Classaurus

Courtesy of F. J. Devadason.

An article explaining the concept and construction of a 'classaurus' is now available online:
"Online construction of alphabetic classaurus: a vocabulary control and indexing tool" by F. J. Devadason (the online version of the article published in Processing and Management, Vol. 21(1985); No.1; p 11-26)

The term 'classaurus' in the meaning of an indexing language/tool that combines classification and thesaurus is first introduced by Bhattacharyya:

BHATTACHARYYA, G. (1982) "Classaurus : its fundamentals, design and use", Universal classification : subject analysis and ordering systems : proceeding of the 4th International Study Conference on Classification Research, 6th Annual Conference of Gesellshaft für Klassifikation, Augsburg, 28 June - 2 July 1982 : Vol. 1. Edited by I. Dahlberg. Frankfurt : Indeks Verlag, 1982, 139-148.

The idea is similar to the one of thesaurofacet introduced earlier by J. Aitchison ("The thesaurofacet : a multipurpose retrieval language tool", Journal of Documentation, 26 (3) 1970, 187-203).

Many thanks to F. J. Devadason for making the text of his article available in this way. It would be great if we would get wider access (subject to copyright permission) to excellent articles by his teacher and mentor G. Bhattacharyya such as the one mentioned above or at least one of the following:

BHATTACHARYYA, G. (1979) "Fundamentals of subject indexing languages", Ordering systems for global information networks : proceedings of the Third International Study Conference on Classification Research held at Bombay, India, during 6-11 January 1975. Edited by A. Neelameghan. Bangalore : DRTC : FID/CR and Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science, 1979. (FID 533), 83-99.

BHATTACHARYYA, G.; RANGANATHAN, S. R. (1978) "From knowledge classification to library classification", Conceptual basis of the classification of knowledge : proceedings of the Ottawa Conference, October 1st to 5th 1971. Edited by J. A. Wojciechowski. New York; München; Paris : K.G. Saur, 1978. 119-143.

The future of subject analysis - discussion list

From the IFLA CLASS list:

The ALCTS Cataloging and Classification Section Subject Analysis Committee would like to invite you to subscribe to the list http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/headings to discuss the future of subject analysis.

The ALCTS Subject Analysis Committee established a new SAC Subcommittee on the Future of Subject Headings at ALA Annual 2006. Its charge:

"To analyze the future of subject cataloging, with emphasis on Library of Congress subject Headings (LCSH), through the use of SWOT (Strengths,Weaknesses, opportunities, and Threats) analysis, taking into consideration both internal forces within the library community and the external environment. A preliminary report will be made at Midwinter 2008 with the final report and program made at Annual 2008. "

Your participation in this discussion would be most welcome.

typology of controlled vocabularies

The other day, there was a discussion on 'general types of controlled vocabularies' on the SKOS list. Some texts were proposed that cover this issue:

- "Ontology metadata framework, a doctoral thesis in which there is a typology of controlled vocabularies based on G. Hodge's "Systems of Knowledge Organization for Digital Libraries"

- NISO 39.19 - Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and management of Monolingual Thesauri

- Terminology Services and Technology JISC state of the art review

[All of these are listed in the ISKO UK topics and standards pages respectively.]

I was wondering... if we wish to read about the typology of indexing languages where should we look? Are some of these still relevant?

"Subject approach to information" by A.C. Foskett (1999)
"Languages of indexing and classification" by W. J. Hutchins (1975)
"Abstracting and Indexing" J. Rowley (1988)
"Indexing and Abstracting in Theory and Practice" by F. W. Lancaster (2003)
"Indexing languages and Thesauri"(1974) or "Organizing Information" (2006) by Dagobert Soergel
"Subject analysis and indexing: theoretical foundation and practical advice " by Robert Fugmann? (1993)

or e.g.:
Documentation - methods for examining documents, determining their subjects, and selecting indexing terms: international standard 5963. Geneva, International Standard Organization, 1985

... etc.