THE EXACT-DISPLAY APPROACH FOR ONLINE CATALOG SUBJECT SEARCHING

When public catalog users enter queries that exactly match the catalog 's controlled vocabulary, online systems should respond with browsing lists of alphabetically arranged subject headings, because such displa ys guide users to retrievals based on the assignment of the matched su bject headings to bibliographic records. Unfortunately, studies of onl ine catalog searching demonstrate that alphabetical displays are no lo nger capable of managing large numbers of subdivided forms of subject headings, because searchers exhibit low levels of perseverance when fa ced with large numbers of retrievals. This paper introduces a new appr oach to displaying retrieved subject headings in subject searching-the exact-display approach-designed to encourage users to browse bibliogr aphic information. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the impor tance of the exact-display approach by showing how many user queries w ould be candidates for this approach, demonstrate an implementation of the exact-display approach in an experimental online catalog, and fea ture end-user experiences with this approach as implemented in the exp erimental catalog. End-user experiences gave the authors the opportuni ty to make several recommendations for enhancing the original design o f the exact-display approach so that future implementations of this ap proach in operational online catalogs are responsive to the needs of o nline catalog users. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd