Relevance feedback in a public access catalogue for a research library: Muscat at the Scott Polar Research Institute

• Published in: Program
• Main Authors: Porter, Martin, Galpin, Valerie
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Emerald 1988
• Subjects: Scott Polar Research Institute
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/eb046983; https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/eb046983/full/xml; https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/eb046983/full/html

This paper reports on the successful introduction of a sophisticated online catalogue system at the library of the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, using the Muscat program package. The system provides to both end‐users and library staff a choice between boolean searching on keywords and access using relevance feedback based on free text in English, mixed with UDC classification numbers. The system is implemented on an IBM 3084 computer. Significant benefits from the application of relevance feedback are reported with 10,000 records on file.