On Fri, 16 Jun 2000, Janet Aucock wrote:
> I am interested in getting some feedback from other sites as to their plans
> to implement Advanced Keyword Searching.
We have no plan to implement this in the immediate future because having
attended a few demos and tried out a few systems in the US, I would like
to wait until we can learn more from other sites' experience!
I know that early test sites such as Kent State had the original keyword
index alongside a test version of Advanced Keyword Searcing. In fact
Kent State still seems to be running both versions (using different ports)
and they both work. Colorado State also appears to be offereing both but
if you try the conventional keyword search <http://129.82.243.2/search/w>
you will find that it actually doesn't work!
I agree that in the short run it would be confusing to users when a
keyword search which is a Boolean search where AND is assumed suddenly
becomes an adjacent word search. But in the long run it might be even
more confusing if in one type of search AND is assumed and in another
type of search adjacency or "phrase" is assumed. At the 1999 IUG
conference when most users saw Advanced Searching for the first time,
some of us thought that the default was OR which would be even more
confusing. Some people say that more and more users are used to Alta
Vista type of searching, but are they?
I share your concern that the simplicity of the current keyword search
might be lost when we move to Advanced Keyword Searching. Most of our
keyword searches are one-word searches but of those who type more than one
word many users are searching for "phrases" or "concepts" such as:
care of the dying patient
criminal evidence for police
discipline strategies in the primary school
effects of hospitalization in children
english literature in the classroom
Although there aren't any records which match any of the above phrases
exactly, all these searches currently retrieve something close to what
the users are probably looking for in our catalogue. I'm not sure how
well (or otherwise) Advanced Keyword Searching will cope with these
searches.
Mieko
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Mieko Yamaguchi [log in to unmask]
Technical Services Manager/System Coordinator +44 (0)1248 382970
Main Library, University of Wales Bangor, UK +44 (0)1248 382979 (Fax)
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