Evaluation of advanced retrieval techniques in an experimental online catalog
Ray R. Larson · Journal of the American Society for Information Science · 1992
Research on the use and users of online catalogs conducted in the early 1980s found that subject searches were the most common form of online catalog search. At the same time, many of the problems experienced by online catalog users have been traced to difficulties with the subject access mechanisms of the online catalog. Numerous proposals have been made for methods intended to improve subject access to online catalog records. These commonly involve enhancing the catalog's bibliographic records with additional terms, or incorporating subject authority files or additional thesauri in the database. Another stream of research has concentrated on applying retrieval techniques derived from information retrieval (IR) research to replace the Boolean search methods of conventional online catalog systems. This study describes the results of retrieval tests using a variety of these search methods in the CHESHIRE experimental online catalog system. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.