The Concept of Search Strategy

THE CONCEPT OF SEARCH STRATEGY
Parameters in searching
• What is wanted
• What is known about what is wanted
• What resources are available
• How those resources are constructed
• What is known about the structure of those resources.
MODELS OF SEARCH PROCESS
1. Clarify the question- find out what domain of knowledge the term comes from- ex. Psychology,
physiology, etc.
2. Select the materials- determine whether the term has been established long enough to appear in
standard reference books such as encyclopedias and dictionaries of the subject field or whether
latest issues of an index must be examined.
3. Prioritized the sources- identified in order of their likelihood of containing the answer.
4. Locate the sources- are they in the reference area? Are they owned by the library, or it is necessary
to call another location or refer the users elsewhere?
5. Search the materials- you have selected until the answer is found or until you are sure that an
answer cannot be found there. This process is evaluative, because the determination of suitability
varies with the librarian's assessment of the user’s information need.
6. Evaluate and repeat if necessary- the searching process is cyclic and may require asking the
person for further clarification, for more time, or whether a referral to another library would be
desirable.
Modeling search processes- helpful in designing bibliographic instruction or in helping searchers improve
their results.
Critical Component in Search Strategy
- Selection of terminologies
- the use of thesauri and controlled vocabularies lends power to the searcher who understands and
can exploit them.
- because search term selection is so powerful, research has explored how searchers select terms and
how they monitor and correct their strategy based on feedbacks.
- The process has its origin and described in an early exploration of search strategy by Marcia Bates.
TRACE- Bates tactic for search process
TRACE- refers to using information already found to derive additional search terms and to examine the
way in which the document has been represented.
- in a catalog search, the searcher uses the subject headings as potentially relevant search terms
in refining the search.
- cannot be used in print indexes because the list of descriptors is not displayed.
- in an electronic environment TRACE maybe used by displaying the fields in the unit records that
list the descriptors used.
THE ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENT
 Early research focused primarily on patterns displayed by reference librarians answering

questions from print sources, while recent work has examined the search behavior of librarians
conducting online searches.
 Our experience indicates that user needs and expectations are very similar in the paper-based
and in the electronic environment:
1. Users' needs will continue to be what they long have been.
2. Users will want information reliably locatable and easily accessible.
3. In the electronic environment the need for access tools will be more evident
4. Users will expect information to be available that was placed in the library's care a long time
ago
5. they will expect that the integrity of the information they get from the library will be assured
AS IN THE PAPER-BASED ENVIRONMENT, DIGITAL SERVICES MUST BE PLANNED, IMPLEMENTED, AND

SUPPORTED” AND INSTEAD OF BEING THE ``GATEKEEPERS” TO MATERIAL, LIBRARIANS NOW FOLLOW
NEW DIRECTIONS:
 from library-centered to information-centered
 from the library as an institution to the library as an information provider, and the librarians as a
skilled information specialist functioning in an all-related information environment
 from using new technology for the automation of library functions to utilizing technology for the
enhancement of information access and delivery of items not physically contained within the four
walls of the library
 from library networking for information provision to area networking for all types of information
source providers
 Technology for producing and distributing information is useless without some way to locate,
filter, organize and summarize it.
 A new profession of ``information managers'' will have to combine the skills of computer
scientists, librarians, publishers and database experts to help us discover and manage
information.
IN THE ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENT, LIBRARIAN’S ROLE COMPRISES AT LEAST THREE MAJOR WORKING
AREAS:
1. Information Access Provider:
-We provide access to the most important information resources on the network, making use of
current technologies (WWW or its successor).
-Electronic resources must be organized in a logical, easily understandable manner,

integrating documents and services that belong logically together.
- The purpose of value-added services like subject-oriented clearinghouses is ``not only

to save the researcher time and effort in searching for appropriate sources in the v
vastly unordered, unstructured Internet, but also to provide him or her with a pre-
assessed, semi-ordered, annotated list of sites with activatable links which match or
supplement the targeted group's information needs.
2. Research Assistant:
-The second aspect of our role encompasses identifying, locating and obtaining publications
not owned or leased by the library.
-No resource, be it electronic or on paper, can be called ``complete'' today, and if we don't find
particular information on the Internet, this does not mean that it doesn’t exist.
- It is the librarian's duty to know which additional sources can be queried to make a search as
complete as possible.
- Publications ``not imbedded in a formal journal context as well as electronic equivalents to

today's ``grey literature'' need to be retrieved, which requires the librarian's experience in locating
information as well as technological skills.
- Research assistance in this sense also includes helping our users to become familiar with
handling new technologies.
-Various methods for providing user support for networked library services can be
developed, for instance distance support (by telephone or e-mail), printed or online
manuals, and on-screen instructions. Face-to-face end-user training already has become an
important part of our work.
3. Collaborative System Designer:

-Librarians are in direct contact with users of information retrieval systems.
-Often users report difficulties to us which they encountered while using a system, or we
recognize what needs to be redesigned while we are explaining a system to our users.
-When IT departments design new databases, application programs and user interfaces for us, we
must be able to explain precisely to them ``how language works and how to use layout, typography and
design principles'' in order to provide the required functionality.
-The information flood can only be mastered with appropriate tools that are capable of matching
user needs with the available information, no matter whether these tools will be operated by
librarians or users in the end.

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THE CONCEPT OF SEARCH STRATEGY

• What is known about what is wanted

• What resources are available

• How those resources are constructed

• What is known about the structure of those resources.

MODELS OF SEARCH PROCESS

Critical Component in Search Strategy

TRACE- Bates tactic for search process

THE ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENT

 Early research focused primarily on patterns displayed by reference librarians answering

1. Users' needs will continue to be what they long have been.

2. Users will want information reliably locatable and easily accessible.

AS IN THE PAPER-BASED ENVIRONMENT, DIGITAL SERVICES MUST BE PLANNED, IMPLEMENTED, AND

 from library-centered to information-centered

1. Information Access Provider:

-Electronic resources must be organized in a logical, easily understandable manner,

- The purpose of value-added services like subject-oriented clearinghouses is ``not only

- Publications ``not imbedded in a formal journal context as well as electronic equivalents to

3. Collaborative System Designer:

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