Looking for Robert Schuman(n)

Names of people and locations are more prone to OCR mistakes, as they cannot be found in the dictionaries that are used to recognise printed words. This means that if the software used for digitisation has not integrated a dictionary of names, an accurate match for a query of a name relies completely on the correct identification of each single letter of the name.

Instructions

We will now use this example of Robert Schuman(n) to understand how best to control our query parameters.

4.a How can we identify articles about “Robert Schuman”? | 20 min

  • Read key information that can be useful to distinguish the two Robert Schuman(n)s:

Robert Schuman, the politician, is most famous for the eponymous declaration

Robert Schumann, the composer

  • What kind of search filters could be used to distinguish the two personalities?
  • Which period is relevant for each of them?
  • What kind of keywords could be helpful?
  • What other names would they potentially be associated with?

4.b Collecting articles on Robert Schuman(n)

Go to the website of the Australian National Library and select the section dedicated to digitised newspapers

  • Search for articles containing Robert Schuman(n) in the year 1950.
  • Collect one article on Robert Schuman the politician, and one on Robert Schumann the composer (including advertisements for concerts)

Go to the website of the Luxembourg National Library on digitised newspapers

  • Conduct the same query, one article on Robert Schuman the politician and one on Robert Schumann the composer (including advertisements for concerts)

  • What difference do you notice in the results for the same queries in the two interfaces?
  • How can you make sure you find relevant results for each case?
  • What options can you use to improve your control over the list of results?

4c. Looking for Robert Schuman in Luxembourg

As you will know by now, Robert Schuman is a politician from Luxembourg, where he is not the only person with this name. There was a doctor in Bettembourg in the 1930s with the same name. How can you find an article about this person from the Luxembourg National Library’s collection of digitised newspapers?

  • Before starting the search, reflect on what could be problematic in finding information on this person in the newspaper.
  • After conducting the search, describe what search strategies you used to help you find an article about Robert Schuman the doctor.

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