[SAC-FAST] SAC FAST assignment

Wed Jan 4 08:57:13 EST 2006

[Qiang: I'm going to try to send this in an email rather than as an attachment but it may go kerflewey in the ether. Hope not, and happy new year! --Sherman]

LIS 2406: Subject Analysis                                                                           Due: Wednesday, June 22

A.G. Taylor                                                                                                                  Summer 2005

FAST Assignment

For the following you will use a test database constructed for the purposes of this project.  The database includes all WorldCat records within Library Science very broadly defined (all DDC

000 and LC A & Z).  The database and its search interface are found at:

http://fast.oclc.org/Pitt.html

The userID and password are both PittGuest.

Part I.

1.  Search for the topic of Newspapers in your home state.  Search using the "FAST Subject" tab and do another search using the "LC Subject" tab.  

2.  Which state did you search?  How many results are found for each search tab? RHODE ISLAND; FAST = 6 HITS; LCSH = 2 HITS 

2.  Compare the results and if they are different, explain why they are different.  LCSH HAPPENED TO FIND HITS WHERE THE TWO TERMS WERE IN THE SAME HEADING; FAST FOUND THREE THAT ONLY HAD "R.I." IN LCSH; FAST FOUND ONE NEWSPAPER ABOUT RHODE ISLAND THAT WAS PUBLISHED IN PENNSYLVANIA; SUMMARY = SPELLING OUT QUALIFIERS INCREASES RELEVANT HITS; DECONSTRUCTING LCSH MAY LEAD TO FALSE HITS

Part II.

1.  Select four topics of interest to you that would be found in this database (e.g., the topic of a paper you are to write for a class).  Please work independently so that as many different topics as possible will be represented in the collected results.  COMMUNISM, METADATA, HOMOSEXUALITY, WESTERN  

2.  Search each topic using both the "FAST Subject" tab and the "LC Subject" tab.  However, search two topics in FAST first and the other two topics in LC first.

QUESTION 3 REPEATED BELOW FOR EACH TERM

3A.  Answer the following questions for each topic:

            a.  What is the topic you searched?  COMMUNISM

            b.  Which tab did you use first, FAST or LC? LCSH

            c.  What search terms did you start with?  COMMUNISM - 858 HITS WITH LCSH; 851 WITH FAST

            d.  What steps did you take in revising your search?  ADDED "PERIODICALS"

            e.  How many records were retrieved in your final results set when searching FAST?  44 HITS (FIRST REFINED BY SELECTING FAST SUBDIVISION AND GOT 1 HIT; CHANGED TO FAST KEYWORD AND GOT 44)

            f.  How many records were retrieved in your final results set when searching LC?  44 HITS

g.  If the numbers of records are different in the results for FAST vs. the results for LC, explain why they are different.  IT IS INTERESTING TO ME THAT THE REFINED RESULTS ARE THE SAME NUMBER (I DID NOT TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHICH 7 RECORDS WERE NOT FOUND IN THE FIRST SEARCH IN FAST OVER LCSH)

3B.  Answer the following questions for each topic:

            a.  What is the topic you searched?  METADATA

            b.  Which tab did you use first, FAST or LC?  LCSH

            c.  What search terms did you start with?  METADATA: 8 HITS IN LCSH (SMALL ENOUGH RESULTS TO JUST LOOK AT RESULTS; ON 6 RECORDS, METADATA APPEARED ALONE, 2 WITH SUBDIVISION STANDARDS); 8 HITS IN FAST

            d.  What steps did you take in revising your search?  NOT APPLICABLE; SMALL ENOUGH RESULT SET TO ANALYZE WITHOUT REFINEMENT

            e.  How many records were retrieved in your final results set when searching FAST?  N/A

            f.  How many records were retrieved in your final results set when searching LC?  N/A

g.  If the numbers of records are different in the results for FAST vs. the results for LC, explain why they are different.  SINCE THE HEADING APPEARS ALONE OR AS LEAD TERM IN SUBJECT HEADING, THE RESULTS ARE THE SAME

3C.  Answer the following questions for each topic:

            a.  What is the topic you searched?  HOMOSEXUALITY

            b.  Which tab did you use first, FAST or LC?  FAST

            c.  What search terms did you start with?  HOMOSEXUALITY  (FAST = 130; LCSH = 132) (DIDN'T ANALYZE WHICH 2 WEREN'T FOUND BY FAST)

            d.  What steps did you take in revising your search?  ADDED "MARRIAGE" AS SUBJECT KEYWORD

            e.  How many records were retrieved in your final results set when searching FAST?  2

            f.  How many records were retrieved in your final results set when searching LC?  3

g.  If the numbers of records are different in the results for FAST vs. the results for LC, explain why they are different.   ONE OF THE LCSH HITS HAS A SUBJECT HEADING WHICH SEEMS NOT TO HAVE "TRANSLATED" TO FAST (RECORD ID = 56479977 HAS FOLLOWING 65X'S; DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO FIRST LCSH IN FAST) 

      650  0 Same-sex marriage   $x Religious aspects   $x Episcopal Church. 

      650  0 Homosexuality   $x Religious aspects   $x Episcopal Church. 

      650  7 Homosexuality   $x Religious aspects   $x Episcopal Church   $2 fast 

3D.  Answer the following questions for each topic:

            a.  What is the topic you searched?   WESTERN 

            b.  Which tab did you use first, FAST or LC?  FAST

            c.  What search terms did you start with?  WESTERN (FAST = 1208; LCSH = 726)

            d.  What steps did you take in revising your search?   ADDED "WYOMING" AS SUBJECT KEYWORD

            e.  How many records were retrieved in your final results set when searching FAST?  6

            f.  How many records were retrieved in your final results set when searching LC?  4 (TWO OF THE OCCURRENCES OF "WESTERN" WERE IN 655 WITH "gsafd" SO THEY WERE NOT INCLUDED IN LCSH  SEARCH)

g.  If the numbers of records are different in the results for FAST vs. the results for LC, explain why they are different.  NOT ALL HITS WERE "WESTERN" IN THE SENSE I ANTICIPATED (ONE HAD 650 "Education $z Western Hemisphere" AND FAST WITH SAME WORDS IN TWO HEADINGS; ANOTHER WAS "WESTERN SILVERY MINNOW")

Part III.

1.  For two of your topics from Part II, search each topic through the FAST Authority File (indirect search).  Compare the results with what you found in Part II.  NOT SURE ABOUT THIS PART; I SEARCHED MY FIRST TERM AND IT GIVES AN OPPORTUNITY TO "VIEW BIB RECORDS" (COMMUNISM 660; METADATA 8; HOMOSEXUALITY 100) - NO SINGLE "WESTERN" AUTHORITY RECORD ANALYZED SINCE THERE WERE 1967, NOT ALL BUT MOSTLY CORPORATE NAMES - WITH REFINEMENT TERMS: PERIODICALS 1981 (CLEARLY EXPLICIT HEADING/SUBDIVISION RECORDS GREATLY INCREASED THIS NUMBER); WYOMING 1281 WITH A LOT BEING CORPORATE BODIES AND GEOGRAPHIC HIERARCHIES; GEOGRAPHIC HIERARCHIES START AT 810 SO MAYBE 400 HEADINGS HAVE "WYOMING" IN FAST THAT WOULD ONLY HAVE "WYO." IN LCSH; OF COURSE YOU COULD TRAIN YOUR LCSH SEARCH ENGINE TO EXPAND QUALIFIERS)

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