Helen,
I agree that "quick answers" (as I take the term to mean, keyword
searching) is extremely useful. I use it all the time, but I feel that
we should also have tools for research (i.e. to be able to look for
items on our subject, but you don't yet know exactly what those items
are). And as I am sure you know, but non-librarians may not, what
appears to be a quick answer is very often just the opposite.
I believe that searching tools are powerful enough for all of our needs.
We just all need to be sure to make everyone aware of what our needs
are.
James Weinheimer
Princeton University
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LEECH, Helen wrote:
>
> James Weinheimer wrote:
>
> "5) arranging (as I read it: Access points)
> In my opinion, this is the real task of metadata: to assign access
> points that are consistently retrievable. In spite of some protests to
> the contrary, people love to browse; in fact, when you get a result of
> 850 in a search result, how can you do much of anything else? Since you
> are browsing anyway, it would be nice to have a meaningful browse
> instead of a mindless one based on the number of times a word is used,
> or the number of links there are to the page, etc."
>
> As a public librarian, I think there's a lot of people who don't like to
> browse. Most people who have a particular need want a quick answer - and
> they get frustrated when they don't get it.
>
> That's where I think metadata will be a godsend to librarians. We need
> tools to find information quickly, and we need tools for organising our
> electronic resources, because the majority of the public do not have the
> skills or the desire to do it for themselves. The public employ
> accountants, not because the public aren't capable of handling money, but
> because accountants take the burden of money-handling off their
> shoulders. Same goes for librarians. Some people will want to handle
> their money and their information themselves, but most will want to
> employ accountants and librarians. I find it hard to believe this will
> change, no matter how user-friendly the Internet becomes.
>
> Consequently we need general search engines, where those who are inclined
> can browse away, but we also need search engines which concentrate on
> particular subjects, designed for people with particular needs or
> interests, which will bring back very specific results.
>
> That's my obsession for the day.
> Helen Leech
> CIRCE Project
> http://www.gloscc.gov.uk/circe/
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