Análise dos metadados de assunto no Repositório Institucional da Universidade Federal de Alagoas

Abstract

Thematic representation is a fundamental factor in the process of organizing, accessing and retrieving information, especially in digital environments such as institutional repositories. In this sense, the present research has as its general objective, to analyze the representation of information in the Institutional Repository of the Federal University of Alagoas (RIUFAL), with regard to “subject” metadata, and as specific objectives: a) collect the Nursing TCCs and Social Service registered through self-archiving; b) evaluate the “subject” metadata in the collected TCCs; c) Compare the “subject” metadata used with the authorized headers of the subject catalog of the UFAL Library System (SIBI/UFAL); and, d) identify whether, among the metadata, there is any that presents noise that could interfere with the process of searching and retrieving information in the system. This is an exploratory, descriptive research with a qualitative approach. The analysis took place on the thematic representation of the “subject” metadata present in the monographs deposited through self-archiving by undergraduates of Nursing and Social Work courses, in the period from 2020 to 2022. 160 monographs were collected, 84 from the Nursing course and 76 from the Social Service course. Data collection was carried out directly in the repository's database, with the data grouped, organized into tables, analyzed, processed and presented in graphs. 252 subject metadata were collected in Nursing course monographs, of which 201 are authorized subject metadata, corresponding to 79.8% of compliance with the SIBI/UFAL subject catalog, identifying only 29 subject metadata in natural language ( 11.5%); 15 with standardization errors (6%); 3 with spelling errors (1.2%) and 4 with typing errors (1.5%). In Social Service monographs, 210 subject metadata were collected, presenting 84 authorized metadata, that is, 40% in accordance with the catalogue; 86 in natural language, (41%); 23 subject metadata without standardization, (11%), 2 “subject” metadata with spelling errors, (1%); and 15 metadata with typing errors (7%). It emphasizes that Nursing course students are familiar with the use of the Health Descriptors Database to choose terms for their academic work, in addition to the mandatory use of the catalog form prepared by the Source Cataloging sector of the UFAL Central Library, the same did not occur with the Social Service course, which did not adopt the mandatory catalog form nor the use of authorized tools, such as thesauri or specialized indexes, a fact that causes the recurrent use of natural language, and, therefore, in some noises that interfere with the retrieval of information in the Repository system. It is clear that the authorized use of tools such as thesauruses, as well as the guidance of the librarian professional, contribute to the standardization and quality of subject metadata, providing greater effectiveness and efficiency in document search. It concludes, emphasizing the importance for the repository to adopt an indexing policy, providing means to assist users in the use of tools such as thesauruses and indexes that can guide them in choosing terms, thus making it possible to raise the level of quality of content description documents, aiming at precision in the process of searching and retrieving information.