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March 22, 2007
Wilson's Superior Controlled Vocabulary
“…I began studying XXXXX’s use of controlled
vocabulary and found a confusing situation.”
"Controlled vocabulary" in XXXXX's proprietary databases is a misnomer. It
has been consistently useless.”
“…they were very proud that they trained their indexers (non-librarians)
for an ENTIRE WEEK (his emphasis not mine). He thought that was more than
sufficient.”
“…it is so difficult to find articles in these databases; because they are
not indexed by experts and in some cases not by humans at all. “
Listed above are just a few recent listserv postings
that illustrate the importance of a database vendor’s indexing standards
and its controlled vocabulary. Issues such as those illustrated by these
quotations arise when a database vendor gives “short shrift” to its
indexing practices and to its controlled vocabulary.
Traditions and standards established long before the
digital revolution guide the H.W. Wilson Company in continuing to serve
modern researchers with accuracy, reliability, and versatility unmatched
by any other provider. Wilson uses Library of Congress Subject Headings,
the recognized worldwide model for the development of new subject headings
systems, as the foundation for Wilson indexes’ Subject Authority. Wilson
headings ensure that all articles are indexed to the most specific points,
reflecting current-day events and topics. As evidence of the precision and
currency of Wilson headings, the Library of Congress itself often adopts
the headings.
Records are revised regularly to reflect the addition of
new subject headings, and new subject headings are mapped to the beginning
of the file, ensuring that all records on each topic are retrieved.
Corporate and personal names are controlled throughout the databases to
ensure that searches locate all articles concerning that person or entity.
Why the need for a good quality controlled
vocabulary?
If all of us agreed on the meaning of terms, there would
be no need for a company such as HW Wilson to invest in the difficult
process of developing a controlled vocabulary for its databases. As you
know, a controlled vocabulary is a method of interpreting the term(s)
searched by the user in a database, with the intention of capturing the
user’s intent…bringing the use of language in sync with the language found
in journal articles.
For example, if a user has used the term “Siam” in their
search to describe a Southeast Asian country, a good controlled vocabulary
will also return articles that have used the terms “Thailand” and “Muang
Thai” for the name of the country. Another example would be a scientific
researcher that has used the term “Muriatic ether” as their search terms.
Their search results wouldn’t be complete unless journal articles were
returned that also used the terms “Ethyl chloride,” “Hydrochloric ether,”
and “Monochloroethane,” as a used for term.
With any search that you do, look to see how Wilson
databases handle the terms searched. Look at the subjects within the
resulting citations, plus the “Subject” pathfinder subjects near the top
of the search results. The most relevant articles (based upon our
indexing) will always be near the top of the search results when the
“All-Smart Search” is used. Also, explore the Browse mode and the subject
Thesaurus in WilsonWeb databases. We think that you will see confirmed
evidence of Wilson’s dedication to quality indexing and to its controlled
vocabulary.
Connecting the dots - “Search Less, Find More on
WilsonWeb.”
The reason for the relevant results when searching
WilsonWeb databases is first that our indexing it is done by well-trained
humans, many of which are librarians and/or subject specialists…not
machines. It should not be a surprise that good indexing is based upon our
high quality subjects drawn from a superior subject vocabulary…it takes
time. Indexers at Wilson are subject to rigorous training measured in
months, not days. The training staff is drawn from the elite of its
in-house indexing staff who are experienced with the subject vocabulary.
Consistency in applying the correct subject headings requires experience
and familiarity with the vocabulary and the standards of the company. The
result at Wilson is a controlled vocabulary that is based upon the
literary warrant of the actual collection of items in the database.
If you are interested in information about Wilson’s
“Name Authority Control” work, see:
http://www.hwwilson.com/databases/names_authority_control.htm.
We hope this discussion has been informative for you. If
you have other topics you would like for us to discuss in ENEWS, just let
us know. Thank you for subscribing to HWWILSON-ENEWS.
Sincerely,
Bernie Seiler
Product Manager, WilsonWeb
bseiler@hwwilson.com |
