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Xu Chen (2008)
Indexing Consistency between Online Catalogues
Dissertation, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Institut für Bibliotheks- und Informationswissenschaft , Berlin.
"In the global online environment, many bibliographic
services provide integrated access to different web-based OPACs. In such
an environment, users expect to see more consistency within and between
systems. In practice, indexers are not always consistent with each
other, because subject indexing is essentially a subjective process. The
purpose of this study is to investigate the indexing consistency
between systems and to find out whether it is still frustrated in the
new networked environment. Meanwhile, some factors which may influence
indexing consistency will be examined. The most important aim of this
study is to find out the reasons for inconsistencies, so that some
reasonable suggestions can be made to improve indexing consistency.
A sample of 3,307 monographs, i.e. 6,614 records was drawn from two
Chinese bibliographic catalogues. According to Hooper¡¯s formula, the
average consistency for index terms was 64.2% and for class numbers
61.6%. According to Rolling¡¯s formula, for index terms it was 70.7%,
for class numbers 63.4%.
Several factors affecting indexing consistency were examined: (1)
exhaustivity of indexing; (2) specificity; (3) length of monographs
indexed; (4) category of indexing languages; (5) subject area of
monographs indexed; (6) development of disciplines; (7) structure of
vocabulary; (8) year of publication.
The reasons for inconsistencies were also analyzed. The analysis
revealed that: (1) indexers¡¯ lack of subject knowledge, their
unfamiliarity with indexing languages and indexing rules led to a lot of
inconsistencies; (2) the lack of unified or detailed indexing policies
brought about inconsistencies as well; (3) delayed revision of indexing
languages, lack of vocabulary control, shortage of scope notes and ¡°see
also¡± reference notes, and high semantic freedom by term or class
choosing also caused inconsistencies."
(Quelle: edoc-Server der HU)
(Quelle: edoc-Server der HU)
