On Mon, 9 Apr 2001, Davey ,Mr Paul wrote:
> How does indexing affect searching? Specifically, if we choose to have one
> subject index to store three different types of subject heading, each tagged
> differently, will that have an effect on searching or limiting searches?
> Would it be wiser to have three separate indexes? We want to avoid a
> cumbersome set of too many subject indexes but are not sure what the
> repercussions are of consigning different headings to a combined index.
I'm not sure if I understand your question correctly, but here goes...
An INNOPAC OPAC search is an index search - not sure how to describe the
advanced keyword search but let's leave that aside for now. Limiting by
subject, i.e. Words in the SUBJECT, on the other hand is actually a limit
by subject keywords and is not dependant on any subject index. So it
does not differentiate between differently tagged subject fields (e.g.
LCSH and MeSH). At least that's what I think is happening.
Try the following OPACs which offer separate LCSH and MeSH indexes/
searches:
http://catalog.lib.washington.edu/search~/ (Advanced keyword search)
http://catalog.cwru.edu/ (Traditional keyword search)
http://magic.lib.msu.edu/search/ (Traditional keyword search)
In the advanced keyword search post-search limiting is not possible,
so the question you raise will affect other index searches only.
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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