Library and Information Science Commons^™

Still A Lot To Lose: The Role Of Controlled Vocabulary In Keyword Searching, Tina Gross, Arlene G. Taylor, Daniel N. Joudrey

Library Faculty Publications

In their 2005 study, Gross and Taylor found that more than a third of records retrieved by keyword searches would be lost without subject headings. A review of the literature since then shows that numerous studies, in various disciplines, have found that a quarter to a third of records returned in a keyword search would be lost without controlled vocabulary. Other writers, though, have continued to suggest that controlled vocabulary be discontinued. Addressing criticisms of the Gross/Taylor study, this study replicates the search process in the same online catalog, but after the addition of automated enriched metadata such as tables …