1. Basic Online Searching Evaluating and improving search results Session 12. Péter Jacsó Péter Jacsó LIS 663 Fall 2015

2.  Learning by practicing  Being demanding & self-critical  Don't flagellate yourself  Read ONLINE SEARCHER, OIR for practical advise  Watch the best ones at the refdesk, talk shop with them  Attend workshops/tutorials at HLA, HASL, ALA, SLA  Search & THINK, Use your power in English  Create concept blocks, fill with (quasi-)synonyms  Be flexible Jacsó

3. Recall rate: relevant docs retrieved/all relevant docs in db (who knows full recall?!) Precision rate: relevant docs retrieved/all documents retrieved Classic 2 measures

4. PRECISION & RECALL [& P-E-R-T-I-N-E-N-C-E]  Precision  Precision is objective relevance  Pertinence is subjective relevance  Relevant but not pertinent already known item questionable source, “foreign” language, disliked medium Jacsó

5. WHAT MATTERS TO USERS MOST  Quality above quantity (yes, but) …Google result flood  User's expectation (do they know that no pure gold is likely?)  Overall relevance of the result set  Few highly relevant with good refs & cits to follow up  Specific aspect of broader topic addressed  Recall is more important than precision for a few. PhD students and grant applicants Jacsó

6.  Wrong question  Wrong name  Wrong number  Wrong database for the question  Wrong day for the searcher Jacsó Ojala, Marydee (2003) Online, 27(1): 58-60.

7. Jacsó

8. REFERENCE INTERVIEW  Who requests the info subject knowledge, tech background, format prefs, budget  What is the request What it is really, what is already known, lingo, angle, preferred refs, urgency  What are the expectations Familiarity with the process, the sources, the fees, recurring need, post processing Jacsó

9. FEEDBACK for RESULTS  Start small OR big (yes it is self-controversial)  Interactivity with system is key  It is somewhat like sparring  Temp saving, cherry picking for strategy revision  Watching your wallet and the client's wallet  Know when to hold 'em, Know when to fold 'em …. Jacsó

11. PRESENTING FINAL RESULTS  Post-process and filter the output with brain and style  Eliminating bad hits, dubious hits  Add your notes, format the output, embellish it  Deliver in print, online, CD-ROM – but compatibility problems (your.docX versus client’s.doc) Jacsó

12. Helping People Find What They Don't Know  How to couch the query to the system  Keyword vs. conceptual representation  Like when I am telling the car mechanic the problem  Relevance feedback, citedness/year indicator  System initiates term suggestion - user picks choice Jacsó