Using data mining technology to solve classification problems: A case study of campus digital library

Abstract

Purpose

Traditional library catalogs have become inefficient and inconvenient in assisting library users. Readers may spend a lot of time searching library materials via printed catalogs. Readers need an intelligent and innovative solution to overcome this problem. The paper seeks to examine data mining technology which is a good approach to fulfill readers' requirements.

Design/methodology/approach

Data mining is considered to be the non‐trivial extraction of implicit, previously unknown, and potentially useful information from data. This paper analyzes readers' borrowing records using the techniques of data analysis, building a data warehouse, and data mining.

Findings

The paper finds that after mining data, readers can be classified into different groups according to the publications in which they are interested. Some people on the campus also have a greater preference for multimedia data.

Originality/value

The data mining results shows that all readers can be categorized into five clusters, and each cluster has its own characteristics. The frequency with which graduates and associate researchers borrow multimedia data is much higher. This phenomenon shows that these readers have a higher preference for accepting digitized publications. Also, the number of readers borrowing multimedia data has increased over the years. This trend indicates that readers preferences are gradually shifting towards reading digital publications.

Citation

Chang, C. and Chen, R. (2006), "Using data mining technology to solve classification problems: A case study of campus digital library", The Electronic Library, Vol. 24 No. 3, pp. 307-321. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470610671178