IN SEARCH
OF A RETRIEVAL SYSTEM
It's
a conundrum!
And it’s frustrating!
Let
me try to explain.
Due
to the Covid-19 self-isolation measures we are currently encountering and
needing to fill extra hours at home, I couldn’t access my usual bookstores or
even the library, so I decided it was time to sign up for library ebooks. In a complicated, convoluted series of events,
I ended up signing up at two different libraries with their two different ebook
suppliers. And that’s what launched this journey through my conundrum…
I'm accumulating information that I don't quite
know how to manage. It's all those wee bits here and there that I'm afraid I'll
forget. I get an internal picture of myself jotting something down on a yellow
stickie and posting it on my forehead. That's followed by another and another
to the point where I am covered from top to toe by little coloured stickies and
they’ve even taken over my kitchen wall.
Later, I need that bit of information, so I start to hunt. I kinda remember. I am pretty sure it's there somewhere. I search and rustle through them, but that
just makes them start to fall off! It’s a
dreadful jumble - there's no organization at all. It is beyond frustrating!
Help! I need an index!
That's not actually what has happened of course. The truth is I have those bits of information carefully digitally saved. The problem is laying my hands on them. I hunt through gmail. Then through WhatsApp. Then through Messenger. Then through Texts. Then I think maybe I saved it in a document so search through the computer. Or did I hear it on a webinar or zoom meeting? Read it in one of the email articles that come by subscriptions that I've signed up for? Facebook? Or maybe it was in conversation with a neighbour or my husband. No wait - maybe I got the information in a phone call. I'm old fashioned enough to still have a notebook beside the phone - but the phone (cordless of course) is never beside the notebook.
Help! I need an index!
Back to what launched this epic journey through the jumble in
my mind.
Yesterday I sat down
to read my book and suddenly realized that I'm not sure where to find the one
I’m in the middle of. Is it on that library's ebook service or the other
library? Is it on a pdf? Did I leave it, a “real” paperback, upstairs beside
the bed? Maybe on Kindle, perhaps I should check there first.
As a retired librarian, I know information
retrieval is all about indexes. Many well written books full of good
information have been useless because of a lack of indexing or at least a table
of contents. I need both!
Help! I need a retrieval system….
And please tell me I'm not the only one.
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previous posts. Thanks for reading my
reflections. Velma.]
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