The Availability of MeSH in Vendor-Supplied Cataloguing Records, as Seen Through the Catalogue of a Canadian Academic Health Library

Abstract

This study examines the prevalence of medical subject headings in vendorsupplied cataloguing records for publications contained within aggregated databases or publisher collections. In the first phase, the catalogue of one Canadian academic medical library was examined to determine the extent to which medical subject headings (MeSH) are available in the vendor-supplied records. In the second phase, these results were compared to the catalogues of other Canadian academic medical libraries in order to reach a generalization regarding the availability of MeSH headings for electronic resources. MeSH was more widespread in records for electronic journals but was noticeably lacking in records for electronic monographs, and for Canadian publications. There is no standard for ensuring MeSH are assigned to monograph records for health titles and there is no library in Canada with responsibility for ensuring that Canadian health publications receive Medical Subject Headings. It is incumbent upon libraries using MeSH to ensure that vendors are aware of this need when purchasing record sets.

Still a Lot to Lose: The Role of Controlled Vocabulary in Keyword Searching

“…92 94 Mohammad Reza Davarpanah and Mohammad Iranshahi; 95 Weber, Steely, and Hinchcliff; 96 and Pamela Morgan. 97 Several other authors write about their observations concerning the complementary nature of controlled vocabulary and keyword searching. After a complaint in the Los Angeles Times in 2009 about failure of a keyword search in a library catalog, Judith Herman wrote a letter to the editor, saying: "If she had clicked 'Browse Catalog,' then selected 'Subject Browse' from the menu, she would have found the subject heading [for the topic sought].…”