Using digital book metrics for navigation and browsing
Michael Huggett, EDIE M. RASMUSSEN · 2013
As the scholar’s work migrates from print to the digital realm, new ways of browsing, navigating and searching collections of digital books are needed. The Back-of Book Index is a carefully crafted source of information on a book’s vocabulary and concepts, and if aggregated across multiple books, for a subject domain as a whole. Using a test collection of digital books in a variety of domains, we explore the use of index vocabulary to derive a series of metrics to indicate the relationships between index vocabulary and the digital collection, and the relationships between the books within a digital domain. We are investigating ways in which these metrics can be used to facilitate navigation and browsing at the domain level, to identify the most appropriate works within a digital collection for a particular subject or topic.