The first of a series of five papers whose aim is to find a rational basis for indexing and some means to evaluate it. (Author)

A preliminary investigation which revealed the omission of four full length articles on rheumatology from Index Medicus'' is reported upon. Further investigations are in progress and will be reported at a later date. (Author/SJ)

The complete report, ERIC document ED 022 494, is abstracted in the February 1969 "Research in Education.

THE REPORT DESCRIBES THE EFFECTS THAT A CONTROLLED VOCABULARY HAS ON THE INDEXING AND SEARCHING OPERATIONS OF THE DOCUMENT RETRIEVAL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON FOR THE AIR FORCE MATERIALS LABORATORY. THE SYSTEM CONTAINS ABOUT 30,000 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL REPORTS COVERING ALL ASPECTS OF MATERIALS RESEARCH AND IS CONTROLLED BY…

Reexamines the feasibility of automatic thesaurus generation by establishing a framework for analyzing the degree of correspondence between automatically generated thesauri and a thesaurus of the same terms constructed by subject specialists. (Author/FM)

A SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE ON EVALUATION OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS HAS BEEN CONDUCTED BY THE TECHNICAL INFORMATION EXCHANGE, CENTER FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY, NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS. DURING THE EARLY STAGES OF THE SURVEY, THE LITERATURE WAS DIVIDED AMONG DESCRIPTIONS OF PROGRAMS WHICH COMPARED THE PERFORMANCE OF TWO OR MORE…

Large-scale, on-line information storage and retrieval systems pose numerous problems above those encountered by smaller systems. A step toward the solution of these problems is presented along with several demonstrations of feasibility and advantages. The methodology on which this solution is based is that of a posteriori automatic classification…

This experiment used five index languages to form nine different index files to the same collection of documents. Each index term, in each language, was treated in two ways: as an independent English term, and as a coded entry in a faceted-type thesaurus which specified relationships between terms. The performance effect of the thesaurus was then…

A framework is developed to evaluate expected search length, an important measure of an information storage and retrieval system's performance, as a function of the size of the information file and its organization in terms of indexing search structure. Previous research pertaining to search length by W.S. Cooper and others is surveyed and…

Some problems encountered with the ERIC indexing system in efforts to retrieve information from the ERIC files are discussed. (4 references) (Author/NH)

Discusses the overlap of research in artificial intelligence and information retrieval, focusing on the papers included in this special issue of Information Processing and Management. Highlights include the emphasis on evaluation and testing in prior research and use of manual and automatic indexing, expert systems, knowledge representation, and…

A STUDY WAS MADE OF THE FEDERAL AVIATION INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM (FAIRS), WHICH SERVES DIVERSE INFORMATION NEEDS OF THE AGENCY'S TECHNICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL. FAIRS WAS DEVELOPED TO OPERATIONAL CAPACITY BY (1) ASSIGNING DESCRIPTORS AND IDENTIFIERS TO REPORTS TO PREPARE THEM FOR SUBSEQUENT RETRIEVAL, (2) EXPANDING, DEVELOPING, AND…

A set of twenty five questions was processed against a computer-stored file of 9159 document references in the field of ferrous metallurgy, representing the 1965 coverage of the Iron and Steel Institute (London) information service. A basis for evaluation of system performance characteristics and analysis of system failures was provided by using…

A selective dissemination of information service based on computer scanning of Nuclear Science Abstracts tapes has operated at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, England since October, 1968. The performance of the mechanized SDI service has been compared with that of the pre-existing current awareness service which is based on…

THIS REPORT IS A BRIEF REVIEW OF RESULTS OF AN EXPERIMENT TO DETERMINE THE INFORMATION RETRIEVAL EFFICIENCY OF A MANUAL SPECIALIZED INFORMATION SYSTEM BASED ON 700,000 DOCUMENTS IN THE FIELDS OF ENDOCRINOLOGY, STRESS, MAST CELLS, AND ANAPHYLACTOID REACTIONS. THE SYSTEM RECEIVES 30,000 PUBLICATIONS ANNUALLY. DETAILED INFORMATION IS REPRESENTED BY…