SchenQL: in-depth analysis of a query language for bibliographic metadata

Abstract

Information access to bibliographic metadata needs to be uncomplicated, as users may not benefit from complex and potentially richer data that may be difficult to obtain. Sophisticated research questions including complex aggregations could be answered with complex SQL queries. However, this comes with the cost of high complexity, which requires for a high level of expertise even for trained programmers. A domain-specific query language could provide a straightforward solution to this problem. Although less generic, it can support users not familiar with query construction in the formulation of complex information needs. In this paper, we present and evaluate SchenQL, a simple and applicable query language that is accompanied by a prototypical GUI. SchenQL focuses on querying bibliographic metadata using the vocabulary of domain experts. The easy-to-learn domain-specific query language is suitable for domain experts as well as casual users while still providing the possibility to answer complex information demands. Query construction and information exploration are supported by a prototypical GUI. We present an evaluation of the complete system: different variants for executing SchenQL queries are benchmarked; interviews with domain-experts and a bipartite quantitative user study demonstrate SchenQL’s suitability and high level of users’ acceptance.