Coordinated indexing and optical coincidence card retrieval system of translations and prospectuses

Abstract

In accordance with its line, the Designing Office at Miskolc specializes in the literature on overground construction, civil engineering and town-planning (within this in Hungarian and foreign literature on statistics, engineering, electronics and interior designing).

On account of the increasingly complex information needs, possibilities for the use of subject headings as a form of classification complementary to UDC were sought for. Finally, the choice fell on the optical coincidence card retrieving system as recommended by the related literature.

Surveying the demands for the library services, the processing of translations of articles, as well as of prospectuses have been found as the most urgent task.

In this work particular attention has been given to the following aspects:

‒ processing should be based on a descriptor system;

‒ the number of descriptors resulting from the content analysis should be increased or decreased whenever needed;

‒ the duration of information retrieval might be cut down so that it could approach the level so far achieved in this field.

We set it as an objective to solve

‒ the problems of generic and specific terms as they appear in a coordinated classification;

‒ the problems of correct references and synonyms;

‒ the problems of the applicability of UDC common subdivisions.

In the course of processing it became clear that we have to record the descriptors resulting from the content analysis rather than the actual terms taken from the title. Thus we have attained a sound approach to the problems.

Some 82 per cent of 200 terms resulting from the content analysis of 500 translations covered the corresponding terms included in the UDC scheme. Search units more or less represented the most frequently used descriptors or term combinations in the terminological field of construction and architecture. The inclusion of new terms, accounting for 18 per cent, and the possibility for their free coordination ensured a high degree of flexibility for the processing and retrieval of translations of periodical articles.