The Portable MLIS - Chapter 11

Chapter 11 – Information Retrieval: Designing, Querying, and Evaluating Information Systems by Judith Weedman

This chapter talks about the importance of finding information. Library professionals need to know how to find information – not only for themselves but perhaps more importantly, for their patrons. The understanding of databases and search engines are key. Each database contains information gathered from different sources and has different ways to access that information. Internet searches uses search and metasearch engines driven by algorithm formulas.

I had never stopped to think about the algorithms that are developed (thankfully by people other than myself) that work to retrieve data based on how closely the search terms match and are relevant to the search. Our searching assignment for class provided us an opportunity to explore several different databases full of information. Unless we knew how to narrow searches by using Boolean search logic and adding limiters to searches, we ended up with so much information that it was difficult, if not impossible, to wade through to find the information we sought.

Searching for information I need from either the Internet or a subscription database has always been somewhat challenging for me. Weedman's discussion about the basics of how information is organized and designed made a lot of sense. I was particularly drawn to her mantra “how you store it determines how you can retrieve it.” (p. 115) It reminded me of the old saying “garbage in, garbage out.” I can only hope that as I go through my studies and use databases and the Internet more for research, I will learn more about how using the best search terms and having an understanding of the database itself will lend to more rewarding searches. This is a skill that will be learned with practice and I intend to practice as much as I can!

Weedman, Judith., (2008). Reflections on creating information service collections. In Haycock, Ken & Sheldon, Brooke E. (Eds.), The Portable MLIS: Insights from the Experts (pp. 112-126). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.