Compilation of Computerised Indexes - Need for Broader Guidelines and Criteria

COMPILATION OF COMPUTERISED INDEXES - NEED FOR BROADER GUIDELINES AND CRITERIA

Ram D Taneja Vinod K Saxena Indian Standards Institution, New Delhi.

Describes the introduction of a new concept of compilation of indexes has broken new ground. computerized indexes. Surveys the problems arising This specially applies to the compilation of horn the compilation of such indexea with reference neat, accurate and efficient indexes of volumi- to Keyword Index to the Handbook of 151 Publications. nous serial publications in a record time. Discusses the need for revision of 15:1275-1958 'Rules for making alphabetical Indexe s ' in the light of this MECHANIZED KEYWORDINDEXING new cone ept and establishing certain guidelines and criteria for the compilation of basic data for such indexes. One of the popular brand of mechanized indexes is a KWIC (Keyword in Contex) index. It is a machine generated permuted index. based on title citations. This presupposes INTRODUCTION that the title consists of significant words to make it meaningful. After the title is key- The index forms an essential part of a punched, machine-readable record in the form publication since it is an important main tool of punched cards is fed to the computer. The for retrieving information on the subject. The machine selects keywords by using a thesau- index also provides a systematic and consis- rus of keywords, which has been transferred tent subject analysis of the contents arranged to its memory. according to alphabetical, chronological, numerical or any other order. Though author INDIANSTANDARDON INDEXING and subject indexes have corne to be accepted as an essential part of a publication, the type The Indian Standard Institution is sued in of an index is determined by the type of the 1958 an Indian Standard 15:1275-1958 'Rules rnaterial to be indexed and the use to which the for making alphabetical indexe s", This index is to be put. standard lays down rules for preparing alpha- betical indexes of books and periodicals, but it In an index, each entry (a unit of index does not cover special indexes like chrono- consisting of a heading with at least one refer- logical indexes for history books and case ence to the location of the item in the text) is indexes for law books. The standard is divided followed by page number, paragraph number into three parts. Part I covers general re- or other indication of the exact location of the quirements for the structure, entry, heading, reference. Unlike the general belief, an index numbers, features of entries and layout index is not a mere listing of words, concor- of the indexes. Part II covers the formation dance, table of contents, glossary or check- of indexes of books while Part III deals with list arranged in a particular sequence. the preparation of indexes fo. periodical publications. The three appendices at the end NEW CONCEPT IN INDEXING give examples of alphabetical indexes, recom- mendations for the preparation of indexes and IndeXing techniques are currently under- definitions of terms. going a kind of revolution. Maps, pictures, records and even fingerprints are being in- INDEX TO THE HANDBOOKOF ISI dexed along with books, periodicals and techni- PUBLICATIONS cal documents. With the advance of automation, mechanized indexes are fast taking place of ISI brings out a Handbook of Publications manual indexes. Use of computers in the every year. The current edition lists some

Vol 16 No 3 & 4 Sept & Dec 1969 143 TANEJA & SAXENA

S, 000 Indian Standards apart from 1,000 ISO inde:JCwith the help of a computer in the light of Recommendations and IEC Publications. Till their experience of compilation of index for 1967, this publication had a manually pre- Indian Science Abstracts. The index was envi- pared index to serve as a guide to the num~i- saged to be a KWIC (Keyword in Context) index cally arranged titles of the standards and because keywords without context do not ade- specifications. In the absence of any other quately clarify the ec ope and contents of the .reference tool, the index served the purpose subject. Besides, this makes the index more of a key to literature search and retrieval of explicit as the same keyword may occur in information on the subject. Each year, the different subjects. index was compiled so as to cover the require- For certain reasons, the computer was ments of a subject index, catchword index, used only for a part of the operation, that is series index and alphabetico-class index. As alphabetizing the entries and printing them in S, a result, more than 1 000 entries at the rate the shape of a master copy in 70-character of nearly four entries per title had to be index lines. The index entries were prepared manually processed. Even after devoting four manually as before; they were than punched on to six months' time for this tedious work, the IBM SO-column punch cards and processed . job remained imperfect. The manual process through a digital computer (IBM 1620). thus was not only time consuming and expen- sive in terms of manhours spent on the job but The formation of an index entry is also considerably delayed the publication of standardized. It consists of (a) main heading the Handbook. which includes keyword and qualifier(s), (b) sub-heading or contexts which include(s) COMPUTERIZED INDEX FOR HANDBOOK one or more aspects, and (c) identification number (IS No. in this case). The following In 1967, INSDOC was approached for schematic representation would illustrate the their collaboration in the compilation of this scheme:

INDEXING ENTR Y I MainI Heading Sub-heading Identification No; or or Context(s) IS Number

Keyword Qualifier( s) ~ Aspect( 1) Aspect( 2)

Main Heading Selection of keywords in this index is made from the title of the Indian Standards and The main heading consists of a noun (or all the possible catchwords or es senttat words a phrase) called keyword, or a noun qualified in the title covering important aspe ct s of the by one or two adjectives termed as qualifiers. subject are indexed. fQualifier(s)', a wcr d or group of words (adjectives or adv erbs }, which generally give t s ) the tu..,cti"nal or descriptive Example aspects of the keT,vr.r~de'';'l"e separated horn the keyword by a c.ornrna , PORTABLE FOAM TYPE/FIRE EXTINGUISHERS Example

Qualifier / Keyword (FANS, ELECTRIC/FOR DOMESTIC USE)

144 Ann Lib Sci Doc COMPILATION OF COMPUTERISED INDEXES

Context(s) Problems also arise regarding vocabu- lary control and it needs elaborate planning It is a brief description of the subject in of the terms before punching the index addition to the keyword. The context is made entries. There is also no scope of see as brief as possible by using only essential and see also references. Without such words, abbreviated terms, minimizing con- references the index remains incomplete. juctions and eliminating articles. whenever pos sible. It is separated f'rorn main heading by placing it below. For Example Example BHINDI has no see also reference under OKRA LIFTS, ELECTRIC

The length of keywords and their con- OUTLINE DIMENSIONS FOR texts, if not limited also pose a basic problem as the present programming PROBLEMS schedule has certain limitations. The mechanized index was expected to For Example be a general index including the aspect of TEXTILE MATERIALS, DETN OF the subject, catchword, series and alpha- COLOUR FASTNESS betico class index. But it did not quite meet the needs of the users. The com- CONCLUSION pilers too were not satisfied. However, limitations like absence of lower case The quality of an index is determined types, chemical symbols and Greek letters largely by the maker's appraisal of the kinds in the computer are well known. These of materials contained in the collection, the were overcome by spelling out the letters. range of search questions likely to be posed by users and the mechanism available for For Example searching the collection and the consequent adoption of the index to the needs of its BETA-OXYNAPHTHOIC ACID users. The present system of mechanised in- PARA-NITROTOLUENE dexing, which is likely to be more and more popular and useful. calls for the formulation In the final format singular and plural of basic guidelines and criteria. This will forms of the keyword cause some ambiguity. necessitate modification of 15:1275-1958 This difficulty can possibly be overcome by 'Rules for making alphabetical indexes' using singular form of the keywords. However, in exceptional cases where singular REFERENCES form of keyword changes its meaning or significance plural form has to be retained. Bose, Hand S. Dutta: Keyword indexing for the Indian Science Abstracts,Ann, F'o r Example Lib. Sc. 14,3;1967;122-32.

LICKS FOR CATTLE Raizada, A. S. et al: Keyword index to Indian Science Abstracts Ann. Lib. Sc, FORCEPS, DISSECTING 14.1; 1967; 20-33.

A very peculiar problem is with regard IS: 1275-1958 'Rules for making alphabeti- to format and style. In fact, the mecha- ca1 indexe s'. Indian Standards Institution. nized index violates certain established practice s followed for manual operation. BS: 3700-1964 'Recommendations for the preparation of Indexe~ British Standards For Example Institution.

QUALITY CONTROL UNDER PRO- Z39. 4-1959 'Basic Criteria for Indexes! DUCTION American Standards Association,

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