Describes the uniterm system of coordinate indexing and examines its applicability to the indexing of Arabic literature. Unresolved problems in semantics, thesauri development, and standardization are identified and discussed. (CLB)

This report discusses the use of the Science Citation Index produced by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) as a given "expert system" in the experimental study of different search levels. The inquiry has two objectives: (1) to test whether a "traditional" information system will also produce the rudiments of a…

Describes three major features of treatment of paradigmatic thesaural information in microcomputer-based concept network management system: use of simple graphic displays of thesaural or paradigmatic information (linktypes); use of thesaural information to generate indirect entries; capability of customizing index displays, including thesaural…

The relative effectiveness of the CD-ROM information retrieval system, InfoTrac II, and the manual "Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature," was studied. Seventeen community college students were divided into two groups which researched the same questions either on CD-ROM or in the printed index. Results showed the "Readers'…

Examines online and printed equivalents of selected government documents indexes to compare the recall, precision, overlap, and cost effectiveness of online and manual searching. Indexes studied were the Monthly Catalog, CIS (Congressional Information Service) Index, and Government Reports Announcements and Index. (CLB)

Describes study that compared terminology indexing and citation indexing to determine the similarity of documents retrieved. Information science articles from 1971 to 1983 in three journals were studied for term co-occurrences. The distinction between relevant and pertinent documents is discussed, and further research topics are suggested. (LRW)

This discussion of bibliographies in scholarly journals focuses on the need for improvement in citing relevant prior work, and highlights the design of expert systems to improve document retrieval when checking citations. A survey of university faculty is described which confirms this need. (Author/LRW)

Describes a study of library users' search strategies which focused on the extent of subject searching activity when using bibliographic tools and shelf browsing. The use of the results to evaluate the impact of a future online catalog on search behaviors is discussed. (23 references) (CLB)

Describes and evaluates several fiction classification systems from the perspective of how well they answer likely reader queries regarding subjects of novels, and their utility for browsing. The usefulness of subject headings for card catalogs and print and online indexes to enhance topical access to fiction is discussed. (Author/MBR)

The library's role in helping the social or behavioral scientist find bibliographic material is explained, and methods for the retrieval of bibliographic information are given. A table giving titles of relevant abstracts and indexes also provides time spans covered, frequencies of publication, disciplines for which each is useful. (Author/MLW)