Page 171 - DLIS002_KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION CLASSIFICATION AND CATALOGUING THEORY

Knowledge Organization: Classification and Cataloguing Theory

Notes
subject cataloguing and classification, eliminating subject analysis altogether. Here are
examples of subject-access functionality in future online catalogue prototypes that should
be assessed in the testing phase:

Ranking algorithms that give the highest weights to the summary data in metadata
records such as titles, subject headings, class numbers, and qualification metadata to
ensure the precision of ranked output
Relevance feedback (i.e., “find more like this”) mechanisms that weight subject
headings, titles, class numbers, and qualification metadata higher than words and
phrases buried deep inside digitized texts
Data elements that users want to see in the catalogue’s brief displays of retrieved
items
Document attributes that are most useful for qualifying retrievals so that retrievals
are relevant and users are intellectually prepared to understand their contents
Qualification attribute selection routines that are easy for searchers to understand
and use

The role of citation data for searching, ranking, retrieval, relevance feedback, and
display

Ability to display and manipulate full texts, e.g., searching, navigating, underlining,
note-taking, writing in the margins, sharing with peers, etc.

Metadata assignment (i.e., tagging) procedures that encourage users to participate,
perhaps by rewarding them for their assignment
Integration of online library catalogue searching into the larger scenario of
information seeking generally – Google and the Internet generally, journal searching,
searching the invisible web, institutional repository searching, etc.
In the past, the library community has left decision-making to a few key individuals,
advisory groups, organizations, or professional societies for reasons that deserve
examination elsewhere. No longer should decisions be left to a few. First, we have the
technology to be inclusive in the decision-making phase. Second, we are facing an uncertain
future in which we may experience a shift in the balance from the primacy of a few large
institutions, their collections, authority, and staff expertise to a federation that requires
the participation of all in the creation of a new and different comprehensive whole. Third,
successful deployment of shared, technology-based decision-making could set the standard
for future decision-making within the discipline and inspire other disciplines to embrace
the approach. Being inclusive during the decision-making process may be a necessity to
secure everyone’s participation during task-assignment and execution phases. Finding
today’s equivalent to yesterday’s Bibliographic Services Development Program to support
such an ambitious plan of action would certainly facilitate the building of the future
online library catalogue.
Questions

1. Critically analyse the above case.
2. Write down the case facts.
3. What do you infer from the case?
Source: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january07/markey/01markey.html

166 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY