[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Truncation curiosity

[Mahria Lebow]

Hi there,

I was looking through some help documentation for end users when I stumbled
onto a bit of a mystery.  Evergreen documentation seems to indicate that
when users are searching the OPAC search terms are automatically stemmed
(and some documentation specifically notes that truncation is not allowed).
However, the error message a user receives when they encounter null results
for a search (in some builds, such as King County Public Library) offers
this suggestion:

*Truncation
Words may be right-hand truncated using an asterisk. Use a single asterisk *
to truncate from 1-5 characters. Use a double asterisk ** for open-ended
truncation.

*Regardless of the suggestion itself, curious things happen when one does
use an asterisk in a keyword search.  Again, using the KCPL catalogue, a
keyword search for *teach *pulls up 2570 results, the first being being
eSerial *Teach* and second a magazine, *Teaching pre K-8.  *However, if
someone was to throw in an asterisk (*teach**), the number of results
increases to 2770 and the first two results are now microforms, *The
exchange -- best teaching practices from around Ohio: teacher to teacher.*

So, what function does an asterisk serve in an OPAC search?

Cheers,
Mahria
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