Improve the Efficiency of Subject Searching: A Comparative Study

摘要

Subject terms, the controlled vocabulary assigned by librarians, in bibliographic records are considered as an important instrument which helps increase the precision of information search results. But research and surveys in the past showed that this was the most difficult searching method for library users. In 2007, the librarians at the University of Oklahoma Libraries in the United States did a study on users' subject searching behavior. The findings showed that among the searching methods examined, namely title, author, subject and keyword, subject search in the OPAC was used the least but caused the most difficulty. This paper investigates how students did with subject search by using Chinese authorized subject terms at the East China Normal University through the data collected from the library instruction classes. The results are compared with the ones from the University of Oklahoma Libraries. The reasons for failed searches are analyzed. Through the comparison and analysis, this paper points out that the reasons causing the difficulty in subject search are similar at both universities in spite of the fact that subject terms from different authority databases were used. The main reasons for users' difficulty include the complexity of authorized subject terms, the lack of information literacy training, and thus the unfamiliarity with the controlled vocabulary and structures used by librarians. To improve library users' ability to utilize the controlled vocabulary and to increase their success rate of subject search, some feasible suggestions from both reference and cataloging perspectives are recommended, for example, providing more hands-on instruction classes to college freshmen, incorporating new means, such as tagging, as a supplement to the controlled subject terms. The authors hope both reference librarians and cataloging librarians can work together to ensure that library users find the information they need more efficiently and effectively through subject search.