The Catalog as Barrier to Retrieval–Part 1: Hyphens and Ampersands in Titles

ABSTRACT An Internet survey of 38 different OPAC systems, at eighty different libraries, was undertaken to investigate the effect on retrieval of the presence of the hyphen or the ampersand in titles. Title and Keyword searches were performed. In Title search, 22 of the systems treat the hyphen as equivalent to a space, while in Keyword the number is 16. The other systems treat it in various different ways (even including the equivalent of NOT), which means that results of searching multiple catalogs are very inconsistent. The ampersand may be ignored, treated as a special character, or treated as “and,” again with very inconsistent results. Various recommendations are made with a view to improving consistency of performance.