Title keywords and subject descriptors: a comparison of subject search entries of books in the humanities and social sciences
| Pages | 466-476 |
| Date | 01 October 1998 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000007178 |
| Published date | 01 October 1998 |
| Author | Henk J. Voorbij |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
TITLE KEYWORDS AND SUBJECT DESCRIPTORS:
A COMPARISON OF SUBJECT SEARCH ENTRIES
OF BOOKS IN THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
HENK J. VOORBIJ
henk.voorbij@konbib.nl
National Library of the Netherlands, PO Box 90407, 2509 LK Den Haag
Department of Book and Information Science, University of Amsterdam,
Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam
In order to compare the value of subject descriptors and title
keywords as entries to subject searches, two studies were carried out.
Both studies concentrated on monographs in the humanities and
social sciences, held by the online public access catalogue of the
National Library of the Netherlands. In the first study, a compar-
ison was made by subject librarians between the subject descriptors
and the title keywords of 475 records. They could express their
opinion on a scale from 1 (descriptor is exactly or almost the same
as word in title) to 7 (descriptor does not appear in title at all). It
was concluded that 37% of the records are considerably enhanced by
a subject descriptor, and 49% slightly or considerably enhanced. In
the second study, subject librarians performed subject searches using
title keywords and subject descriptors on the same topic. The rela-
tive recall amounted to 48% and 86% respectively. Failure analysis
revealed the reasons why so many records that were found by
subject descriptors were not found by title keywords. First, although
completely meaningless titles hardly ever appear, the title of a publi-
cation does not always offer sufficient clues for title keyword search-
ing. In those cases, descriptors may enhance the record of a
publication. A second and even more important task of subject
descriptors is controlling the vocabulary. Many relevant titles
cannot be retrieved by title keyword searching because of the wide
diversity of ways of expressing a topic. Descriptors take away the
burden of vocabulary control from the user.
1. INTRODUCTION
In many online public access catalogues (OPACs), users can perform subject
searches using controlled descriptors or uncontrolled title keywords. While title
keywords are available without any intellectual activities, controlled terms
require subject indexing, an activity which is often conducted by highly paid
employees. Libraries therefore must consider the (cost-) effectiveness of subject
indexing. Does searching by controlled terms lead to better results than searching
by uncontrolled terms?
In the National Library of the Netherlands (also known as the Royal Library),
research has been carried out to answer this question. For many Dutch libraries
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Journal of Documentation, Vol. 54, No. 4, September 1998
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Journal of Documentation, vol. 54, no. 4, September 1998, pp. 466–476
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