Discussion of precision in information retrieval highlights a prototype online catalog, ILSA (Improving Library Subject Access), developed at Indiana University of Pennsylvania that uses subject clusters and classification. Topics addressed include problems with keyword searching, controlled vocabulary, and thesauri; natural language mapping…

Cooperation in Documentation and Communication (CODOC), a computerized system designed to provide a quick and economical method of in-depth access to individual publications within a government documents collection, currently operates as an information network in Ontario and Quebec and independently in several other libraries in Canada and the…

A method is defined for library cataloging of magnetic tape files. The needs of the reference librarian and the patron are taken into consideration, as well as the particular requirements inherent in the form of material. Basically, the catalog record must serve three functions: (1) it must present a conventional and approachable record of library…

A number of questions are raised and discussed with reference to displaying for the library client the relevant facts about a work in microform in such a way that the client knows exactly where to find it. The following questions are addressed: 1) whether to use a subject-classification system, a form-code/accession-numbering system, or some…

Describes the Dewey Online Retrieval System (DORS), which was developed at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to experiment with classification-based search strategies in online catalogs. Classification structures in automated information retrieval are discussed; and specifications for a classification retrieval interface are…

Techniques for building a world-wide information infrastructure by reverse engineering existing databases to link them in a hierarchical system of subject clusters to create an integrated database are explored. The controlled vocabulary of the Library of Congress Subject Headings is used to ensure consistency and group similar items. Each database…

Discusses subject searching problems in online library catalogs; explains advanced information retrieval (IR) techniques; and describes experiments conducted on a test collection database, CHESHIRE (California Hybrid Extended SMART for Hypertext and Information Retrieval Experimentation), which was created to evaluate IR techniques in online…