WorldCat and ERICFirstSearch Database: Examining Each Search Engine's Results

There are many databases that librarians use to find information. Two useful ones are ERICFirstSearch and WorldCat. When using these databases we are initially asked a question from a patron that we examine, breakdown, and start the search. One(Mine) appears like so:
"I'm building a new collection for an academic library at a university for undergraduate students, where can I find materials on planets and exoplanets to create this collection?"

I choose this question because it relates to the purpose of the blog as well as reflecting collection development, which is another course that I am taking. It's also a favorite subject of mine. The next step is to identify the facets(key terms) from the statement.
I'm building a new collection for an academic library at a university for undergraduate students, where can I find materials on planets and exoplanets to create this collection?

This is a breakdown using the facets to develop initial terms and using the database to find good searching terms. Using the database you can obtain terms to search better with. The next step is to create a formula from Boolean logic and it reads as so:

SS1= (Planets and Extrasolar Planets OR Space Sciences OR Physics OR Physical Science OR Astronomy OR Astrophysics) AND (Library Collection Development OR Printed Materials OR Reference Materials OR Research Tools OR Nonprint Media) AND (Academic Library OR Research Library OR College Library OR Undergraduate Students OR College).

This equation is searched under "subject" and appears on ERIC search as: SS1= (su: Planets and (su: Extrasolar and su: Planets) OR (su: Space and su: Sciences) OR su: Physics OR (su: Physical and su: Science) OR su: Astronomy OR su: Astrophysics) and ((su: Library and su: Collection and su: Development) OR (su: Printed and su: Materials) OR (su: Reference and su: Materials) OR (su: Research and su: Tools) OR (su: Nonprint and su: Media)) and ((su: Academic and su: Library) OR (su: Research and su: Library) OR (su: College and su: Library) OR (su: Undergraduate and su: Students) OR su: College)


The search results were not on point. They did not meet the needs of the patron. There was only 29 results:


The next step is to weed through the Boolean logic equation since the results were not completely successful. After mending the equation it will now read:




SS2= (Planets OR Extrasolar Planets OR Exoplanets OR Astrophysics) AND (Library Collection Development OR Printed Materials OR Nonprint Media OR Books) AND (Academic Library OR College Library OR Undergraduate Students).

No results for SS2! So, it's back to the drawing board:
SS3= (Planet OR Physics OR Astrophysics) AND (Collection Development OR Books OR Read OR Collection) AND (Academic Library OR College Library OR Library OR University).

For ERIC searching: SS3=(su: Planet OR su: Physics Or su: Astrophysics) and ((su: Collection and su: Development) OR su: Book OR su: Read OR su: Collection) and ((su: Academic and su: Library) OR (su: College and su: Library) OR su: Library OR su: University

The results were broad but useful. For this type of search maybe a different database would be more useful but there were still some good sources:

Sapp, Gregg. 1994. Science at the Ethical Frontier: Best Sci-Tech Books of 1993. Library Journal. 119 (4):52-56

Tabah, Albert N. 1995. Information Epidemics and Science Collections. Proceedings of the ASIS Annual Meeting. 32:127-36.

Now for WorldCat database system. After plugging in SS1= (Planets and Extrasolar Planets OR Space Sciences OR Physics OR Physical Science OR Astronomy OR Astrophysics) AND (Library Collection Development OR Printed Materials OR Reference Materials OR Research Tools OR Nonprint Media) AND (Academic Library OR Research Library OR College Library OR Undergraduate Students OR College) the results with WorldCat were, once again, too broad like ERICFirstSearch is:


Unfortunatley, I'm not looking for Singapore history. Time to revise the equation so that our results will be better.

The next step is to plug in SS2= (Planets OR Extrasolar Planets OR Exoplanets OR Astrophysics) AND (Library Collection Development OR Printed Materials OR Nonprint Media OR Books) AND (Academic Library OR College Library OR Undergraduate Students).

No results!

Just the same with ERICFirstSearch!



Now for adding SS3= (Planet OR Physics OR Astrophysics) AND (Collection Development OR Books OR Read OR Collection) AND (Academic Library OR College Library OR Library OR University).


51 results!

The WorldCat equation reads as so: SS3=(su: Planet OR su: Physics OR su: Astrophysics) and ((su: Collection and su: Development) OR su: Books OR su: Read OR su: Collection) and ((su: Academic and su: Library) OR (su: College and su: Library) OR su: Library OR su: University) and ((dt= "bks") or (dt= "ser") or (dt= "mix") or (dt= "art") or (dt= "url"))


A few resources pop out with WorldCat that are useful for the patron:

Interlibrum (Firm), and Walter Alicke. 1980. Astronomy, aviation, astronautics, cosmology, pure and applied mathematics, mechanics, physics: a history of science miscellany from five centuries incl. early aerodynamics, electricity, engineering, hydraulics, photography, rocketry, space travel, television, etc., etc., etc. and a collection of important scientific periodical sets and some collected editions (nos. 319-370). Vaduz: Interlibrum.

Handbook of Space Astronomy and Astrophysics. Martin V. Zombeck. http://ads.harvard.edu/books/hsaa/.

University of Aberdeen. 1985. Guide to sources of information in physics. [Aberdeen]: Aberdeen University Library.

Success! Concluding this exercise, WorldCat provided a more in depth search that ERICFirstSearch even when using the equations SS1, SS2, and SS3. Depending on the search, the search engine hold the power to benefit your results. For this particular search Worldcat was better, in many others ERICFirstSearch is better.