Librarians vs. Automation

Carolyn WeberLucio CampanelliWill Hohyon Ryu

What Librarians Do• Public Services Librarian• Technical Service Librarian• Acquisitions/Serials Librarian• Cataloging Librarian

What Computers can Do• Public Services Librarian– People use computers to find books.

• Technical Service Librarian– They work for computers

• Acquisitions/Serials Librarian– Computers can decide what to buy or not us-

ing automated statistics

• Cataloging Librarian– Automatic Index and Automatic Classification

(It seems…)

We do not need librarians anymore!• Automatic Indexing

– No need to make a catalog

• Automatic Classification– Even assigning Dewey Codes can be done by librar-

ians

• Vocabulary Control– Limits the range of words used– No creative actions!

• Automatic Abstracting– Computers provide information that librarians

don’t.

21c Luddites?

Let’s see what they can do.

Automatic Indexing• Definition–When the assignment of the content

identifiers is carried out with the aid of modern computing equipment the operation becomes automatic index-ing.

Procedure of Automatic Indexing

Extracts Index Terms

managefunction

departmentreviewbudget

periodically

Term Book

manage Book 2, 3

function Book 3

depart-ment

Book 1

review Book 1, 2

budget Book 2, 3

periodi-cally

Book 2

Produces an Index Table

No Catalogers Anymore• Isn’t Google Books better than

WorldCAT?

Automatic Classification• Find a right category of a book.• Involves machine learning algo-

rithms: SVM, Neural Network, Naïve Bayes Theorem

Procedure of AI’s Automatic Classification Learning

Analyzes Index Terms

Book Term Classification

Book 1 Review, budget, pe-riodically, Manage

Book 2 Horticul-ture, flower, tulip

Book 3 Dog, cat, organ, lung

Suggests Classification

Library Management

Procedure of AI’s Automatic Classification

Analyzes Index Terms

Book Term Classification

Book 1 Review, budget, pe-riodically, Manage

Library Management

Book 2 Horticul-ture, flower, tulip

Botany

Book 3 Dog, cat, organ, lung

Zoology

Suggests Classification

Computers can assign Dewey Codes!

• Based on full text - Librarians can’t• Additional weight on the title and au-

thors• Give librarians suggestions

Vocabulary Control

Definition of Vocabulary Control• The standardization of indexing and

the labeling of items for future refer-ence. The systematic selection of preferred terms. (Davis and Rush)

• A limited set of terms that must be used to represent the subject matter of documents (Lancaster)

What is a information retrieval the-saurus?

• Term applied in the 1950’s.• A tool used for the subject indexing of documents• Primary arrangement is alphabetical• Helps indexers choose between synonyms and

near synonyms when they occur• Cross references help navigate the vocabulary

and select the suitable terms• Often used for indexing in databases or as a

source of subject metadata

Origin and development of the the-saurus

• Formal standards began the early 20th century– Library of Congress Subject Headings– Sears’ Subject Headings for a Small Li-

brary

SnailsUF Land Snails

LandsnailsBT GastropodaNT Edible snails

Freshwater snailsIntroduced snailsLimpetsProsobrachia

Why are Thesauri Impor-tant?

• Headings can be used to organize physical files if required

• Can be used as a search tool• Can help to formulate and modify searches

without being seen by the searcher• Can function as a browse and navigation

tool• Is a source of subject metadata for digital

library resources

Example of Thesauri use in Proquest:

Project: Thesauri for Zines• Definition of a zine “a small, handmade amateur publication

done purely out of passion, rarely making a profit or break-ing even.” -Factsheet Five

• Have to be manually created– “alternative” culture & terms– New materials handled by libraries– Local collection: Queer Zine Archive Project

Digital Library

Example of a Zine & Subject Thesauri

Zine One

Zine One Thesauri

Zine Two

Zine Two Thesauri

Zine Three

Zine Three Thesauri

Zine Four

Zine Four Thesauri

Questions to Ponder….• What are the benefits or disadvantages to

providing a thesauri for digital libraries?• As libraries and publishers become more

automated, is this the best solution for all types of materials? Why or why not?

• Zines are one type of alternative material which libraries are turning to manual the-saurus construction to provide more effec-tive searching for users. Can you think of any other media or materials that may also require manual thesaurus construc-tion?

Lucio’s Part goes here• Suggested Topics:– How Well Automatic Summary Works–What Automatic Summary can do in li-

braries

• You can ignore the suggestions en-tirely!

What do you think we can do?

References•