SearchLight

SearchLight Technical Overview and Credits

Credits

The California Digital Library wishes to thank the following library staff at UC San Diego for their work on Database Advisor (DBA) which formed the basis of SearchLight: Christy Hightower, Jennifer Reiswig, Susan Berteaux, Neil Spring and Scott Petersen. The UCSD library staff generously shared DBA's basic concept, search strategies, and programming. They also contributed advice, design suggestions and practical solutions. Without their pioneering efforts and support, SearchLight would not have been possible.

In addition, the following members of the project team contributed ideas, specifications and programming to further enhance SearchLight: Roy Tennant and Camille Wanat (UCB); Steve Mitchell and Margaret Mooney (UCR); Ann Hubble and Sue Chesley (UCSC); Marsha Fanshier, Christy Hightower, and Susan Starr (UCSD); Nancy Gusack Crawford, Patricia Cruse, Laine Farley, Lynne Grigsby-Standfill and Brian Warling, (CDL).

Technical Overview and Known Problems

This page explains the technical search strategies used for SearchLight. In the future, information will be available on the fields searched for each resource in SearchLight. For help in formulating the best search strategy to meet your needs, consult the help files provided by the resource you have chosen. Your own use of these resources may produce results that differ from SearchLight's if your use a different search strategy. Please note: SearchLight is an experimental resource and is under continual development. From time to time, users may experience unforeseen delays or error conditions when using it. The CDL is eager to receive feedback about SearchLight, and will attempt to resolve any questions or difficulties that users encounter.

Our goal in designing these search strategies was to achieve an equivalent search of title words, abstract words and subject terms, when available, in each resource. This strategy was not always possible because of the differences in the fields available to search and the way in which each resource searches these fields.

To achieve uniformity across resources, SearchLight's search strategies are by necessity rather generic. In many cases, more precise searches can be performed in each resource. SearchLight guides you in choosing a resource, but it does not perform the most precise search possible. We recommend that you refine your search as appropriate for each resource you use.

There are two types of resources that SearchLight searches. The search strategy for each type is described below. A list of databases that fall into each category will be provided in the future.

Z39.50 - This is a type of database request protocol. It is specialized for retrieving data and also provides a fast way of searching. All resources accessed via Z39.50 are searched the same way.

  • Z39.50 Search Strategy

    FIND ANY/P:A/S:WORD_L/T:100 word1 AND ANY/P:A/S:WORD_L/T:100 word2...
    FIND ANY: Find using the indexing protocol ANY (subject, title, abstract)
    P = Position: A=Any place in the field (first word, second word, etc....)
    S = Structure: WORD_L = Word List
    T= Truncation: 100 = Off

  • Databases Searched by Z39.50

    ABI/INFORM Global
    Anthropological Literature
    Art Abstracts 1984-
    Art Index Retrospective 1929-1984
    Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
    Bibliography of the History of Art
    BIOSIS Previews
    Chicano database
    English Short Title Catalogue
    Foreign Legal Periodicals
    FRANCIS
    Georef
    History of Science and Technology
    Index to Nineteenth-Century American Art Periodicals
    Inside Information
    INSPEC
    Expanded Academic ASAP
    PubMed
    MLA Bibliography
    PAIS
    PsycINFO
    RILM
    RLG Union Catalog
    Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies
    SCIPIO
    WorldCat

Web Search Strategies - The keyword search searches for any of the search terms in the subject, title, and abstract fields. Each of the search terms must be present in at least one field, but need not be present in all fields. Because most web resources search each field separately, it is difficult to duplicate this search without multiple searches on the same topic. At times, we were forced to AND the search terms together and perform a boolean OR between the search fields. This strategy requires that all the words appear in at least one field, which is more restrictive than the usual keyword search. We hope that this will yield the best results for the user. Specific strategies for each resource will be provided soon.

Known Problems - If a resource changes the way its underlying structure or the way its interface presents search options and results, the search strategy may no longer work. Resources also have occasional technical difficulties that may prevent searches from executing. We regularly monitor error reports for problems. However, if a problem persists, please report it to us at cdl@www.cdlib.org or call the CDL Helpline at (510) 987-0555.

There are some situations which are known but cannot be addressed easily in this version of SearchLight, including the following:

  • Long searches: If a resource gives a warning message for a long search, SearchLight is unable to respond, so the search may not be able to complete.

  • Extraneous/irrelevant results: Given the broad search strategies used and the differences among resources in fields searched, irrelevant results may be retrieved for any search. Some resources take multiple word searches and drop off words that retrieve no results which can produce irrelevant results. Full text resources may also produce extraneous results. It may be possible to adjust search strategies for some resources that consistently produce problematic results.

Last updated: Wednesday, 19-Jan-2005 09:10:15 PST


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