Apologies for cross posting….

Dear colleagues:

Today we released “Beta Search,” a completely new JSTOR search, with a redesigned interface and a new search engine. The new search is easily accessible from a link on www.jstor.org. It’s presented in parallel with the existing search options during the testing period to avoid disrupting regular research workflows on the site.

We’re excited to make the new search available in this beta version so we can gather feedback and make further improvements over the coming months. During the beta period, we’ll be focusing our development efforts in these areas:

·         Refining the new interface: facets that allow easy narrowing/broadening of searches

·         Improving relevance rankings: results that more closely match your search terms

·         Incorporating new features, including auto-suggested search terms and spell checking

·         Enhancing the search results view to support evaluation of relevance: preview article and book details directly from the search results list

One particularly exciting feature of the new Beta Search is the application of “topic modeling” to enhance discovery of content. Unlike standard searching on JSTOR where searches can be focused only within disciplines assigned at the journal level, the Beta Search uses text analysis techniques to automatically assign one or more topics to an article. The goal is to help searchers find relevant content that may be outside of their main disciplinary area.

We would love to have your feedback on the Beta Search. Particularly – do you see improved search results with the new search? Did it behave as you expected? What other facets or interface changes would you like to see? (It's important to note that the Beta Search is not a finished product – you may encounter bugs and we’d like to hear about those, too.)

You can read more about the Beta Search (including the application of topic modeling) at http://about.jstor.org/beta-search. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Kristen Garlock

Associate Director, Education & Outreach - JSTOR