Development of Indexes Indexing

INDEXING
LIS 107
Indexing and Abstracting
Definition of Terms
• indexing - the process of providing in-depth access to information

contained within a document or knowledge record.
• index - a guide to the contents of a document or collection of
documents with the same format arranged in a searchable order
such as alphabetical, classified, chronological or numerical.
• index entry – single record in an index that may consist of four
parts: main heading, subheading, locator and/or cross reference/s.
• descriptor – a term designed for use by the thesaurus to represent
the aboutness of a topic in a document.
• document – any item that contains information, either in print or
non-print format, including digital forms.
• identifier - proper name of person, object,
institution/organization, process, etc.
• indexing language - any vocabulary, controlled or uncontrolled,
used for indexing along with the rules of usage.
• indexing system – a set of prescribed procedures (manual or
machine-operated) intended for organizing the contents of a
document or knowledge records for purposes of retrieval and
dissemination.
• keyword - raw word coming from the documents that are
regarded as indexable term.
• qualifier - a term or phrase added to a heading to distinguish
among homographs or clarify meaning.
• translation – the process of converting concepts derived from the
document into a particular set of index terms usually derived
from a controlled vocabulary.
• vocabulary control - the process of organizing a list of terms for
use in indexing, along with the rules of usage.
Development of Indexes and Indexing
• First systematic organization of written records occurred in Sumer

around 3, 000 B.C.
• Around 2, 000 B.C. in China and India, record keeping became
part of the society.
• Early civilizations proposed schemes of knowledge classification
and document arrangement (e.g. Greeks used some sort of
alphabetic order).
• In 900 A.D., an encyclopedia was arranged in alphabetical order.
• During the 15th century, books were published with blank pages
and quite wide margins.
• The 17th century brought a new type of information tool, the
periodical.
• During the 19th century also, Paul Otlet and Henry La Fontaine
founded the International Institute of Bibliography to improve
indexing approaches to scholarly literature. This led to modern
keyword and free-text indexing.
• In 1900, H.W. Wilson first published Reader’s Guide to Periodical
Literature.
• In the 1950s, W.F. Poole published an index that covered numerous
issues of many periodicals.
• By the 1950s, computers penetrated the indexing arena and efforts
to evaluate indexing begun.
Role of Indexing in Information Retrieval
• Relationship of Indexing, Abstracting and Searching

• (Cleveland and Cleveland, 2001, p. 31)
DOCUMENT
INDEXING
INDEX TOOL
ABSTRACT
PATRON
Information Retrieval System
• Information retrieval system is a mechanism for carrying out the
functions of information retrieval process.
• Organization of information may take in different forms (manual, by
the use of computer or a combination of both).
• Most challenging problem: providing for the nearest possible
response or coincidence
• Modern information retrieval systems: data retrieval, reference
retrieval and text retrieval.
Information Retrieval System
Functions involved:
1. The information is created and acquired for the system.
2. Knowledge records are analyzed and tagged by set of index terms.
3. The knowledge records are stored physically and index terms are
stored into a structured file.
4. The user’s query is tagged with sets of index terms and then is
matched against tagged records.
5. Matched documents are retrieved for review.
6. Feedback may lead to several reiterations of the search.
Feedback may lead to several reiterations
of the search...
User espresses an inforamtion need
Request is conceptually analyzed
Request is translated into system's

index language
Reformation of the request

A searching strategy is composed
Search is carried out
Is user satisfied? Are all searching options depleted?
Search is completed
Stop
Purposes and Uses of Indexes
• Saves time and effort in finding information.

• Identify potentially relevant information in the document or
collection being indexed.
• Analyze concepts treated in a document to produce appropriate
index headings based on the indexing language assigned.
• Indicate relationships among terms.
Purposes and Uses of Indexes
• Group together related topics.
• Direct the users seeking information under terms not
chosen as index headings to headings that have been
chosen.
• Suggest related topics .
• Tool for current awareness services.
Types of Indexes
By Arrangement
A. Alphabetical index
Advantage:
• More convenient to use and follows an order that is
familiar to users.
Drawbacks:
• synonymy
• scattering of entries
B. Classified index
Advantages:
• useful for generic searches.
• Brings similar things together.
Drawbacks:
• Most users find them difficult to use.
• Needs a secondary file.
• One cannot enter it directly as one can with alphabetical
sequences of names.
C. Concordance
Uses:
• Locate a partly or completely remembered passage
Drawback:
• Searching is difficult since this type of index spreads similar
entries over many synonymous terms, ignores misspellings,
and confuses any general-specific term relationships.
D. Numerical or serial order*
e.g. Numerical Patent Index of Chemical Abstracts;
American Statistics Office
By Type or Form of material indexed
1. Book index
– Reasons for Preparing a Book Index
• collects the different ways of wording the same concept.
• filters information for the reader.
• pinpoints information
• Components of a book index entry:
– main heading
– subheading
– locator
– cross references
World Wide Web (WWW)

browsers, 78
components, 89
development, 100-156
see also Internet
2. Periodical index
• consistency becomes the most challenging part
• open-ended projects
• scope is broader
3. Newspaper index
• vocabulary control becomes a paramount challenge
4. Audiovisual materials index

• textual labeling is needed along with image matching
Difference between Book & Periodical Indexes
• Compiled only once • A continuous process

and within a relatively and more often
short time and usually performed by a team of
performed by a single indexers and lasting for
person. an extended period.
• Deals with a more or • Deals with a great
less well-defined variety of topics.
central topic.
• Indexing terms are • Terminology must be

almost always derived consistent and derived
from the text. from a controlled
• Specificity is largely vocabulary.
governed by the text • Terms are prescribed by a
itself. controlled vocabulary and
their level of specificity
may be lower than the
book index.
• Every single page of a • Articles are scanned for

book must be read. indexable items and may
• Entire text is virtually rely on an abstract or
subject to indexing. summary compiled.
• Always bound with the • A periodical index will
indexed text. depend on a number of
policy decisions.
• Compiled separately.
By Physical form
• card index
• printed index
• microform index
• computerized index
– automatic indexing
– computer-assisted indexing
Principles and Concepts of Indexing
1. Exhaustivity – refers to the extent to which concepts
are made retrievable by means of index terms.
1.1 Summarization
1.2 Depth indexing
2. Specificity – refers to the extent to which a concept or
topic in a document is identified by a percise term in
the hierarchy of its genus-species relationship.
Example:
An information resource about musicians
should be entered under ‘Musicians’ and not
under ‘Performing Artists’.
3. Consistency – refers to the extent of the agreement
exists on the terms to be used to index some

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INDEXING

• indexing - the process of providing in-depth access to information

• First systematic organization of written records occurred in Sumer

• Relationship of Indexing, Abstracting and Searching

Request is conceptually analyzed

Request is translated into system's

Reformation of the request

Search is carried out

Is user satisfied? Are all searching options depleted?

• Saves time and effort in finding information.

World Wide Web (WWW)

4. Audiovisual materials index

• Compiled only once • A continuous process

• Indexing terms are • Terminology must be

• Every single page of a • Articles are scanned for

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