Population Index (PI) Matthew Bird-Meyer & Aaron Robb* Online Searching - 9432 An interesting,...

Population Index (PI)

Matthew Bird-Meyer & Aaron Robb*

Online Searching - 9432

An interesting, albeit dated, global snapshot

“…was the primary reference tool to the world's population literature.”

http://popindex.princeton.edu/

Section 1: Background & Coverage



Formation

PublisherOffice of Population Research, Princeton University

Support National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

U.S. Agency for International Development



HistoryOriginally

An annotated bibliography of global population information

• Published: In print 1937 to 1999

• Principal reference resource for global population literature

TodayA searchable index database of citations and abstracts of demographic

literature

• Published: Online 1986-2000

• 1937-2000 accessible through Journal Storage (JSTOR) Matthew Bird-Meyer & Aaron Robb*


a note of interest

PI ceased in 2000, the following are options for similar data:

• American FactFinder: factfinder2.census.gov

• Demographic and Health Surveys: dhsprogram.com

• INDEPTH Network: indepth-network.org

• Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, International: ipums.org

• Popline: popline.org

• World Fact Book: cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook



Section 2: Search Tools



Stand-alone

• Population Index: A stand-alone database

• Produced by the Office of Population Research at Princeton University

• JSTOR complements the site

• Reference citations in Population Index

• Full-text versions are in JSTOR


*Matthew Bird-Meyer & Aaron Robb

ContentSubject

Global Demographic Literature

Types of records 46,035 citations and abstracts published 1986-2000

• biological, geographical, economic, and sociological

Material found externallyFull-text published 1937-2000 available on JSTOR



Controlled Vocabulary

• Subject Headings serve as controlled vocabulary• Alphabetical list of Thesaurus Terms is used to code subjects in the Index• Users can search these terms in the “Subject” search field



Controlled Vocabulary: Subject Headings



Controlled Vocabulary: Thesaurus Terms



Search Fields


Note: No unique/unusual fields found


4 available search fields

Search Fields: Author[2 options]



specify surname and include first name

search names of corporate authors

Search Fields: Subject


Subject Headings Thesaurus

Subject Headings and Thesaurus terms searchable in the Subject Field


Search Fields: Region


Searchable by state, country, or region


Search Fields: Free Text



Terms found within citations and abstracts can be searched

Results omit Free from Free Text

Format Option



short = citations long = abstracts

Limits: 2



Default

Limits: Year


Limit results by year or range of years between 1986-2000


Limits: Max Hits


Database states “Limit number of citations retrieved” Actually, limits number of entries displayed on 1st page of results


More entries found by clicking link at bottom of results page

Unusual Search Tools

• Unusual is a subjective term – defined here as atypical

• “Free Text” is atypical i.e., allows users to locate one or multiple words anywhere in a record



Search Methods



There are 2:

Browse & Search

Browse



Field Options



1 basic interface, no options for advanced search mode

Search

Default Search Settings



Find search terms with root word

Display citations not abstracts

Display 25 results on the 1st results page

Boolean Searching

• Does not provide for Boolean searching

• Ignores common words such as "and," and "or"

• e.g., authors are indexed by individual names

• articles by Lars Smith and Nicholas Jones, type in “Smith Jones”

• words are joined by an implicit “and”



Truncation: Match


Complete• Searches exact word (i.e., South)

Beginning• Searches terms with root word

(i.e., South, Southern, and Southeast)

None found

Wildcard


Phrase Searching

• Available, but limited to specific subject and thesaurus terms,

• however, you can come close to a phrase listed in the thesaurus:

• for example, subject search for “family planning evaluation”;

• gets you close to the thesaurus term “family planning program evaluation.”



Proximity Searching

No proximity searching functions found



Case-sensitive Searching

No case-sensitive searching functions found



Stop Words

The database is written to ignore the following specific common words:

andorofthe



Section 3: Search Examples



Search Example: Fertility in the UKSearch performed by Aaron Robb

Search Strategy UsedPearl Growing

• Began with a simple search

• Narrowed search with database tools



Initial Search: Strategy



Searched Subject Headings and Geographic Terms pages

Chose long format

Entered search terms

Initial Search: Outcome



275 AbstractsDefaults required clicking links to view all abstracts

2nd Search: StrategyNarrowed search with additional criteria



Added terms found in initial search abstracts

Changed format to display 1st 100 entries

Limited time frame

2nd Search: Outcome

4 AbstractsResults related to population differences between the 4 countries within the UK



3rd Search: StrategyRepeated previous search with region change



Replaced UK with individual UK country

3rd Search: OutcomeWithout Boolean search options, finding additional abstracts took longer

• Repeat searches would be unnecessary with the option to enter the phrase:

• United Kingdom OR England OR Northern Ireland OR Scotland OR Wales



Search Example: General DemographicsSearch performed by Matt Bird-Meyer

Search Strategy UsedBrowse and Pearl Growing

• Began by browsing a back issue of Population Index

• Chose Vol. 53, No. 1 from spring 1987

• Searched for interesting headings




• From subject headings within the journal, chose “Characteristics” and then “General Demographic Characteristics.”

• Selected study by Slobodan Bosnic titled “The age and sex composition of the population.”

• Decided to search the database for more articles by same author.



Database Search

• Input author’s name in the Author field.

• Resulted in one article – same as found in the journal.

• Used this as inspiration for broader search within same subject heading.



Refined Search

• Refined goal to find studies from a variety of nations

• Input General Demographic Characteristics subject heading

• Result: 1,877 hits with studies from all over the world



Refined Search



Narrowing Results• Chose to focus on Tatarstan Republic

• Refined subject search to “General Demographic Characteristics,” with “Tatarstan Republic” in the region field but got no hits

• Placed this complete search phrase in Free Text field and found one result.

• I wanted more results from this region.

• Placing “General Demographic Characteristics” in the search field and “Russia” in the region field netted me 10 results.

• Placing this complete search phrase in Free Text netted me three results.



Narrowing Results



Narrowing Results

Matthew Bird-Meyer & Aaron Robb

Section 4: Summary



Overall Impression Pros• Search interface• Easy to understand/use

• Prior searches are “remembered”

• Browse function • Helpful in searching back-issues

• Good for point-in-time research

• Help pages • Descriptive, easy to find

• Easily identifies scope and options


*Matthew Bird-Meyer & Aaron Robb*

Cons• Search interface• Outdated

• No proximity searching

• No Boolean searching

• No sorting options

• Time limited • 1986-2000

• No full-text

Who Would Benefit by Using It?Researchers & Students • Studying national & international sociology/demography

Medical Researchers• Analyzing population growth/decline

Reporters

• Seeking historic population data

Librarians • Seeking obscure population data/studies



Who Would Not Benefit?

Anyone who is:

• accustomed to using contemporary search tools

• reluctant to review help pages

• looking for rapid results

• seeking current data

• seeking easily accessible economic data



Using It At Work

• Cross-referencing data with American Community Survey for class projects

• As part of a library’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats analysis

• Analyzing past demographic patterns of the library’s community

• Comparing historic population characteristics with current data with:

• factfinder2.census.gov

• geolib.org



Desired Changes to the DatabaseImproved FunctionalityEasy access from each citation and abstract to full-text

Boolean search capabilities

An export function citation/abstract to e-mail

Listing related Subject Headings with search results

An ability to:

sort records by fields

add limiter for peer reviewed/scholarly journals



Population Index (PI) Matthew Bird-Meyer & Aaron Robb* Online Searching - 9432 An interesting,...

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