CSA Illustrata: Natural Sciences Providing Leadership in Deep Indexing

Dan Dyer

CSA

ddyer@csa.com

Today’s discussion

• DEEP INDEXING: a new approach to indexing the scholarly literature

• How response from researchers shaped CSA Illustrata: Natural Sciences

• How CSA Illustrata enhances existing library services and changes the way users approach research questions

Why index Tables and Figures?

• They contain important and valuable information– Figures and tables represent the distilled

essence of research – the closest thing to raw datasets

• Researchers want access to data

• They are invisible

Reasons why data is hidden in traditional searches

1. Data variables do not appear in any index.– there are no indexing ‘hooks’ in title, abstract or

caption for “dissolved oxygen”, below.

2. A search of the full text bypasses the image files

– text in tables & figures is considered an image, not searchable text

Table 1. Depth, physico-chemical and sedimentological variables.

Reasons why data is hidden in traditional searches

3. Data can be hidden within a large result set– A search for wind stress and Pacific produces:

a) >1,900 generally valuable results or…. b) or a highly targeted subset

vs.

Reasons why data is hidden in traditional searches

4. False Hits – an article may mention wind stress and Pacific in a general way, but may not actually contain the data of interest

Deep Indexing of data summaries would make them visible and retrievable

• Deep Indexing involves:– Identification of tables and figures (images,

charts, maps, etc.) found within a scholarly article

– Extraction and indexing of data surrounding the table or figure to provide indexing for each image

Deep Indexing provides• An image of the Figure or Table

• Full caption

• Article citation with link to full abstract

• Category (Graph, Satellite Image, …)

• Subject, taxonomic, geographic and statistical descriptor terms taken from caption, data variable labels and surrounding text

• Units for subject variables

• Link to Full Text

Deep Indexing – Abstract Record

Abstract Recordenhanced with:

•Objects thumbnails•Captions•Index terms•Link to Object DB•Other metadata

Abstract Record

Thumbnails of all tables and figures

displayed

Click on Figure

for Object Record

Deep Indexing Object Record

Objects Recordincludes:

•Full image •Captions•Index terms•Link to full text•Other metadata

•FULL OBJECT RECORD

Publisher attribution

Object Descriptors

Preliminary Market Research Indicated a Need for:

• Researchers to find “New” relevant information

• Save time

• Enhanced cross-disciplinary research

What Researchers Currently Do

• Search for photographs and maps more than tables, figures or graphs

• Use Google most often

• Level of satisfaction with traditional searches consistently rated low– locating objects is “difficult”– “in general, academic figures, tables, and graphs

are not available to search”

In depth market research: final report available at info.csa.com/csaillustrata

Carol Tenopir and Robert SanduskyUniversity of Tennesseectenopir@utk.eduweb.utk.edu/~tenopir/

Enhanced Searching through Deep Indexing: Scientists’ Reaction

"Overwhelmingly, respondents said the ability to

search for specific types of objects would make a

difference in their search and discovery processes…

... save time

... work more efficiently

... aid in presentations

... find more relevant results."

Tenopir, C., & Sandusky, R.J. (2006). The Value of CSA Deep Indexing for Researchers - Draft Final Report

Researcher Response …

They also told us…

• Quality of the tables was PARAMOUNT.

• Linking to the full text was crucial since they would not use an image unless they were sure of the context.

• They wanted to see a list of articles as well as a list of relevant objects

• As a result of their responses, many changes were made to CSA Illustrata.

Searching CSA Illustrata

• You can enter the database through the traditional abstracts search interface, or directly

• When using the traditional abstracts interface, the search results will be flagged to indicate objects are available

• Advanced searches in both options will allow you to search within figure captions, article vs. object descriptors, and so on.

Search Specificity:

Traditional Abstracts Search Results will include “pinkies”

Results from a direct search of objects includes thumbnails

Both search paths will lead to enhanced abstract records containing thumbnails of all objects in the article…

Full display available in main “Object Record”

Publisher Attribution:

Current publisher status• Over worldwide 1,100 journal titles included at launch

• Working on 10-yr back files (some back to 1890)

• Continued focus on publisher agreements:Agreements Under Discussion:Akadémiai KiadóAmerican Assoc. for the Advance. of

Sci.American Assoc. of Petroleum

GeologistsAmerican Geophysical UnionAmerican Meteorological SocietyAmerican Society for MicrobiologyASLOBrill - Martinus Nijhoff, etc.EDP SciencesElsevier ScienceEmerald Group Publ Ltd

Agreements Completed:BioOneBioMedCentralBlackwell PublishingCambridge University

PressGeological Soc. of

AmericaOxford University PressNat’l Res. Council

CanadaSpringer-VerlagTaylor & FrancisWalter de Gruyter

Haworth PressIOPIOS PressInderScience Institute of PhysicsJohn Wiley & SonsLippincottSAGE PublicationsUniversity of Chicago Press

Researchers identified many potential uses

• To find relevant articles researchers would not otherwise find

• To retrieve and use images

• To compare their work with others’

• To support meta-analysis

• Prepare teaching/lecture/presentation materials

Potential Use: To find articles they would otherwise miss

• “Sometimes tables, figures, maps, etc. are ‘hidden’ in other papers. This search tool gives me the opportunity to find these items too”

• “…possibility to find information that might be unnoticed in a traditional database”

• “…ability to find data that may not be reflected in the title and abstract of the article”

Potential use: Prepare teaching/ lecture/presentation materials

• Incorporating tables and figures directly into presentation software

• “Useful to show students the main point of a paper”

• “Show students what microorganisms look like”

• Guidance in Table/Figure design

CSA Illustrata in summary

• Provides through Deep Indexing an innovative approach to locating information in the scholarly literature

• Multidisciplinary content• International in scope• Can be searched alone or combined with

other CSA databases• Intuitive interface designed with researcher

input

In Summary: Benefit to LibrariesThe first innovation in indexing in over 40 yearsBrings additional value to expensive electronic collections to which the library has subscribedAdditional information content unique to CSA Illustrata Users are lead directly to the specific and relevant parts within the text of an article.Useful for answering reference questionsIntuitive interface makes user education easy

In Summary: Benefits to Researchers

Find research material that would have been lost in general article indexing or searching all the full textSave time because they can target searches to locate the information most relevant to their work Browse categories of objects (e.g. all graphs containing a particular variable; all tables listing a specific element; etc.) Make visual presentations for conference presentations or teaching purposes easy

CSA Illustrata: Natural Sciences

• First of several CSA Illustrata offerings• Launch: 15 January 2007• http://info.csa.com/csaillustrata website

– Carol Tenopir’s White Paper

– Various CSA Executive PowerPoint Presentations

– Educational brochure

– Full journal list

– Training PowerPoint presentation created for Librarians

CSA Illustrata

Leader in Deep Indexing