Elizabeth K. Roberts
Email   Twitter   RSS Feed   LinkedIn  
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Portfolio Documents
  • Resume

Information Retrieval (Chp. 11)

7/9/2009

 

I'll admit that even after going all the way through high school and university, I was still a bit fuzzy on using databases for information retrieval. I could usually find what I was looking for, but not in the most efficient way possible. I'm finally learning how to choose the correct database and narrow my search appropriate. I'm glad to be learning this, and hope I remember my frustrations as I help others who feel the same way in the future.

Reading this chapter brought up many issues that contribute to how frustrating finding information can be, especially when not all systems are alike. One thing that stood out to me in this chapter was the section on "Fitting Your Search to the System" (Weedman, 2008, p. 120-122). Seeing the 17 different ways one name was listed in three databases was a bit shocking. Learning for myself and teaching others how to overcome such obstacles is an obviously important part of the job of a librarian.

The other piece that brought up several questions was the definition given my Bill Maron that states "what an information system should do is to retrieve 'all and only the relevant information' " (as cited in Weedman, 2008, p. 123). There is obviously a lot that goes into planning how databases are design and retrieval systems are set up. I think this also closley relates to the recent uses of tagging.

The use of tagging for information retrieval is very different than traditional database systems. Despite the fact that using folksonomies does not always give you "all and only" what you are looking for, they are growing in popularity. For me, tagging can be very helpful, but it can also be just as frustrating at times.

As systems evolve and new algorithms are created, one hopes to make the process of finding information easier, but we often find our selves with more of the same, like the 17 different entries for one name. Information retrieve may allows be something that frustrates people, but it's another important reason libraries and librarians will continue to be relevant.

Weedman, J. (2008). Information retrieval: Designing, querying, and evaluating information systems. In K. Haycock & B. E. Sheldon (Eds.), The portable MLIS: Insights from the experts (pp. 112-126). Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited.

    Author

    I am a teacher librarian, living in Brazil. I have three beautiful children with my husband, and a pug. I love reading, yoga and traveling the world.

    Archives

    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    May 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    July 2009

    Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

    Categories

    All
    605
    613
    616
    618
    661
    663
    Asbup2010
    Blogging
    Books
    Book Talking
    Book Trailers
    Cataloging
    Censorship
    Class Reflection
    Collaboration
    Collection
    Collections
    Compfight
    Conferences
    Copyright
    Creativecommons
    Cupcakes
    Databases
    Delicious
    Diigo
    Ebooks
    Egypt
    Facebook
    Flickr
    Googledocs
    History
    Information
    K12learning
    K12Learning2.0
    Learning
    Libraries
    Ning
    Photopeach
    Pln
    Pma
    Podcasting
    Policy
    Practicum
    Readers
    Readers Advisory
    Reading
    Reference
    Reflection
    Research
    School Librarians
    Scrapbooking
    Semantic Web
    Shelfari
    Slideshow
    Social Bookmarking
    Tagging
    Teaching
    Thing 1
    Thing 10
    Thing 8
    Tools
    Twitter
    Web2.0
    Weebly
    Welcome
    Wiki
    Youtube

    RSS Feed