Computer based subject indexes to the Universal Decimal Classification

Abstract

Results achieved in the application of computer technology to information moved some experts to investigate into the ways and means of preparing subject indexes to UDC tables with the aid of computers. The textual structure of the definitions of the UDC numbers is very diverse, therefore the subject index cannot be compiled mechanically, i. e. without any modifications of the definitions. A special method is needed in order to apply the computer to the preparation of the subject index. The study surveys four solutions: methods of the Zentralstelle für maschinelle Dokumentation (FRG) of Yukio Nakamura (Japan), of Elvia de Andrade Oliveira (Brazil) and of the author. It deseribes the principles, the origins and the structures of these solutions, the incentives of their establishment, the activities of man and the computer, the end products as well as the special features of the solutions, giving a survey of their resembling, resp. different characteristics.