The major meetings and publications on developments in cataloging and classification during 1977 are summarized. Major issues covered include the closing of card catalogs and alternative catalog formats; national and international standards policies for cataloging; development of information networking; and indexing and classification…

Introduces the concept of cover coefficient to indexing theory and discusses a way of computing term discrimination values by using the cover coefficient concept, index-term selection, and weight modification. This method is compared to an approach that uses similarity coefficients. (Author/EM)

This exploration of reasons why historians do not take full advantage of government publications as sources of historical materials focuses on the difficulty of accessing information under current classification and indexing schemes. (CLB)

Recommends the use of microcomputers for computer-assisted indexing; describes five case studies; and provides a list of representative software programs including title, producer, compatible hardware, price, and a short description. (EM)

References indexed for Australian Education Index (AEI) were sampled and compared where possible with same references indexed for ERIC and Australian Public Affairs Information Service (APAIS) databases. An analysis of coverage of Australian references reveals indexing consistency figures of 22 percent for ERIC/AEI and 18 percent for AEI/APAIS.…

Describes how the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies in Taipei has used computers: 1) to select new vocabulary from texts for glossing; 2) to sort vocabulary for index listings; and 3) to print portions of textbooks. Problems with phonetic transcriptions and quality of print for Chinese characters are discussed. Samples are…

Describes the use of machine aided indexing as part of NASA's information systems. The discussion covers reasons for incorporating machine aided indexing, the lexical dictionary used, subject switching, natural language processing, benefits to the system, and possible future developments. (CLB)

Describes the two basic approaches to the calculation of term discrimination values for automatic indexing. The results of an experiment that investigated the differences between algorithms of these two approaches in terms of their impact on the discrimination value model are reported and discussed. (13 references) (Author/CLB)

Characterizes types of indexing programs used by Research Publications, Inc. and describes provision of access to four major projects: "The Official Washington Post Index" (provides access to newspaper and microfilm edition); "The Eighteenth Century"; "The Declassified Documents Reference System" (ongoing fiche…

A recently opened Dutch maritime museum makes information on its exhibits and reserve collections available to visitors via a computerized information system, which uses library computer software and videodisks to provide both textual and pictorial information on objects. Bibliographic information is also available on the museum library's…

Group of 20 scholars attributed 29.3 percent of 437 references they had cited to one of seven motives, while describing motives for majority (70.7 percent) of references as combinations. Clustering of citer motives showed three groupings: (1) persuasiveness, positive credit, currency, social consensus; (2) negative credit; (3) reader alert,…

Makes a case for the production of printed subject indexes and describes the MICROSPI package, which allows the production of NEPHIS (NEsted PHrase Indexing System) and KWAC (Key Word And Context) indexes on a microcomputer. (Author/MBR)

In this third of five course installments, the role of Library of Congress in providing improved subject access and weaknesses or defects of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) are discussed. Reflections of six practioners and researcher/teachers on long term use of LCSH and the MARC bibliographic record are presented. (EJS)

In this second of five course installments, key terms in an up-to-date definition of "subject access"--access, collection of items, search words, vocabulary, index or catalog records, related words or clues, file--are identified, and their part in providing subject access in both traditional and computer-based services are discussed.…

This book contains the following papers in honor of Pauline Atherton Cochrane on subject access issues in library and information science: (1) "Obstacles in Progress in Mechanized Subject Access and the Necessity of a Paradigm Change" (Robert Fugmann); (2) "On MARC and the Nature of Text Searching: A Review of Pauline Cochrane's…