Describes various ways in which software systems for online catalogs can be designed to enhance subject access. Highlights include what to search (subject headings, titles, notes, authority-file records, classification numbers, and associated text); truncation and stemming; spelling correction; search strategies (headings, keywords, Boolean…

This thesis describes work done as part of the Video Console Indexing Project (VICI), a program to improve the quality and reduce the time and work involved in indexing documents. The objective of the work described was to design a video terminal system which could be connected to a main computer to provide rapid natural communication between the…

In this research project, subject terms from the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) Schedules and Relative Index were incorporated into an online catalog as searcher's tools for subject access, browsing, and display. Four features of the DDC were employed to help searchers browse for and match their own subject terms with the online catalog's…

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…

NETPAD is a microcomputer-based system, implemented on a Commodore PET 2001-8, by which a human indexer can input, retrieve, and edit information in order to produce a variety of permuted index displays. The basic unit of the NETPAD system is a subnetwork (a description of a single document) containing a set of concept nodes (author, title, date,…

This paper describes an experiment in the use of Dewey Decimal Classification in online catalogs to introduce classed approach to subject searching of library collections, enhance subject terminology indexed in online catalog, and provide possibilities for search strategies not possible through alphabetical approach of subject headings and/or…

Identifies factors that reduce the effectiveness of computers as intermediaries and discusses possible negative effects on user satisfaction and the interaction between users and librarians. A set of guidelines for the improvement of online catalogs, based on user needs and abilities, is presented. (41 references) (CLB)