Creating an Electronic Databases Selection Expert System

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Creating an Electronic Databases Selection Expert
System

• Illinois ACRL Spring 2000 Conference
• 13 April 2000
• Wei Ma, Assistant Reference Librarian
• Timothy W. Cole, Interim Mathematics Librarian
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• (weima_at_uiuc.edu)

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End-User Selection of Library Databases

• Challenges Issues
• Rapid development of information technology
• Proliferation of digital information resources
• Constant changes of electronic databases
• Heavy demand
• UIUCs decentralized library system
• Different locations and access points

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Current Practices

• Several approaches currently in wide use
• Library gateway menu system
• Library Instruction workshops
• Annotated handout or annotated Web pages
• One-on-one reference services advice

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UIUC Librarys Search for Article menu page
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UIUC Smart Database Selector

• Overview
• Preliminary research and Literature review
• Prototype Web-based expert system created in 1999
• Objectives of the project
• Computer-assisted techniques
• Innovative methods to improve user services
• Taking advantage of the Web related protocols
  technologies

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Approach

• Resource Selection Algorithm

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Data Gathering

• Database characterization
• Database Review Template
• Database Thesaurus/controlled vocabulary
• Getting controlled vocabulary from database
  producers
• Alternatives to controlled vocabulary
• Why We Used Both

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System Architecture
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Interface Design

• Select by Keyword(s) or phraces
• Browse List of Database Topics
• Select by Material Types and/or Content, plus
  chronological coverage

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Interface Design - Search Screen
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Results Screen
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Remaining Issues

• User Interface Issues
• Usability Testing In Progress
• Transaction Log Analyses
• Vocabulary Issues
• Usefulness of Controlled Vocabulary for Free-Text
  Searches / Investigation of Vocabulary Switching
• Alternative Data Mining of Sampled Records
• Maintainability of Resource Characterization DB