database analysis bar to let ti
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
1/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 1
Information Science & Technology Abstracts
Robin Bartoletti
LS 5013-22
Texas Womens University
August 2, 2010
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
2/18
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
3/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 3
(ITI) sold Information Science Abstracts (ISSN: 0020-0239, $789
for 1 year in 2003) to EBSCO Publishing in 2003. The journal was
renamed Information Science & Technology Abstracts (ISTA).
Size ISTA indexes worldwide library and information science records
from more than 650 publications including journals, books,
research reports, and conference proceedings, with ongoing
comprehensive coverage of important periodicals in this field. The
database has been also includes cover-to-cover indexing and
abstracts for 80 core information science and technology titles. It
is the oldest continuously produced database covering the field of
information science. ISTA has about 170,400 records,
Types of DB Full Text is available though links to Library, Information Science
& Technology Abstracts (a free publically available database found
at http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/ )
Citations? Yes
Abstracts? Yes
Coverage dates Indexing: 1964-
Frequency of Updates: Bi-monthly; Some full-text publications
may have the most current 3-12 months in abstract only, due to
publisher restrictions.
Intended audience The audience for this database is English reading information
scientists and those in the related technologies such as GeoScience,
Computer Applications in Medical Care, Chemical Information,
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/ -
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
4/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 4
acquisition, cataloging and technical services. There are two non-
English journals indexed.
Coverage topics include:
Bibliometrics
Cataloging
Classification
Electronic Publishing
Information Management
Online Information Retrieval
Printed and Electronic Information Sources
Search Engines
Scholarly Communication
The Information Industry
Special contents/features Full-text and full-page versions, microfilm, microfiche, article and
issue photocopies; text with graphics, and page image PDF are all
available on a pay-per-view basis. Saving of PDF files is also
allowed through the EBSCO interface. Within EBSCO, you may
create a personalized folder for ISTA to save results and set up
regular content e-mail alerts. Individual results will display
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
5/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 5
citations in most commonly used styles as selected by the user.
You can follow EBSCO on Twitter,
(http://twitter.com/EBSCOPublishing) but not ISTA specifically.
Why/when do you use
this DB?
This database is most useful for locating citations and full text
conference proceedings, academic journals, magazines in
information sciences and related sub-fields.
What are the advantages
of using this DB instead
of Google or another
general Web search
engine?
As a Web searcher, it is often very challenging to find quality
content. There is often less-than-credible information on the
general web. ISTA has depth of coverage of that seems to be good
or very good in sample searches. Databases found in EBSCO such
as ISTA follow a Publishing Peer Review Policy that is lacking in
Google or other web search engines. EBSCO seems to be placing
them as the opposite extreme of Google, which often contains
citations when none exist. This database would often bridge the gap
between a search of Google and access to quality content by
infusing brief citation-only records and then linking to full records
via LISTA
http://twitter.com/EBSCOPublishinghttp://twitter.com/EBSCOPublishinghttp://twitter.com/EBSCOPublishing -
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
6/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 6
ISTA Indexing Language Part Two
The objective of an information retrieval database is to retrieve all the relevant
documents in response to a user search. In controlled representation language exhaustivity is the
average number of preferred terms (subject headings) selected from a controlled list in the
bibliographic record representing the item. Specificity is the degree to which the meaning of a
subject heading matches in breadth the major subjects of the item. For example, although the
Library of Congress subject heading "digital content" applies to a resource about creating digital
content of all kinds, the heading "digital media" describes the content more specifically
(Information Science & Technology Absctracts Thesaurus, 2009).
The Information Science & Technology Abstracts (ISTA) uses a both a natural
language for basic search, and controlled vocabulary for other searches. The thesauri in ISTA
with full text include 6,800 terms, 2,700 of which are preferred terms. The standard user
interface of EBSCO is used with the ISTA database, so you would see the latest features
deployed, such as the visual interface and the descriptor list in the sidebar. There are citedness
counts in some records below the title of articles. Most often you don't see any citedness count
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
7/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 7
because zero citedness is not reported. Relevancy rankings display the exact match to
requested term first, if one exists, followed by subject terms in order of relevance.
The first search I used was "digital content intending to locate information on the
creation and use of digital content. 443 results were returned. I next narrowed using the
additional term scholarly and year 2001 2010 by using a scrollbar to the right of the results.
The search returned 123 results. From the descriptor list to the left of the results, I narrowed the
search by selecting digital content and information storage & retrieval to find 13 results. Next
I chose the even narrower topic of digital content creation to get 6 results of which 3 were useful.
Some useful Related Terms (RT) examples:
MUSEUMS
LIBRARY materials Digitization
LIBRARY materials
LIBRARY information networks
Some useful Narrower Term (NT) examples:
Digital libraries
The exhaustivity and specificity of the database is largely based on the searchers skill at
determining key terms and concepts used in the thesaurus. In spite of some deficiencies, this is
an exceptionally useful database for professionals looking for most current articles on
library/information science and technology.
ISTA Search Features Part Three
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
8/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 8
The search features for ISTA are summarized in this section. The default index is
keyword and the user is able to search by document title and entire document under Basic
Search. ISTA uses Boolean AND, OR and NOT operators with Truncation and Wildcard in the
basic and advanced search. Field indexing, searching for the contents of a particular field, is
possible. For instance; an HTML title, HTML keywords, URL, text, or image file can be
searched. Advanced search offers a number of check-box and drop down-menu filters to limit the
search. The check boxes and drop-down menus are as follows.
Limit to documents with images
Publication type periodical, conference paper, book or newspaper
Number of pages only those items of a certain number of pages.
Limit by publication dates
Limit by publication titles
Limit by subject area
Limit to records with links to full text documents
Limit to peer-reviewed journals
Limit to document types
There are two additional checkboxes. One is meant to limit the search to cover stories
that has potential to limit the search to articles which are the main themes of an issue of a
journal. Since there do not appear to be such designation in ISTA the result will always be zero.
The other check-box can limit the search to records which have been enhanced by a list of cited
Specific search
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
9/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 9
references, as these can lead the users to records of closely related other articles. This option will
show items that have citations of a particular author, source, title or year. Some records in ISTA
will display Times Cited in this Database. If you click the times cited in hyperlink on a result,
the Citing Articles sub-tab presents a list of records that cite your original article. For example,
the result of the search string digital media or digital technology or digital content and
curriculum and use studies has 8 hits and is enhanced by one more cited reference. This feature
can be useful for having a good bibliography. The images below show a times cited search.
Results with times cited
Clicking on times cited link.
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
10/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 10
Search helps for the ISTA database are available though the EBSCOhost at
http://support.ebsco.com/. There is no specific help for the ISTA database in EBSCOhost.
EBSCOhost includes a documentation page with technical requirements and general help for all
of the EBSCOhost databases. A personalized folder may be created in any of the databases to
save results and set up regular content alerts. Individual results can be output in most commonly
used citation styles APA, AMA, Chicago, MLA, or Vancouver/ICMJE Style. The user may e-
mail, print or save citation results with some attachments as full-text publications. The outputs
are available are in html, text and Portable Document Format (PDF) or export to RefWorks.
Building Block sample search
Initially, a search was created in ISTA for digital content. The component facets are
digital, content, education, higher education. The terms for each facet are digital media, digital
technology, content, education, educational, educational curriculum, higher education, tertiary
education. A quick test for specific facet shows digital content or digital technology with 6504
hits. The building blocks for this search are:
Digital content or digital technology = s1
Education or educational or educational curriculum = s2
Higher education or tertiary education = s3
http://support.ebsco.com/http://support.ebsco.com/ -
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
11/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 11
Combining the building blocks with Boolean logic is shown in the image below and results in
556 hits.
S1 and S2 and S3 results
The results are filtered by linked full text, scholarly and peerreviewed ournals and to the ears 2000-2010 reultin in 6 useful
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
12/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 12
Useful Results from ISTA Building Block Search
Ford, K. (2009). Ambivalence towards convergence: digitalization and media change. Journal of
the American Society for Information Science & Technology, 60(2), 427-428.
Anderson, R., Arndell, M., & Christensen, S. (2009). Architecture studio archive: a case study in
the comprehensive digital capture and repository of student design work as an aid to
teaching, research and accreditation. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 40(4),
286-304. Retrieved from Information Science & Technology Abstracts (ISTA) database.
Mussinelli, C. (2009). Digital generation: overview of cultural and entertainment content usage
in Italy. Publishing Research Quarterly, 25(2), 94-100.
Mutula, S. (2008). Local content development projects in Africa. South African Journal of
Library & Information Science, 74(2), 105-115. Retrieved from Information Science &
Technology Abstracts (ISTA) database.
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
13/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 13
Salembier, P., & Benitez, A. (2007). Structure description tools. Journal of the American Society
for Information Science & Technology, 58(9), 1329-1337.
Marchionini, G., Wildemuth, B., & Geisler, G. (2006). The Open Video Digital Library: a
Mbius strip of research and practice. Journal of the American Society for Information
Science & Technology, 57(12), 1629-1643.
Conclusions about BB sample search
ISTA supports Boolean operators to combine the concepts in a building block search
strategy. If a search is needed for a phrase enter it inside quotation marks. For example, digital
content will find occurrences of these two words together and in that order. More relevant
results are achieved with the advanced search than the basic search. Misspellings are redirected
to possible correct terms. Misspelling of words as digitll content led to Did you mean:
digital content, digitally content, digit content as well as hints for searching.
The database is user friendly with help support from EBSCO. ISTA provides quick,
efficient retrieval of reference information using a building block search. The results are easily
navigated by novice and expert users. The building block search allows users to quickly view
article results and images based upon their needs. It offers the unique ability to locate graphics as
well as text. Advanced searching capabilities and CCL options are well adapted to advanced
searching techniques. Overall this database provides the combination of content and ease of use
to meet most users needs via the basic and building block searches.
Database Evaluation Tests
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
14/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 14
Coverage
About 400 periodical publications are designated by EBSCO as core journals of the ISTA
literature, and 165 publications with priority and selective coverage. ISTA has a smaller base of
periodical publications in comparison to others such as SocINDEX and LibLiT and does not
have as long retrospective coverage. The depth of coverage of ISTA seems to be good in a
sample search for the periodical Annual Review of Information Science and Technology
(ARIST). Putting just the title of the publication in the Source (SO) field resulted in 276 hits.
Replicating the search in LibLit and SocINDEX resulted in 0 hits.
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
15/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 15
Search results with no fields selected for digital and content are ISTA (2190), LibLit (682)
and SocINDEX (220).
Currency
While the retrospective coverage of ISTA is not as good as in LibLit and SocINDEX it is
current. There may be a time gap of several months after an article is published in print and an
indexing and abstracting record of it becomes available in a database. There seems to be
agreements between EBSCO for a direct feed from scholarly publishers for the most current
article citations. In some areas relating to technology and information science currency is more
important than the full text document. A search for digital AND content limited to the dates of
May-July 2010 resulted in 24 hits.
Predictability and Retrievability
Information is unpredictable. Information may mean a number of different things to
different users. If the retrieval utility of an information database suffers from low predictability,
the indexing of must have low utility (Enser, 1995). A database search can retrieve many items
that match a users stated request but may still be of little value to the user. ISTA does have more
results than either LibLit or SocINDEX for the sample searches performed, but the results are
less predictable and retrieveable. The information on the results page gives the subject headings
of the articles as well as title, author, publication and date. The user can click on the article link
to get more information. The use of the same search terms in a basic or advanced search resulted
in the same information. Re-arranging the facets for the search had no effect on the results.
Searching with misspelled words results in no items found.
Precision and Recall
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
16/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 16
On page 189, Chu (2003) defines precision = relevant documents retrieved/total number
of documents. Recall is supposed to measure how much you retrieve that is relevant (Chu, 70).
Results for ISTA Recall & Precision on the search digital AND content.
R: 45.9%
P: 3.9%
Value of ISTA
This is an exceptionally useful database for librarians and information professionals who
want open access to the largest and most current indexing/abstracting database on
library/information science and technology, as well as to half a million full text articles via
LISTA through EBSCO. For this database, keyword searches are more successful than controlled
vocabulary term lists. Doing more than one search always helped improve results. Many users
only do one search and stick to the top hits. For failed searches, the most common problems is
poor word choice and having too many limits. The database has good and detailed summaries of
each result and no large variations/fluctuations in the results from identical searches at different
Recall
100CollectioninItemsRelevantNumberTotal
RetrievedItemsRelevantofNumber
100*RetrievedItemsofNumberTotal
RetrievedItemsRelevantofNumber
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
17/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 17
times, except for retreiving new articles. The database is very easy to use and provides search
options for both novice and expert users. Overall this database is a ready and accurate weapon in
the librarians aresenal of information sources.
References
Chu, Heting. 2003. Information representation and retrieval in the digital age. Medford, NJ:
American Society for Information Science and Technology, ASIST monograph series
Ebsco Host Connection. Retrieved from http://connection.ebscohost.com/content/
EBSCO Publishing. Retrieved from http://www.ebscohost.com/
EBSCO Publishing Peer Review Policy. Retrieved from
http://www.ebscohost.com/thisTopic.php?topicID=396&marketID=
-
8/9/2019 Database Analysis Bar to Let Ti
18/18
Information Science & Technology Abstracts Bartoletti 18
Enser, P.G.B. 1995. Progress in Documentation: Pictorial Information Retrieval. Journal of
Documentation. 51(2): 126-170
Information Today. Retrieved from http://www.infotoday.com/
Information Science & Technology Thesaurus. (2009). Retrieved from
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/thesaurus?vid=2&hid=8&sid=bb81003c-cc48-4dfd-
8a97-593c9d9ec7a8%40sessionmgr10