Summarizes the findings of a recent study on the indexing practices used in the Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) database. Descriptors, or indexing terms, from the thesaurus are analyzed; searching implications are discussed; and the relationship between the classification code and the descriptors is examined. (Contains 21…

Examination of citations indexed in Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) reveals salient patterns which can be helpful in determining interdisciplinarity and/or disciplinarity. Collection development efforts can be enhanced by examination of citation patterns of published research related to a classical social science author such as Jean-Jacques…

Outlines the issues and concerns of providing spatial data that have been encountered by the Map and Geographic Information Center (MAGIC) at the University of Connecticut's library. Highlights include collecting and archiving, cataloging and indexing, networking, distribution, user education, geographic information systems, and a glossary of key…

Discusses suffix stripping algorithms used in information retrieval to cluster words derived from a common root under the same stem, and proposes a suffixing algorithm for French which uses grammatical categories to enhance the stemming process. An evaluation of the algorithm is discussed, and an analysis of errors is described. (17 references)…

Describes the Belief Function Model for automatic indexing and ranking of documents which is based on a controlled vocabulary and on term frequencies in each document. Belief Function Theory is explained, and the Belief Function Model is compared to the Standard Vector Space Model. (17 references) (LRW)

Outlines the process of a CD-ROM desktop publishing project at Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Highlights include the planning process; data generation and database development; data preparation, including data conversion and indexing; full text retrieval; assembly and production; and distribution. (three…

Describes a microcomputer-based microfilm management system that has been developed in a medium-sized manufacturing firm's library in Hong Kong. The system configuration is explained, a design and selection plan for a microfilm format is discussed, a selection plan for hardware is described, and an indexing system is explained. (nine references)…

Synthesizes major findings from research on the magnitude of individual differences in information retrieval (IR) tasks and suggests implications for practice and design of IR systems and interfaces. Topics discussed include indexing consistency, relevance judgments, selection of subject headings, selection of search terms, and search retrievals.…

Reviews the literature on enhancement of catalog records using table of contents information and reports on a study at San Diego State University that examined the proportion of catalog records in the collection that could be enhanced, the extent of enhancements, and the nature of the information that could be added to notes. (24 references) (EA)

Discusses an apparent case of censorship via card catalog indexing in a Florentine research library. The challenge to the authenticity of a fresco by Simone Martini is explained, the ethics of collegiality are considered, and attempts to find redress through various library associations are recounted. (18 references) (LRW)

Discussion of the importance of adhering to standards in the library community focuses on standards related to linking systems, such as bibliographic utilities and circulation systems, and online catalogs. Three areas in particular are highlighted: (1) communications standards; (2) data format standards; and (3) user interface and indexing…

Describes the design of an automatic indexing system that is based on statistical techniques and expert system technology. Highlights include system architecture; the derivation of topic indicators, including word frequency; experimental results using documents from ERIC; the effects of stemming; and the identification of characteristic…

Describes a fully automated approach for indexing documents that is based on associating textwords in a training set of bibliographic citations with the indexing of journals. Discusses the use of journal descriptors (JDs) in the MEDLINE database that could also be used to search other journal articles, monographs, and Web documents. (Author/LRW)

Discusses information retrieval systems and the need to have them adapt to user needs, integrate information in any format, reveal patterns and trends in information, and answer questions. Topics include statistics and probability; natural language processing; intelligent agents; concept mapping; machine-aided indexing; text mining; filtering;…

Investigates one component of a Web site--the index structure, comparing the effectiveness and efficiency of 20 subjects who used one index and three experimental variants to complete five tasks. Findings indicate that a hypertext index with multiple access points for each concept, all linked to the same resource, led to greater effectiveness and…