Reflection on The portable MLIS : insights from the experts / edited by Ken Haycock and Brooke E. Sheldon. / Chapeter 11

The concept of storage and retrieval are often times a challenge for me. So you can imagine it was a relief when I read Chapter 11 authored by Judith Weedman in The Portable MLIS; it appears I'm not the only one. Ahh - there is comfort in numbers.

In my family I assumed the roles of bill payer, budget creator, checkbook manager, and paperwork filer so that I can later access it as our "accountant". You can imagine what worked for us 5-10 years ago is no longer. We've moved our computer to the kitchen in light of our children's online usage and the rise of e-statements and online banking has streamlined my once cumbersome filing system. I mention this victory because I still struggle with my closet! If only it could look like the catalogs that grace my doorstep.

Despite this victory my husband doesn't know the intricacies of my storage and retrieval system. This is where Chapter 11 takes hold. Once a system is shared, we need to collectively understand the indexing terms and how we could best query the system to locate the desired item.

As I shift gears and imagine the body of work that the Internet has access to - I can imagine the challenges that indexers are faced with when supplying results to queries with terms that hinge on context. Unlike Medline - a system with a defined body of work - the general nature of the Internet must be problematic. It will be my job as a library media specialist to educate children on the nuances. For instance, when searching for a seasonal image in Flickr the Boolean search allows us to specify an image that may be tagged with "fall or autumn". This would minimize the occurrence of photographs of water falls, for instance, and increase the occurrence of accurate hits with "autumn" lending context.

The issue I fear are the items that may not be located just because a tag or indexible matter is inaccurately indexed. Specifically, Weedman shares the example from the book looks at the works of "Nancy Van House" (Weedman, 2008). We can see that the various systems are compromised by various unofficial spellings of her name. While the Internet may give one presumably broader access, in this instance, the unknowing questioner's knowledge base may be compromised as well.

Spring,

Kate

References:
Weedman, J. (2008). Information retrieval: Designing, querying, and evaluating information systems. In K. Haycock & B. Sheldon (Eds.), The Portable MLIS (pp. 112- 126). Westport, CT:Libraries Unlimited.