Geographic Barriers to Indexing: Examining Appalachia

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine the accuracy of indexing for “Appalachian Region”[Mesh]. Researchers performed a search in PubMed for articles published in 2019 using “Appalachian Region”[Mesh] or “Appalachia” or “Appalachian” in the title or abstract. Only 17.88% of the articles retrieved by the search were about Appalachia according to the ARC definition. Most articles retrieved appeared because they were indexed with state terms that were included as part of the mesh term. Database indexing and searching transparency is of growing importance as indexers rely increasingly on automated systems to catalog information and publications.

Keywords:

• Appalachia
• databases
• indexing
• search strategies

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors report no funding is associated with the work reported in this article.

Notes on contributors

Emily W. Blevins

Emily W. Blevins, MSLIS, AHIP ([email protected]) is Senior Clinical Reference Librarian/ Assistant Professor at East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine Library in Mountain Home, Tennessee, USA.

Nakia J. Woodward

Nakia J. Woodward, MSIS ([email protected]) is Assistant Director for Administration & Collections/Assistant Professor at East Tennessee State University, Quillen College of Medicine Library in Mountain Home, Tennessee, USA.

Kelly Loyd

Kelly Loyd, MSIS ([email protected]) is Document Delivery Coordinator at East Tennessee State University, Quillen College of Medicine Library in Mountain Home, Tennessee USA.

Aaron S. Castle

Aaron S. Castle, MSIS ([email protected]) is Discovery and Access Specialist at East Tennessee State University, Charles C. Sherrod Library in Johnson City, Tennessee USA.

Rachel R. Walden

Rachel R. Walden, MLIS ([email protected]) is Associate Dean/Library Director at East Tennessee State University, Quillen College of Medicine Library in Mountain Home, Tennessee USA.

Richard L. Wallace

Richard L. Wallace, EdD, MPH, MSLS ([email protected]) is Associate Director for Evidence & Outreach/Professor at East Tennessee State University, Quillen College of Medicine Library in Home, Tennessee USA.