Tagging and automation: challenges and opportunities for academic libraries
| Date | 20 November 2009 |
| Pages | 557-569 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07378830911007664 |
| Published date | 20 November 2009 |
| Author | Kai Eckert,Christian Hänger,Christof Niemann |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Tagging and automation:
challenges and opportunities for
academic libraries
Kai Eckert
Computer Science Institute, University of Mannheim, Mannheim,
Germany, and
Christian Ha
¨nger and Christof Niemann
Department of Digital Services, University of Mannheim Library,
Mannheim, Germany
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare and examine the quality of the results of tagging,
and intellectual and automated indexing processes.
Design/methodology/approach – The approach takes the form of analysis and graphical
representation of annotation sets using the software “Semtinel”.
Findings – A combination of tagging, intellectual and automatic indexing is probably best suited to
shape the annotation of literature more efficiently without compromising quality.
Originality/value – The paper presents the open source software Semtinel, offering a highly
optimized toolbox for analysing thesauri and classifications.
Keywords Tagging, Automation,Academic libraries, Computer software
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
While the amount of scholarly information is growing rapidly, academic libraries have
to face the fact that researchers have ongoing problems in finding the relevant
information they are searching for. Using traditional OPACs, they often do not find
electronic information such as eBooks or articles in eJournals. Conventional integrated
library systems do not have the necessary categories, making the storage and
presentation of non-book materials difficult. Google Scholar supplies too many hits
without any relevance to the researcher’s field of interest, because the metadata of
electronic texts such as eBooks or articles in eJournals have not been annotated by
information specialists. A significant example is the collection of a total of 250,000
digitized books available in German academic libraries through the National Licenses
Programme (Nationallizenzen) funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG). The National Licenses Programme has, for example,
licensed the collections “Early English Books Online” and “Eighteenth Century
Collections Online”. Compared to the holdings of Mannheim University Library, which
offers 2,200,000 books to its clients, the nationally licensed collections add another 12
percent to the on-campus holdings. The usability of such sizeable additional content
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
Tagging and
automation
557
Received 6 June 2009
Revised 3 July 2009
Accepted 24 July 2009
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 27 No. 4, 2009
pp. 557-569
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/07378830911007664
To continue reading
Request your trial