The Impact of Web Search Engines on Subject Searching in OPAC
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v23i4.9658Abstract
This paper analyzes the results of transaction logs at California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) and studies the effects of implementing a Web-based OPAC along with interface changes. The authors find that user success in subject searching remains problematic. A major increase in the frequency of searches that would have been more successful in resources other than the library catalog is noted over the time period 2000-2002. The authors attribute this increase to the prevalence of Web search engines and suggest that metasearching, relevance-ranked results, and relevance feedback ( "more like this") are now expected in user searching and should be integrated into online catalogs as search options.
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