Mike Waldman’s email message today about the upcoming change to the way EBSCOhost databases will show search results (a move from reverse date sorting to relevancy ranking) made me wonder which databases we have that show search results by date as the default and which ones sort by relevance by default. If there are some that sort by date by default, it is possible that Mike can change the settings to relevance.
Here’s a quick roundup of database sorting defaults. Please note that I haven’t included every database we have; just some of the big ones or the ones that use the same platform for access to multiple databases.
Sort by Date by Default
- Bearcat Search
- CUNY+
- EBSCOhost (this will change to relevance soon; Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, etc.)
- Factiva
- Gale InfoTrac (for some but not all databases: Academic OneFile, New York State Newspapers)
- ProQuest (ABI/INFORM Global, Alt Press Watch, Ethnic NewsWatchWall Street Journal, New York Times, etc.)
- Web of Science (Social Science Citation Index, Science Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index)
Sort by Relevance by Default
- Gale InfoTrac (for some but not all databases: Gale Virtual Reference Library, Opposing Viewpoints Reference Center, Literature Resource Center)
- LexisNexis Academic
- WilsonWeb (Library Literature, Reader’s Guide, etc.)
Should we make any changes to these default settings? Please post your comments here.
Although I was hopeful Lexis/Nexis changed its default sort feature to relevancy, Stephen and I ran a few searches to discover this is NOT the case unless the search retrieves “more than 3000 results”. Nonetheless, this is certainly a benefit to users who would otherwise have difficulty reviewing such a large number of results.
I am certainly supportive of changing the default sort feature to relevance ranking in our full-text databases. When teaching the information retrieval course or other classes, I often tell students that they have to change certain database settings to get databases to function more Google-like. This is especially important when searching full-text databases like Lexis/Nexis or Factiva where users could potentially get a large number of results.
However, it is important to convey to students that the method of relevance ranking is usually determined by the search especially, search terms used. I usually make a point of typing in a “poor search statement” to demonstrate this so students are not mislead into thinking that relevance ranking is a panacea.
I think we will all agree that relevance ranking is one of a series of search techniques students should consider using in being thoughtful and proactive searchers.