Specific classification of elibrary resources says more about users' preferences

摘要

Background: Medical Subject Headings (Me SH) are a hierarchical taxonomy of over 42 000 descriptors designed to classify scientific literature; it is hierarchical with generic high order headings and specific low order headings. Over 1,000 resources in the Primary Care Electronic Library (PCEL-www.pcel.info) were classified with Me SH.Methods: Each of the entries or resources in the primary care digital library was assigned up to five Me SH terms. We compared whether the most generic or specific Me SH term ascribed to each resource best predicted user preferences. Results: over the four month period analysed statistically significant differences were found for resources according to specific key Me SH terms they were classified by. This result was not repeated for generic key Me SH terms. Conclusions: Analysis of the use of specific Me SH terms reveals user preferences that would have otherwise remained obscured. These preferences are not found if more generic Me SH terms are analysed.