. Here are my results. SS1: collection develop* (kw in ti) AND school librar* (kw in sub) Published in United States - yielded only 3 records. All of them were good, but I thought I may be missing some. SS2: Collection Develop* (kw in sub) to broaden results AND school librar* (kw in sub) Published in United States - yielded 8 records, although 3 of them were repeats, so really 5 records. I stopped there because all of the records were useful to me. I chose this e-book record:
For the last WorldCat and ERIC competency I searched for collection development, so I searched for the same this time. SS1: school librar* (Sub) AND collection development (kw) Limit to full text articles - yielded 142 records I saw some good hits, but there were many about other, irrelevant topics. SS2: school librar* (kw) AND collection develop* (kw) AND elementary or middle (kw)to narrow down results Limit to full text articles - yielded 16 records, but many were about library instruction, not collection development SS3: school librar* (sub) AND collection develop* (ti) AND elementary or middle (kw) limit to full text articles - yielded only 3 records, so I tried one last time. SS4: school librar* (sub) AND collection develop* (kw) AND elementary or middle (kw) Limit to full text - yielded 15 results which were all the same as search 2 minus 1 record. Well, I stopped there because I couldn't think of anything else to search for. I chose a record about a librarian who needed to order quality biographies about African Americans for students to do research reports for Black History Month:
