Sara, I mean Librarian-in-Black, responded to my entry about subject searching. She asked, “Is it better to give them the option, as it is an option? Or to remove it, as it confuses most (if not all) patrons? I don’t have an answer. I wish I did.”
I have the answer. Remove it. Hide it. Take the bullets out of the gun, put the gun on one shelf and the bullets on another, so you can only get to the weapon if you need it. It’s specialized knowledge.
Once upon a time at MPOW, we had subject searching on the main page. Our search logs made it clear that misunderstanding subject searching had tragic results in LII. I directed the removal of the subject search option on the main page (even despite one or two folks who implied by doing so I would Let The Terrorists Win). Failed subject searches dropped by more than half.
Actually, we removed ALL scoped searches from the main page, and what I didn’t realize is that searching would overall improve.
Users were assuming that by “subject” we were speaking their language, not some arcane lingo specific to describing books. “What’s the subject” means something different to a librarian.
Users were also assuming that if a search didn’t work, scoping it would improve things. That was a reasonable assumption. If you offer a tool, it has to help, right? So if a search doesn’t work, press another button. That’s smart behavior. Unfortunately, it didn’t help them across the gulf of execution; it made things worse.
Subject searching is still in MPOW, in Advanced Search, where it belongs. We have a lot of search issues at LII, by the way, that are very much not a problem with the users themselves. If my broader readership is interested (that would be what, five of you?), I’ll write more about them.
Users aren’t stupid. Users are on the hunt for clues from their environment. If you put subject searching on the main catalog page, a user has every reason you expect he or she can use it to find things. You’ve tested it, right, and you know that… right?
Posted on this day, other years:
- Zero Percent - 2007
- "New MPOW" Search Not Working - 2005
- We're All Newbies Some of the Time - 2005
Hi there,
When I first read your posting my gut reaction was that you were belittling the value of Subject searching. But, as you wrote, it’s not that Subject searching is ineffective, it’s that it doesn’t get used as well as it could be. And as I thought more about this matter in terms of LII I realized it’s not a big issue and all that’s really happened is that Subject searching is no longer a button on the homepage.
To go a little deeper it seems to me that there are a few issues here:
1. Just because Subject searching isn’t being used to its full advantage, that is not reason enough for Subject searching to be shelved and hidden. Subject searching can be very useful in returning aggregated results. This point is moot for LII because it’s really not that deeply hidden because:
a. Subject searching is still available in the advanced search.
b. Search results include Subject results.
c. A large percentage of the front page of LII is still dedicated to browsing by subject.
Having said that….
2. Internet subjects can be used differently from traditional LC and other subject schemas. Online Subject ontologies allow for us to make Subject searching both “accurate” and easy to use because we can point users through multiple paths to the same record. NT, BT, RT can all be linked in search results making it one step easier for users.
3. Search engines (and LII) don’t build the searching interfaces with Subject search in mind; they are built for Keyword searches. And Keyword searching, although ultimately more powerful and therefore useful than Subject searching, is definitely different in that recall is so much higher. In previous editions of LII’s homepage you could search by Keyword, Subjects, Titles, Descriptions and Links, but users are trained to only do Keyword searches and so without providing separate interfaces – or differentiating contextualization to emphasize field searching – users will simply do Keyword searches. It was probably the right move at LII to remove the other field searches from the homepage while still keeping them in Advanced Search. Though I think one possibility for LII is to change the terminology of “Subject” to something that will more accurately convey to online searchers what to expect, such as “Broad Subject Search” or “Thematic Search” –well, actually that sounds too information sciencish, but in any case, changing the terminology to something that is not synonymous, that is to say “Subject,” in most searchers’ minds with Keywords.
Anyhow, just my thoughts on this topic. And as long as LII keeps Subject searching in the Advanced Search and includes Subjects in search results, I’ll be happy!
Thanks,
Chris.