[Wactclc-primo] [External]Re: primo/cataloging oddity

[Herman, Amy]

Interesting.  Thanks!  That makes sense as far as a guess as to what's happening. Not sure I like it bringing back irrelevant results based on a book we don't own.  But still interesting...

Amy Herman
Library Faculty | Olympic College
1600 Chester Avenue | Bremerton, WA 98337
aherman at olympic.edu<mailto:aherman at olympic.edu> | 360-475-7256

[alma signature]


From: Wactclc-primo <wactclc-primo-bounces at lists.ctc.edu> On Behalf Of Guidry, Wade
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2019 9:16 AM
To: 'WACTCLC Primo discussions' <wactclc-primo at lists.ctc.edu>
Subject: [External]Re: [Wactclc-primo] primo/cataloging oddity

Interesting. Good observation.

Here's my guess...

Michael Newton, who wrote those first few books listed, also wrote a book called 'Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology'.

I'm guessing that Primo is reacting to a one word search, especially while filtered to 'available in the library.'

So, that title connection to Michael Newton is made, and his other books are provided in the results. I'm not sure of the underlying mechanics here. But some function of the relevance and boost algorithms in use.

If you don't filter to 'available in the library', those titles are still in the results, but appear "under the fold".

If you add an additional term to the search, like 'cryptozoology animals', those results disappear completely. And, in the case of 'available in the library', I only get one result.

So, it does look like Primo is giving itself some additional latitude with that one word search, maybe based on what is considered as ambiguity of desired results by the search algorithm.

When I have time, I'll see if I can find a more definitive answer.


Wade Guidry
WACTCLC
Library Consortium Services Manager
wadeg at bigbend.edu<mailto:wadeg at bigbend.edu>
http://www.wactclc.org<http://www.wactclc.org/>
509.760.4474


From: Wactclc-primo [mailto:wactclc-primo-bounces at lists.ctc.edu] On Behalf Of Herman, Amy
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2019 3:51 PM
To: WACTCLC Primo discussions <wactclc-primo at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-primo at lists.ctc.edu>>
Subject: [Wactclc-primo] primo/cataloging oddity

So this may be more of a cataloging question but we came across it in Primo...

When we do a Primo search for [cryptozoology] and limit to "Available in the library" we get 7 book results.  Results #5, 6, & 7 all have that search term in a notes field in the MARC record and are books we'd expect to see.  However results #1-4 have nothing to do with the topic (see screenshot below) and all sound somewhat violent. The search term is nowhere in the MARC records of these results.  Any ideas why Primo thinks these four results are the most relevant? Does it have some sort of internal invisible thesaurus?


[cid:image004.jpg at 01D5694C.69974550]

Amy Herman
Library Faculty | Olympic College
1600 Chester Avenue | Bremerton, WA 98337
aherman at olympic.edu<mailto:aherman at olympic.edu> | 360-475-7256

[alma signature]


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