Search results

This paper aims to discuss some long‐standing issues of the development of a subject heading language as pre‐ or postcoordinated.

In a review of literature on pre‐ and postcoordination and user behaviour, 20 criteria originally discussed by Svenonius are considered.

The advantages and disadvantages of pre‐ and postcoordinated systems are on a very similar level. Most subject heading languages developed recently are precoordinated. They all require investments in highly skilled intellectual work, and are therefore expensive and difficult to maintain. Postcoordinated systems seem to have more advantages for information providers, but less for users. However, most of these disadvantages could be overcome by known information retrieval models and techniques.

The criteria originally discussed by Svenonius are difficult to evaluate in an exact manner. Some of them are also irrelevant because of changes in information retrieval systems.

It was found that the decision on whether to use a pre‐ or postcoordinated system cannot be taken independent of consideration of the subject authority file and the functions of an information retrieval system, which should support users on one hand and information providers and indexers on the other.

This literature review brings together some findings that have not been considered together previously.

Following a brief history of cataloguing and the MARC format this paper describes current challenges in developing suitable international formats and cataloguing rules for dealing with electronic resources. Extensive references to the past and current literature provide an overview of the problems faced.

This paper examines a user categorisation of documents related to a particular literary work. Fifty study participants completed an unconstrained sorting task of documents related to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas carol. After they had finished the sorting task, participants wrote descriptions of the attributes they used to create each group. Content analysis of these descriptions revealed categories of attributes used for grouping. Participants used physical format, audience, content description, pictorial elements, usage, and language most frequently for grouping. Many of the attributes participants used for grouping already exist in bibliographic records and may be used to cluster records related to works automatically in online catalogue displays. The attributes used by people in classifying or grouping documents related to a work may be used to guide the design of summary online catalogue work displays.

Vocabularies such as thesauri and lists of subject headings have tended in the past to have been regarded as ‘indexing vocabularies’ rather than ‘searching vocabularies.’ Online searching, which requires input of search terms before any part of the database can be scanned, and which usually permits searching on ‘free’ terms as well as controlled terms, has placed emphasis on the need for vocabularies for searching. The term ‘searching vocabularies’ has been used to describe vocabularies produced with the searcher, rather than primarily the indexer, in mind. Such vocabularies are categorized as: enhanced thesauri and lists of subject headings, term listings, synonym listings and merged vocabularies.

Considers the function of the OLUC (Online Union Catalog System) system as a catalogue. Argues that for now it is not, but that it is developing into one. Discusses the growth of the OLUC and what that growth means regarding its use as a cataloguing tool in reference libraries, Outlines the objectives of catalogues and the ways that OLUC will eventually fulfill them.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the art historical antecedents of providing subject access to images. After reviewing the assumptions and limitations inherent in the most prevalent descriptive method, the paper seeks to introduce a new model that allows for more comprehensive representation of visually‐based cultural materials.

The paper presents a literature‐based conceptual analysis, taking Panofsky's theory of iconography and iconology as the starting‐point. Panofsky's conceptual model, while appropriate for art created in the Western academic tradition, ignores or misrepresents work from other eras or cultures. Continued dependence on Panofskian descriptive methods limits the functionality and usefulness of image representation systems.

The paper recommends the development of a more precise and inclusive descriptive model for art objects, which is based on the premise that art is not another sort of text, and should not be interpreted as such.

The paper provides suggestions for the development of representation models that will enhance the description of non‐textual artifacts.

The paper addresses issues in information science, the history of art, and computer science, and suggests that a new descriptive model would be of great value to both humanist and social science scholars.

Data were gathered on acknowledgements in five leading information science journals for the years 1991‐1999. The results were compared with data from two earlier studies of the same journals. Analysis of the aggregate data (1971‐1999) confirms the general impression that acknowledgement has become an institutionalised element of the scholarly communication process, reflecting the growing cognitive and structural complexity of contemporary research.