The inverted index is the main data structure used by all the major search engines. Search engines build an inverted index on their collection to speed up query processing. As the size of the web grows, the length of the inverted list structures, which can easily grow to hundreds of MBs or even GBs for common terms (roughly linear in the size of…

Some of the literature concerning citation indexing is discussed with emphasis on research projects. (52 references) (Author/NH)

The last in a series of five papers, the author concludes that only three characteristics of indexing seem to be capable of being compared quantitatively. These are breadth of vocabulary, depth of indexing, and the use of see and see also references. (AB)

An experiment was conducted to design a corporate author index to a large bibliographic file. The nature of corporate entries necessitates a different search key construction from that of personal names or titles. Derivation of a search key to select distinct corporate entry records is discussed. (7 references) (Author)

This review of the Keyword-in-Context (KWIC) indexing considers its inception by Luhn, its original format and purpose, various applications and uses of the basic KWIC concept, its advantages and disadvantages, and evaluations of its effectiveness. (30 references) (Author/NH)

Discusses standards as tools to promote compatibility and improve practice, the role of research versus expert opinion in creating standards, and the changing scope of indexing standards. The current draft of the NISO (National Information Standards Organization) American Standard Guidelines for Indexes in Information Retrieval (Z39.4) is…

The development of an automatic indexing technique, called Double KWIC (DKWIC) Coordinate Indexing, is described which extends the KWIC indexing principles to provide easy access to an additional level of specificity for information indexed under these frequently appearing terms. Chapter 2 discusses indexing terminology and some fundamental…

It is shown that this new automatic indexing technique can be applied with the same effectiveness shown earlier for indexes derived from words in titles or title-like phrases; the basic difference being that linear notation symbols rather than words are used as the indexing units. (17 references) (Author/NH)

Analyzes a study of the effect of controlled variations in indexing vocabulary size on retrieval performance, using the Cranfield 200 and 1400 test collections. Sets of variable-length character strings were tested, in an application of the Cluster Hypothesis and in a series of linear associative retrieval experiments. (Author/SW)

A report of several comparisons designed to measure the retrieval effectiveness of machined-aided indexing and manual indexing. (Author)

The Text-Pac System is capable of generating indexes and bulletins to provide a current information service without the selectivity feature. Indexes of the accumulated data base may also be used as a basis for manual retrospective searching. The manual search involves searching computer-prepared indexes from a machine readable data base produced…

Examines the knowledge base of an intermediary expert system that provides advice about search term selection. Topics include a proposal for an integrated approach, including an option focusing on terminological attributes based on knowledge acquired from professional searchers; and the content of the knowledge base and the research needed to…

Although a large part of a document retrieval system's resources are devoted to indexing, the question of how people do subject indexing has been the subject of much conjecture and only a little experimentation. This dissertation examines the relationships between a document being indexed and the index terms assigned to that document in an attempt…

Almost all disciplines make extensive use of the resources provided by slide libraries and picture collections. Growing demands for pictorial material have stimulated a concern for making slide and picture collections more useful and more usable by better physical arrangement and more thorough indexing. The system provides a classification scheme…

An experimental procedure for indexing physical materials based on simple syntactical rules was tested by encoding the materials in the journal, Applied Physics Letters,'' to produce a materials index. The syntax and numerous examples together with an indication of the method by which retrieval can be effected are presented. (5 references)…