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.