Expert searching in health librarianship: a literature review to identify international issues and Australian concerns

Background: The traditional role of health librarians as expert searchers is under challenge. Objectives: The purpose of this review is to establish health librarians’ views, practices and educational processes on expert searching. Methods: The search strategy was developed in LISTA and then customised for ten other databases: ALISA, PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar. The search terms were (expert search* OR expert retriev* OR mediated search* OR information retriev*) AND librar*. The searches, completed in December 2010 and repeated in May 2011, were limited to English language publications from 2000 to 2011 (unless seminal works). Results: Expert searching remains a key role for health librarians, especially for those supporting systematic reviews or employed as clinical librarians answering clinical questions. Conclusions: Although clients tend to be satisfied with searches carried out for them, improvements are required to effectively position the profession. Evidence‐based guidelines, adherence to transparent standards, review of entry‐level education requirements and a commitment to accredited, rigorous, ongoing professional development will ensure best practice.     

Online searching by microcomputer

Adding a telecommunications package to a microcomputer provides a new way to perform online bibliographic searching, called microsearching. Using the IBM PC microcomputer/Hayes Smartmodem 1200B combination for microsearching, an information service can produce custom-tailored bibliographies for individuals and topical bibliographies for group distribution.     

End-user searching in medicine

Investigation of end-user searching at the New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center (NYH-CUMC) revealed that 8% of the physicians surveyed were end users, 63% were interested in learning to search, and 29% were not interested. When training sessions were offered at the Burke Rehabilitation Center, an affiliated institution, 50% of the medical staff attended at least one class, but only 7% of the total staff became frequent searchers. Analysis of the precision and recall ratios of searches conducted by five end users at HYH-CUMC indicated that the best results were obtained by end users who had been taught to search by experienced librarian-searchers. The quality of end user searches did not appear to be affected by the "friendliness" of the systems used, the frequency of searching habits, or the length of time that an end user had been searching.     

Expert Googling

Abstract

Google is the search engine of choice for most Internet users. For a variety of reasons, librarians and other expert searchers do not always use Google to its full potential, even though it provides capabilities not possible in traditional bibliographic databases and other search engines. Applying expert searching principles and practices, such as the use of advanced search operators, information retrieval strategies, and search hedges to Google will allow health sciences librarians to find quality information on the Internet more efficiently and effectively.     

垂直搜索引擎研究

网络信息资源的“爆炸”式增长使得人们获得有用信息日益困难，垂直搜索引擎应运而生。章简要分析了综合搜索引擎的局限、垂直搜索引擎的优势及其发展方向。     

User attitudes toward end-user literature searching

A survey to determine attitudes toward end-user searching was made at Loyola University's Medical Center Library using MEDIS, an online full-text and bibliographic medical retrieval system. One hundred forty-one completed questionnaires were analyzed for this report. Information was collected on user familiarity with computers, end-user training, system use, mechanics of searching, and attitudes toward future use. Computer familiarity was highest among the faculty users. Ninety percent of the respondents saw librarians as a crucial agent in training and in providing end-user assistance. Respondents identified five major reasons for using the system: helpfulness, convenience, time savings, rapid feedback, and presentation of needed information. Searching the MEDLINE database rather than the full-text database was the search method of choice. Continued use of both mediated and end-user searching was intended by most of the respondents. Survey results support a perceived need for end-user searching and confirmed recommendations of the Association of American Medical Colleges on medical information science skills.     

个性化Web搜索服务

描述一个个性化搜索引擎的通用框架，分析其中的关键技术——用户兴趣提取方法，指出个性化Web搜索是未来搜索引擎发展的主要方向。     

几种常用国外数据库检索方法比较

近年来,随着读者对外文电子文献需求量的增加和图书馆购书经费的增长,许多大中型图书情报部门或多或少地购进了一些国外数据库.国外数据库在数据库功能、检索方法和检索结果处理上与国内数据库有些明显的差异.例如,英文数据库大都标引深度较深,向用户提供的检索点较多,有的超过30个,大都进行主题标引;除提供布尔逻辑算符、截词符等运算符外,还提供位置逻辑算符;不少数据库提供全文或条目直接链接到网上全文,可将检索结果通过E-MAIL传递,有些全文需借助Acro-bat等软件才能阅读,等等.     

Toward Expert Inquiry Systems

No abstract available for this article.     

Efficient MEDLINE searching of the radiologic literature

The Radiology Information Service at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University performs a wide range of functions from physician continuing education to a photocopy service, including approximately 450 demand literature searches annually. The complexity of the field of radiology, the rapid advances in hardware and techniques, and the variety of interests on the part of radiologists and basic scientists requesting searches make online literature retrieval a challenge for even the expert radiology librarian. This paper presents up-to-date searching terminology, suggested search formulations, and bibliographic sources which have proved valuable in the functioning of the Radiology Information Service.     

Reference Expert Systems:

The delivery of library reference service can be practically supplemented through the appropriate incorporation and use of software tools commonly referred to as expert systems. The level of support such systems can afford the reference service organization is dependent on the degree of complexity characteristic of the rule-based programming techniques used to develop a particular system and the size of its knowledge database. Since most expert systems are designed to simulate the process of problem-solving practiced by an expert in a given field, an expert system designed to fully emulate library reference work must have the potential to respond to a wide subject range of questions with varying degrees of response adequacy. The widespread development of expert systems with this type of potential is limited due to the tremendous personnel and hardware costs currently associated in the design and application of systems of this size. Most locations utilizing some form of reference expert system have applied a compromised, more cost-efficient approach in this area. The following describes a micro-computer-based reference expert-type system that has emerged due to this needed compromise.     

网络信息检索工具的分类体系--网络信息检索工具发展的方向与提高竞争力的途径(连载三)

1分类体系对网络信息检索工具质量的影响 1.1分类浏览检索功能是网络信息检索工具的主要检索功能 目前研究网络信息检索工具的大部分文献,把网络信息检索工具划分为检索型和目录型两种基本类型.     

跨库检索策略研究

本文在研究跨库检索系统的基础上，根据跨库检索系统特点提出制定跨库检索策略的方法。     

利用CNKI查找期刊文献耦合过程中遇到的问题

通过对文献合配概念的阐述，指出目前中国知网提供的题录检索存在的一些问题及改进方向。     

Online searching for information on medical devices.

Problems in online retrieval of information concerning medical devices are discussed, including background data regarding legislative history and terminology. An analysis of the results of searching on ten sample topics in this subject area provides a framework for approaching such problems. In addition to a consideration of recall, uniqueness, and overlap, other factors influence database selection and order of consultation. Indexing characteristics of selected health science, engineering, business, and regulatory databases play a major role in medical device information provision.     

对国外图像检索文献的定量分析

利用SCI数据库检索到1997年后有关图像检索主题的文献，并对检索结果从文献量、著者、期刊、主题、以及引文等角度作了大量的定量分析。