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- Ihrmark, Daniel, 1993-, et al.
(author)
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Subject Indexing of LGBTQ+ Fiction in Sweden and China
- 2024
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In: Knowledge Organization for Resilience in Times of Crisis: Challenges and Opportunities. - Baden-Baden : Ergon-Verlag. - 9783987400476 ; , s. 379-384
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Subject indexing of LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, and ace) materials is often criticized for being too general and superficial, as general subject headings systems rarely provide the desirable depth and breadth. LGBTQ+ fiction is an even bigger problem because fiction is most often indexed only for genre, place, and time, while themes remain unaddressed. Thus, many readers look outside the library catalogue to identify LGBTQ+ titles in social medial, personal social networks, or web search engines. This exploratory study builds on the Queerlit database of over 1800 Swedish LGBTQ+ works of fiction which have been subject indexed using a dedicated thesaurus. It aims to identify and discuss how Queerlit subject terms compare with those in the Swedish Union Catalogue (Libris), the social cataloguing website Goodreads as well as the Google Books API. In addition, subject access to LGBTQ+ works of fiction in China is discussed, particularly via Douban, the social networking platform.
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| 2. |
- Golub, Koraljka, Professor, 1975-, et al.
(author)
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Online subject searching of humanities PhD students at a Swedish university
- 2023
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In: Journal of Documentation. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 0022-0418 .- 1758-7379. ; 79:7, s. 308-329
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- PurposeThis exploratory study aims to help contribute to the understanding of online information search behaviour of PhD students from different humanities fields, with a focus on subject searching.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology is based on a semi-structured interview within which the participants are asked to conduct both a controlled search task and a free search task. The sample comprises eight PhD students in several humanities disciplines at Linnaeus University, a medium-sized Swedish university from 2020.FindingsMost humanities PhD students in the study have received training in information searching, but it has been too basic. Most rely on web search engines like Google and Google Scholar for publications' search, and university's discovery system for known-item searching. As these systems do not rely on controlled vocabularies, the participants often struggle with too many retrieved documents that are not relevant. Most only rarely or never use disciplinary bibliographic databases. The controlled search task has shown some benefits of using controlled vocabularies in the disciplinary databases, but incomplete synonym or concept coverage as well as user unfriendly search interface present hindrances.Originality/valueThe paper illuminates an often-forgotten but pervasive challenge of subject searching, especially for humanities researchers. It demonstrates difficulties and shows how most PhD students have missed finding an important resource in their research. It calls for the need to reconsider training in information searching and the need to make use of controlled vocabularies implemented in various search systems with usable search and browse user interfaces.
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