Search Strategies – Improving Results

(Module 6 – Search Competency)


In a previous post, I stated my search strategy and results for “digital preservation” using the Eric, WorldCat, and Library Lit databases. To improve results, I have applied some search techniques to construct a search strategy. For each of the three databases, I have used a technique or combination of basic techniques.
Initially, my search topic was “digital preservation,” but this is too broad of a topic. Instead, I have refined my topic in a question format, “How to digitally preserve a library?”
Next, I identified the facets in this topic: “digitally” “preserve” “library”
Eric Database
Search Strategy: Boolean Search String
Boolean Technique
Using these facets, synonyms (or sets) are listed to extract create a Boolean search string.

Synonyms
Digitally: digital, digitization, digitizing
Preserve: preserving, preservation
Library: books, materials

Using Boolean operators OR and AND, we construct a search string with parentheses used:
((digital or digitization or digitizing) and (preserving or preserve or preservation) and (books or materials))

For my first time applying a Boolean search string I got a very acute list of results.

ERIC results for: (kw: digital or kw: digitization or kw: digitizing) and (kw: preserving or kw: preserve or kw: preservation) and (kw: books or kw: materials). Records found: 156

Browsing through the first 10 hits listed, I like the results so I go forth using this search string and an attribute. I chose to limit my results published in 2006-2009 by selecting the publication year attribute.

Total records retrieved were 12.

Of these records, I selected record #12. Not only does this answer my question, but this article provides critical information on how to download, install, and set-up a FREE software package used to digitize library printed materials.

Lots of Librarians Can Keep Stuff Safe: Libraries Are Able to Safeguard Content with LOCKSS, Open Source Digital Preservation Software By: Karen G Schneider 2007
English Article (EJ) 2
Library Journal, v132 n13 p30-31 Aug 2007
Reed Business Information. 360 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010. Tel: 646-746-6819; Fax: 646-746-6734; e-mail: ljinfo@reedbusiness.com; Web site: http://www.libraryjournal.com
(Quick Sum/Intro of Article Below)

Over the next several decades, libraries will face the potential loss of all the e-journals, ebooks, electronic theses, local digital collections, and other "e-stuff" curated for the public good. A solution to this problem is LOCKSS ("Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe"), a free, open-source digital-preservation software from Stanford University that preserves digital content in a library-to-library network, just as multiple libraries keep copies of the same book....


WorldCat Database
Search Strategy: Truncation

Using the same facets identified earlier, I will truncate these facets to retrieve different forms of a term. This is done by adding a symbol at the end of the term. In some cases, left and middle truncation can be used.

Truncated words:
Digit* (I am not sure if this is the best term to truncate that would include digitization, digitize, and digitally)
Preserv* : preserve, preservation, preserving
Librar*: library, libraries (I thought it easier to use “library” as oppose to books or materials)

In addition, operator AND will be used to string these three terms in our search input. ((digit*) AND (preserv*) AND (library*))

Using this search string, a total number records found were 18,385 and only 11,113 are in English.

To narrow down my search, I limited my search to list only those in English language. This brought down the number by a little more than a third.

The use of truncation really pulls in a number of records, and is most effective when used after a technique has been applied such as Boolean ops, field and proximity searching. Using both truncation and type of language (English), the title field attribute was set to locate records with titles containing these facets and its variations. Number of records totaled 270. Applying another limiter, publication year 2009, a shorter list was retrieved. Here is the search string used to get these 11 results.

WorldCat results for: yr: 2009 and ((la= "eng" and (((ti: digit* and ti: preserv*) and ti: librar*)))).
Records found: 11

Although, I did not get the results I was hoping for, I did retrieve some interesting articles shedding light on the copyright issues. These records covering copyright issues are essential to understanding the specifics on how to begin a digitizing project at your library. Perhaps my topic could have been constructed differently, or the use of truncation might have been too much for these three facets. Another point I want to make is the search string that WorldCat shows the searcher with the results. For some reason the first two facets are nested together leaving the third separate. I am not sure how this came to be, but I played with the provided operators to see if it would change the nesting placements. Through trial and error, I was wrong.