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NLM LocatorPlus -- Relevance in Keyword Anywhere Searches

Question: When I do a Keyword Anywhere Search in LocatorPlus, the results are ranked according to relevance. How does the system determine relevance?

Answer:

  • - Relevance is based on a combination of factors:

    • - how many of your keywords appear - if you enter five keywords, titles with all five of these words will be considered more relevant than titles that only have three of the keywords.
    • - where in the record the keywords appear - if a keyword is in the Subject field of a record, it is given higher relevance than if a keyword is in the Notes field of a record.
  • The system will return up to 10,000 titles in your search results, and rank them according to relevance. Avoid doing a one-word search that would find more than 10,000 titles, because you may miss some relevant results (Title 10,001 could be very relevant).
  • The chart below shows how the keywords in different fields are weighted for determining relevance. The higher the number under "Weight," the greater the relevance.
    Weighting Values for Keyword Fields

    Field/Subfield Weight MARC Definition
    100a 200 Personal Name
    100q 200 Fuller Form of Name
    110a 200 Corporate Name
    110b 200 Subordinate Unit
    111a 200 Meeting Name
    111e 200 Subordinate Unit
    111q 200 Name of Meeting Following Jurisdiction Name Entry Element
    210a 200 Title Abbreviation
    245a 500 Title Statement
    245b 500 Title Statement - Remainder of Title
    246a 240 Title - Varying Form
    260a 20 Place of Publication
    260b 20 Name of Publisher
    261f 20 Place of Production (pre-AACR1)
    262a 20 Place of Production (pre-AACR2)
    269a 20 Current Place of Publication
    269b 20 Current Name of Publisher
    440a 200 Series Title - Title Added Entry
    490a 200 Series Title - No Added Entry
    505a 200 Formatted Contents Note
    510a 20 Abstract & Indexing Services
    521a 20 Target Audience Note
    533b 20 Reproduction Note - Place of Reproduction
    533c 20 Reproduction Note - Agency Responsible for Reproduction
    536a 20 Funding Information Note
    555a 20 Cumulative Index/Finding Aids Note
    555d 20 Cumulative Index/Finding Aids Bibliographic Ref. Note
    581a 20 Publications About Described Materials Note
    600a 200 Subject Added Entry - Personal Name
    600p 200 Subject Added Entry - Personal Name -Name Part/Section of Work
    600q 200 Subject Added Entry - Personal Name - Fuller Form of Name
    600t 200 Subject Added Entry - Personal Name - Title of Work
    610a 200 Subject Added Entry - Corporate Name
    610b 200 Subject Added Entry - Corporate Name - Subordinate Unit
    610p 200 Subject Added Entry - Corporate Name - Name Part/Section
    610t 200 Subject Added Entry - Corporate Name - Title of Work
    611a 200 Subject Added Entry - Meeting Name
    611e 200 Subject Added Entry - Meeting Name - Subordinate Unit
    611q 200 Subject Added Entry - Meeting Name - Name of meeting follow. juris.
    630a 200 Subject Added Entry - Uniform Title
    630p 200 Subject Added Entry - Uniform Title - Name Part/Section of Work
    630t 200 Subject Added Entry - Uniform Title - Title of Work
    650a 200 Subject Added Entry - Topical
    650b 20 Subject Added Entry - Topical - Following Geographic Name
    650x 200 Subject Added Entry - Topical - General Subdivision
    650z 20 Subject Added Entry - Topical - Geographic Subdivision
    651a 200 Subject Added Entry - Geographic Name
    651x 200 Subject Added Entry - Geographic Name - General Subdivision
    651z 20 Subject Added Entry - Geographic Name - Geographic Subdivision
    653a 200 Index Term Uncontrolled
    655a 200 Index Term - Genre/Form
    695a 200 HMD Subject Headings - Topical
    695x 200 HMD Subject Headings - Topical - General Subdivision
    695y 20 HMD Subject Headings - Topical - Chronological Subdivision
    695z 20 HMD Subject Headings - Topical - Geographic Subdivision
    698a 200 LJI Subject Headings
    700a 200 Added Entry - Personal Name
    700q 200 Added Entry - Personal Name - Fuller Form of Name
    700t 240 Added Entry - Personal Name - Title of Work
    710a 200 Added Entry - Corporate Name
    710b 200 Added Entry - Corporate Name - Subordinate Unit
    710t 240 Added Entry - Corporate Name - Title of Work
    711a 200 Added Entry - Meeting Name
    711c 200 Added Entry - Meeting Name - Location of Meeting
    711e 200 Added Entry - Meeting Name - Subordinate Unit
    711q 200 Added Entry - Meeting Name - Name of Meeting Follow. Jursid.
    711t 240 Added Entry - Meeting Name - Title of Work
    856u 200 Electronic Location - URL

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