INDEX  An indexer, irrespective of his education

level, should be intelligent, widely read,

 An index consists of a series of entries
levelheaded, patient, and analytically
appearing in alphabetical order to enable
minded. Besides, he/she should have a
users to find information with reference
curious and imaginative mind because
to show where each item is located
indexing has to do with answering
 A systematic presentation of the salient
obvious question in the process of
terms and concepts of a document in all
indexing and thinking for the user.
formats organized to provide access to
Therefore, he is a substitute for the user
those terms and ideas in the primary
as he/she moves through text, indexing
document by directing the users using
items.
precise references to their locations
 Indexes are needed to provide useful
 An index is a tool, which indicates to a
shortcuts to required material, without
user the information or a source of
an index, the retrieval of information will
information that one needs.
be challenging. Access to information in
 Index means an indicator or guide. In
print and non-print materials would be
record management, indexing is defined
dreadful without indexes; almost all
as an indicator or guide for locating, files
documents need to be indexed. The
folders, or records. It id the list of dates,
different information sources contained
subjects, or names that indicate the
in libraries are indexed. Governments,
exact location of letters and documents
private organization, and education
preserved in files and folders. It helps to
systems, etc., all work with multifaceted
provide the required information on
and wide-ranging documents, and any
time. An index should not be confusing.
indexing system can quickly provide
It should be easy to access records.
access to this materials.
INDEXER  Indexes are needed for any collection of
information. If there no indexes, the
 An individual who does indexing or social order may probably come to
prepares indexes is called indexer. cessation. Indexers go through a
Indexers are noted for their organization document without missing anything and
skills; they usually are orderly minded help the user cut down intensely on the
with the capacity to take pains, having a items he/she has to scrutinize. Indexes
straightforward thought process, and are also needed because they add value
accurately careful. An indexer examines to documents, it allows users to find
a document and tags it with the subjects documents, and ensure amplified usage
and other descriptors based on his/her of documents. With this in mind, a good
understanding of what the user would indexer attempts to think for the user,
look under. They struggle to satisfy the and he finds information to make
needs of the user; they work as if their decision and solve problems.
users are present. Indexer are expert
who produce indexes based on standard
and ethics. Some work as full-time
PURPOSE
indexers while some work part-time.
Some are working in organizations or  To indicate the right position of files and
business while others work as service folders.
provider or as consultants. Other work in  It provides future reference
libraries, publishing houses, research  To increase the efficiency of filing
institutes, universities, etc. Indexer are
INDEXING TERMS
noted for their self-discipline and are
positively sure to details with an
excellent recall to go with it.
  Names or labels that you have assigned
to the documents in the indexing
process. It may be a word, a phrase, or a
code consisting of numbers or letters of
the alphabet or a combination
INDEXING LANGUAGE
 The complete set of these terms
WHAT ARE THE USES OF INDEXING LANGUAGE
IN THE INDEXING PROCESS?
 To allow the indexer to represent the
subject matter of the documents
consistently. The index language
provides careful term definition or scope
notes for related terms and generous
cross-references, which will make the
indexer aware of the most appropriate
term, general or specific, to represent
the topic.
 To bring the vocabulary used by the
searcher into coincidence with the
vocabulary used by the indexer. The
index language should prescribe the
language that the searcher must use by
directing him from non-searchable terms
to searchable terms.
 To provide means whereby a searcher
can modulate a search strategy in order
to achieve high recall or high precision as
varying circumstances demand.
COMPONETS OF INDEXING LANGUAGE
1. VOCABULARY – the vocabulary of
the indexing language is composed
of terms loosely called index terms.
There are two types of vocabularies.
a. INDEX VOCABULARY – which
consists of index terms that are
assigned to express the concepts of
the authors. These are also called
descriptors, (Example :
Deacidification, Dead titles,
Despreciation)
b. APPROACH VOCABULARY – which is
consists of terms which are used as
lead-in terms to the index terms.
2. SYNTAX – a complete indexing
language includes certain devices
that are used to achieve high recall
or high precision in both indexing
and search operations. These are
referred to as indexing language
devices and may be conveniently
regarded as forming the syntax of
the index language
a. RECALL DEVICES – are indexing
language devices that group
terms together into classes of
one type or another so that such
devices will allow improvement
in recall in the search operation
and make the index consistent in
assigning index terms that
represent the subject contents of
the document.
  Synonyms, Near synonyms, Quasi
synonyms
 Control of word from endings
 Hierarchical relationship
document terms that appear on the
list adopted by the library or
information center. Using artificial
language will help us to use concept
indexing. Indexers will try to create a
standard description for each
concept and use that description
each time it is suitable, whether the
author has utilize it or not.

3 MAJOR TYPES OF CONTROLLED VOCABULARY

 CLASSIFICATIO SCHEME, e.g.

Decimal Dewey Classification,
Library of Congress Classification,
Universal Decimal Classification,
B. PECISION DEVICES – these are indexing etc.
language devices that are when used with  LIST OF SUBJECT HEADINGS, e.g.
association with terms. Hence, such devices will Sear’s List of Subject Headings,
improve precision in both indexing and search Library of Congress Subject
operations. The common type of such devices Headings, Medical Subject
are: Headings, etc.
 Term coordination or combination of  SUBJECT THESAURUS, e.g.
two or more different terms with Popline Thesaurus, Education
different meanings to come up with a Thesaurus, Physics Thesaurus,
distinct index term with a specific etc.
meaning. These are called adjectival 2. NATURAL LANGUAGE – if we use
headings, phrase headings, compound words or phrases as they written in
headings, and composite headings. the documents without alteration,
we are utilizing natural language or
derivative systems. Since the terms
are picked out form the text itself,
this approach may also be called
indexing by extraction.
3. FREE LANGUAGE – the free-text
language does not consists of a list of terms
distinct from those used to describe concepts in
a subject area. Indexing is “free” because there
are no restrictions on the words or phrase that
 SUBHEADINGS OR SUBDIVISION. These can be used in the indexing process. It is the
are terms or phrase that are used under nature of a free language that any words or
main headings or index term to
subdivide certain subject into more
specific topics or show a particular
aspect of a given subject or index term.

TYPE OF INDEXING LANGUAGES

1. CONTROLLED VOCABULARY OR
ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGE – This is
basically an authority list. In general,
an indexer can only assign to
phrases that suits the subject may be used as an usually remember most of the poems
indexing term. The terms may be computer- or under the first line.
human-assigned, although free language is most
(SEE THE EXAMPLE IN 42)
ordinary in a computer-indexing environment.
TYPES AND FORMS OF INDEXES FACETED INDEX
 According to Cleveland (2001), there are
many types of indexes that can be  The dictionary defines facet as one side
categorized generally by arrangement, of something that has many sides. In
specific subject field, or by purpose. other words, in a faceted indexing
system, one subject will have many
APLHABETICAL INDEX aspects so that a faceted index attempts
to discover all aspects of one single
 This type of index is a generic/broader
subject and then put them together in a
term because it covers several specific
method that best describes the subject
types of indexes. This index follows the
under discussion. A faceted index adopts
most common arrangement method,
the synthetic classification scheme and is
which is alphabetical and very
often called an analytic-synthetic system.
convenient for the searcher. For
A faceted system is pre-coordinated at
instance, a classified index by subject can
the time of indexing and is arranged in
be alphabetically arranged. The subject
classification order, rather than in a
headings, cross-reference, and qualifying
straight alphabetical order.
terms, as well as main headings, are
alphabetically arranged based on the (SEE THE EXAMPLE IN SLIDE 44)
letters of the alphabet. Thus, all entry
items in this type of index are arranged PERMUTED TITLE INDEX
in one alphabetical order, including  This title word index is created by
author names, places names chemical systemically rotating information
formulas, musical terms, medical terms, conveying words in the titles as subject
mathematical terms, biological terms, entry points into the index. The premise
and other multi-disciplinary field terms. of a permuted or rotated index is that
(SEE THE EXAMPLE IN SLIDE 38) the titles effectively indicate the
aboutness of the content. Since the titles
WORD AND NAME INDEX reflects a document’s content, a
permuted title derived index helps users
 This is sometimes called concordances,
decide if the specific document would
which include the individual names and
satisfy their information needs. The best
words that the author used. It used the
argument for making a permuted title
exact term or word within the context of
index is straightforward. It can be done
the document. One of the drawbacks
quickly and entirely by the computer;
pinpointed in this type of index is that
however, its main drawbacks are the
similar entries are spread over many
titles may not accurately reflect the
synonymous terms because of the
document’s content, and the lack of
misspellings. An example of the word
vocabulary control may result in
and name index is the Bible
retrieving irrelevant documents.
concordance.
(SEE THE EXAMPLE IN SLIDE 44)
(SEE THE EXAMPLE IN SLIDE 40)
STRING INDEX
FIRST-LINE INDEX
 This indexing method attempts to give
 This type of index generally refers to
the searcher an access point for all index
poems. All the first line of a verse in a
terms by displaying a series of rotating
poem is listed alphabetically in the index.
index entries from a list of index terms
The main reason is that the searchers
 that make up a string. Single entries are
presented one by one in an alphabetical
list. A string index is usually an output
done by a computer.
BOOK INDEX
 This is a list of words that are arranged
alphabetically at the back of the book
with a specific page(s) after each term to
enable the searcher to find its exact
location inside the text. The searcher will
just look at the particular term or subject
in the list to locate quickly and easily the
information he wanted without reading
the whole book. However, not all books
are indexed. Many textbooks in the
grade schools published in this country
are not indexed, especially fiction books.
NEWSPAPER INDEX
 There are two general users of
newspaper indexes. Firstly, the news
personnel and secondly, the general
public. The primary needs of news
personnel are facts, story follow-up,
INTERNET INDEX
analysis, background material, and other
information that helps them on a current
assignment. On the other hand, public
readers refer to business people,
scholars, students, genealogists, writers,
trivia hunters, and historians. As a
primary source of information,
newspaper are daily records of current
events, and they are consulted for facts.
Local newspaper in small cities and
municipalities are essential for local
history research so that indexes to these
newspapers are made in a natural
language without any vocabulary
control. Incidentally, many newspaper
are now available free online. An
example is the newspaper online
(http://www.newspaper.com). An
example of a newspaper index in the
New Times Index.
(SEE EXAMPLE IN SLIDE 50)
MULTIMEDIA INDEX
 Audiovisual are expanding in all kinds of
communication system such as images,
sound, videos, photograph, paintings,
and some textual materials. These are
integrated into the multimedia index.
(SEE EXAMPLE IN SLIDE 52)
HYPERMEDIA INDEX
 Is text and non-textual material in an
electronic form that allows users to
search nonlinearly by associations. This
type of index will enable users to wind
their way from point to point to what
they want through electronic nodes and
links between those nodes. The indexing
aspects are transparent to the user, but
someone who has analyzed the
information and has made indexing
decisions in establishing these nodes and
connections.
 Hypermedia refers to similar links as
those used in hypertext, but instead of
simply linking text to text, hypermedia
involves linking various media. \
 http://www.ickn.org/elements/hyper/c
ybi.htm
 Sometimes called web index, which
refers to various indexes to the contents
of a websites or of the internet as a
whole. Specific websites use a back of
the book index while search engines use
keywords and metadata to deliver a
more useful vocabulary for internet
searching. Google index includes
information about words and their
location. It can be text-based or content-
based. Text-based is a process of
automatic indexing that make use of
words found in the document while
content-based on the caption under the
image or word near the image. There are
five (5) titles of websites A-Z indexes
found on Google. These are Site Index, A-
Z Index, Topic Index, Alphabetical Index,
and Browsable Index.
 https://www.bls.gov/ooh/a-z-index.htm
PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS OF INDEXING
 EXHAUSTIVITY – means the number
of index terms given to all concepts
 stated in an article or to the level of
detail with which a specified topic is
treated. It is made to improve the
recall of user searches, to provide
assurance that a maximum number
of documents pertinent to a search
are retrieved. While there should
never be an arbitrary boundary to
the number of concepts retrieved,
the ideal level of exhaustivity rests
on several factors, it could be the
type of work and the subject matter
of the work.
 SPECIFIVITY – this idea refers to how
exactly the written language
describes the subjects and concepts
in a document. Its objective is to
guarantee that a maximum number
of the documents retrieved in a
search will be relevant to the user.
Ideas should branded as precisely as
possible, that is, at least as specific as
the documentary language allows
and the users’ purpose.
 For example, a document on special
education would be indexed with the
term Special Education, but not the
terms Special or Education; a CONSISTENCY
document concerning storms would
be indexed with the term Storm and
not broader term Natural Disasters.
 Occasionally, a theme can only be
represented at the desired level of
specificity by a combination of terms
existing in the documentary
language; for instance, the specific
topic <<public transport operators>>
is described by the combination of
terms.
 PUBLIC TRANSPORT and TRANSPORT
OPERATORS.
 New terms may need to be
presented in the written language
when works deal with topics that are
more precise than any prevailing
terms.
 The judgment of the indexer is
critical in using the indexing policy of
specificity. He needs to keep in mind
the search requirements of the
users. Sometimes a specific term is
not likely to be familiar to several
users, and there is no existing cross-
reference from a term that is likely
to be used. Indexers may allocate a
comprehensive term that is likely to
be looked up, in addition to the
narrower term.
EXAMPLE:
 Document concerning Lumad:
 650 17 $a INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
 650 17 $a PHILIPPINES
 650 17 $a LUMAD
 In the case of this example, the
indexer assumes that the client
might not identify that LUMAD is
the term used for the
Philippines’ indigenous people.
Since there is no available cross
reference from INDIGENOUS
PEOPLE OF PHILIPPINES, a term
that is more likely to be used-the
indexer provided the terms
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE,
PHILIPPINES in addition to the
narrower term LUMAD>
 Is the unit of measurement of indexing
quality. Using standardization of the
term to be used to index a certain
document, consistency is more likely to
be achieved. Each document must be
examined individually of its connection
to other documents. This way, no
important subject will be ignored, and no
unrelated ideas to the document will be
included. On the other hand, indexers
must ensure that they are consistent
with all documents similar in type, to
documents in the same subject areas
and in the concepts selected for a group
documents.
LESSON 2: SUBJECT INDEXING OF
PERIODICALS
SUBJECT INDEXING OF PERIODICALS
 SUBJECT INDEXING is one of the
processes involved in the information
analysis. Although there is a formal
 distinction between subject cataloging
and indexing activities, they have the
same function which is to representative
contents of a document in such a way
that they facilitate its retrieval. Subject
indexing implies greater and depth of
subject analysis as well as the inclusion
of more kinds of materials other than
books.
TWO STEPS IN SUBJECT INDEXING
1. CONCEPTUAL OR SUBJECT ANALYSIS
 Is the first step as it identifies the
aboutness of the document. The indexer
analyses the document and brings out all
the subject discussed in it which are
relevant to the information need of his
customers. It is implied here that the
indexer is familiar with the information
needs of the customer
2. TRANSLATION
 Is the second step in subject indexing
that coverts the concepts of the
document into a set of index terms. The
index term may be derived from the
words or phrases appearing in the
document. The other method of deriving
the index terms is through the use of a
controlled vocabulary, i.e. list of subject
headings prepared by the librarian, or a
commercially produced thesaurus or lists
of subject headings like SLSH and LCSH
WHAT ARE THE ACTIVITIES INVOLVE IN
CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS
 ACTIVITY 1 – scan the document by
examining its content and answering the
following questions:
o What is being discussed or dealt
with, what problem or theory is
being empounded?
 ACTIVITY 2 – read through the other
parts of the document and pay attention
to the following :
o Introduction
o Table of Content
o Abstract provided
o Summary and conclusion
o Illustrations, diagram, tables
and their captions
o Words of group of words which
are underlined or highlighted or
printed in unusual typeface
 the reason for examining the document
and not depending only on the raw tide
of the document is to decide what to
include in the indexing. The indexer must
first decide what topics need to be
represented; only later should he
consider whether or not the controlled
vocabulary can represent these topics
adequately.
 ACTIVITY 3 – once the aboutness of the
document has been identified, the
specific content of the document will be
turned inside out by writing the
expressive title, i.e. from raw title to
expressive title. For example:
 Raw title: “Proficiency Testing” Bunting,
Camille. Journal of Physical Education, v.
49:6, pp. 72-73. June ‘88
 Expressive Title: “A proficiency Student
Testing Program for Physical Education
Majors Using Performance Based
Education in Teacher Education.” This
title is an expansion of the raw title.
You will notice that the expressive title is a
summary of the document stated in one
sentence only.
 ACTIVITY 4 – underlined the terms in the
expressive title that are not reflected in
the raw title.
o Expressive title. “A Proficiency
Student Testing Program for
Physical Education Majors Using
Performance Based Education in
Teacher Education.” This title is
an expansion of the title\
 ACTIVITY 5 – write down the kernel title
by retaining the substantive or kernel
which denote each of the substantive
ideas and dropping auxiliary words and
connectives such as articles, preposition
and conjunctions. For example :
o Kernel title: physical Education.
Teacher Education. Student
Testing. Performance-Based
Education.
  ACTIVITY 6 – the main index entry will be search file medium and perhaps printing
prepared by the indexer. The entry will them into an indexing periodical.
appear like this.  SAMPLE NEWSPAPER INDEX ENTRIES
 From the main index entry, five other o Car seat belt law
entries shall be prepared. Index terms 1-  Implementation in the
4 are the four entries for subjects while Philippines
Roman number is the title entry.  PDI Sept. 3, 1999, p. 1;6
o Estrada, Joseph Ejercito
WHAT ARE THE ACTIVITIES INVOLVE IN
(president)
TRANSLATION?
 Travel to South America
 The substantive terms or kernel become  TJ Sept. 15, 1999, p.1;4
the indexable terms descriptors, or
keywords of the document.
 ACTIVITY 1 – if the indexer is guided by
the indexing policy of derivative
indexing, the words or phrase actually
appearing in document selected through
the kernel title will be used to represent
the document’s subject matter
 Alternative activity - if the indexer is
guided by the indexing policy of indexing
will involve assigning terms to a
document from an authority list or from
some from of controlled vocabulary such
as a subject thesaurus, SLSH, LCSH. The
kernel title will be the indexer’s guide in
looking for appropriate subject headings
in the list.

WHAT ARE THE OTHER STEPS IN SUBJECT

INDEXING ?

 The other steps are Formalization which

is the writing of entries on paper slip/
indexing worksheet nothing the
accession number, author/s, title of the
document, organization where the
document originated, sponsoring agency,
volume number, date published, page
number, the descriptors or keywords.
Typing/encoding of the index card or
worksheet; checking and editing, sorting
of index cards or worksheets; checking
and editing, sorting of the index cards,
title subject; filing the index cards in the