Re: [IUG] Your Catalog Search Default

[Margaret Peloquin <peloquin at austincc dot edu>]

I feel strongly that people do not understand that "title" means exact 
title.  They say that they search by title but what they really mean is 
that they search by "words in the title."  At least, that is what we 
have found when we have done testing with students. 

Pruntel,Alison wrote:
> Hi all,
>
>  
>
> Originally, our OPAC was defaulted to search by Title. In Jan/Feb, we
> switched over to default to a search by Keyword. We were thinking that
> the general public is more apt to search by keywords (like Google)
> versus specific titles, thought we'd try it out. Most of the staff
> dislike the search defaulting to keyword and have rallied to have it
> switched back to title. Looking at our stats, it appears that searches
> are pretty evenly split between keyword and title. I did run a poll on
> our library main screen and our OPAC main screens asking people how they
> normally search, and "by title" was almost 50% compared to 22% by
> keyword. Of course, not sure how many staff were steering the results.
> Before I switch it back over to Title, wondering if anyone on the list
> felt strongly one way or another. 
>
>  
>
> Thanks,
>
>  
>
> Alison
>
>  
>
> Alison Pruntel 
> Electronic Resources Librarian 
> Fauquier County Public Library 
> 11 Winchester Street 
> Warrenton, VA 20186 
> 540-349-2770 (voice) 
> 540-349-3278 (fax) 
> http://library.fauquiercounty.gov 
> http://fcpleresources.blogspot.com/ 
>
>  
>
>
>
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--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Margaret Peloquin, Head Librarian / EVC
Austin Community College
3401 Webberville Rd, Austin, Texas 78702
512.223.5117 // Fax: 512.223.5111
peloquin at austincc dot edu // http://library.austincc.edu