The development of the INSPEC vocabulary system which comprises a unified indexing and classification scheme is described together with the reasons for its adoption. (Author)

This is the fifth in a series of eight reports of a research study for the National Agricultural Library (NAL) on the effective utilization of bibliographic data bases in machine readable form. NAL desires ultimately to develop techniques of interacting with other data bases so that queries put to NAL may be answered with documents or document…

Examines current events databases that are general in coverage--Abstrax 400, UPI News, Information Access Corporation's databases. Documentation and personal name searching, basic database structure, retrieval of personal names as subjects, precision, improving recall, and do's and don'ts are covered. Summary of retrieval methods and sample…

This article examines the role of authority control in an online environment. Topics covered include a definition of authority control, the relationship between authority control and catalogs, current school of thought regarding the need for authority control, and other models of data administration. Twenty-three references are cited. (Author/EJS)

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…

Studies the performance of probabilistic information retrieval systems using differing statistical dependence assumptions when estimating the probabilities inherent in the retrieval model. Experimental results using the Bahadur Lazarsfeld expansion on the Cystic Fibrosis database are discussed that suggest that incorporating term dependence…

Analysis of current methods for achieving compatibility or convertibility between two or more indexing languages draws attention to the need for a switching language to establish equivalency between concepts, not terms. In order to examine the assumption of the conceptual equivalency of identical terms in the indexing languages of related subject…

Monographs, periodical literature, documents, unpublished reports, and non-print materials in both English and Spanish would be included in a proposed Hispanic data base built around an initial 15 contributing collections totalling an estimated 100,000 items. Because users would employ indexing terms to access the data base, a thesaurus is…

Announced in this booklet is the availability of the International Demographic Data Directory (IDDD). The IDDD is designed to expedite the retrieval of demographic and family planning statistics for use by administrators, planners, and researchers. This guide describes the computerized system indicating the geographic scope of the data, subject…

Describes and analyzes various methods of automated authority control currently available and suggests questions to ask when considering purchase of system. Highlights include manual versus automated authority control and levels of service in automated authority systems (network, vendor). Glossary of terminology and list of networks and vendors…

This manual describes information processing procedures for Museum Computer Network (MCN) systems. The first section contains general rules for preparation of input: conventions for all data; conventions for controlling the appearance of output; conventions for automatic sorting of data; conventions for user specified sorting of data; and…

Describes a model for the standardization of names in bibliographic databases. Discusses a prototype that was developed to demonstrate feasibility of the model, and investigates the impact of implementing the model. Findings suggested that the new model will revolutionize name authority control and that the prototype verifies the technical…

The mathematical model proposed describes a computerized bibliographic information system which includes a method--document learning--of improving the set of index terms assigned to a document representative. Inputs to the information system (index terms and query), relevance feedback, and assumptions concerning the model are discussed.…

This chapter describes how ERIC addresses the problems resulting from four conditions that make it unique in the indexing field: (1) its subject area includes a wide range of subspecialists; (2) its clientele is extremely diverse; (3) it has a dual retrieval purpose--for both manual and computer access; and (4) its retrieval is challenged by the…

A study was conducted to determine the most effective way to organize the data that are being accumulated by the European Documentation and Information System for Education (EUDISED). The study considered types of information services and search facilities which might be used to access the EUDISED data base. Indexing systems were examined and…