Presents a selective review of works in 1981 concerned with subject access to information sources, with specific discussions devoted to general and theoretical works, vocabulary management, classification schemes, subject headings, indexing, and automatic indexing and classification. A 110-item bibliography is included. (JL)

Provides an overview of current newspaper indexing methods, including discussion of those indexes produced by commercial firms, public libraries, newspapers themselves, and news data banks. (FM)

Distinguishes between document-oriented and user-oriented indexing and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of request-oriented and automated indexing. Request-oriented indexing is difficult to implement with human, a priori indexing. Automated indexing can be tailored to individual requests, but most research in this area focuses on global…

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…

Reviews contributions by scholars and institutions in the fields of classification, subject headings, thesauri, indexing, abstracting, and automatic classification and indexing. Also included are works exploring the theoretical foundations of subject analysis and the history of indexing and abstracting. There are 111 references. (RAA)

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 statistical method of drawing index terms or "highlights" from text is presented that uses no stop list, stem or other language- and domain-specific components, allowing operation in any domain or language with minimal modification. Some experimental results are presented, showing operation in six different languages. (67 references)…

Recounts the development of a slide storage and retrieval system at the Philip Morris Research Center in Richmond, Virginia and describes the methods used to classify and access slides in the collection. A reference list and three appendices accompany the text. (JL)

Describes a study that examined back of book indexes produced by 37 authors and 27 nonauthors to see whether differences between the 2 groups of indexers could be discerned by counting the occurrence of 3 characteristics in their indexes: number of index pages, modified headings, and cross-reference use. (27 references) (LRW)

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…

Reports a computer assisted index emphasizing expanded subject access to the reference collection of the Iowa State University Library. The index displays abbreviated length records and complements existing catalogs. Limitations of subject access and a system for assigning subject descriptors are discussed. (Author/RAA)

Describes the functions of book and periodical indexes and characteristics of varieties of book indexes. Problems related to periodical indexing including indexing policy, indexing language, depth of indexing, authors' names, titles, the physical form of indexes, indexes to single volumes of periodicals, and cumulative indexes are discussed.…

Suggests the designation of overlapping hierarchies in thesauri, first outlined in 1973, as a key element in progress towards a successful man-machine partnership. Article updates, expands, and provides theoretical background of 1973 proposal; postulates use of the UDC; and suggests means of distinguishing overlapping terms from other…

Describes MANIS, an information system for retrieval of interdisciplinary information in management, which maintains traditional classification but allows the user to combine terms of his choice, where choice is restricted to terms belonging to the systems of traditional classification. (CWM)

Describes a new text analysis approach to automate the indexing process, i.e., an automated keywording system designed to behave as a human expert indexer, and explains the rule base of the approach, which consists of lists of insertion and deletion rules generated by subject matter experts. (32 references) (Author/SD)