Date: Tue, 29 Mar 1994 14:25:34 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: CHRIS WREN Subject: Database searching (end-user indexing) and professional indexing Because issues about end-user indexing arise occasionally on this list and on the agendas of indexing conferences, I wanted to share some related thoughts that evolved over the past several years as my wife, Jill Robinson Wren, and I wrote a book about database searching. The book, just published by Adams & Ambrose Publishing (Madison, Wisconsin) and entitled USING COMPUTERS IN LEGAL RESEARCH: A GUIDE TO LEXIS AND WESTLAW, makes explicit a point well known to INDEX-L subscribers but little known to (or at least little thought about by) most of the tens of thousands of people who use these law-related databases: full-text searching of electronic databases does not eliminate indexes, but shifts the indexing function from the legal publishers' corps of professional indexers to the (usually inexperienced) database user, whose search request operates as the index to the information source. Jill and I began writing our book about computer-assisted legal research in late 1986, intending only to write a 30- to 40-page chapter on the subject as the principal revision for a third edition of an earlier book we wrote (THE LEGAL RESEARCH MANUAL: A GAME PLAN FOR LEGAL RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS). Although the vendors' literature then available for lawyers, paralegals, and other users of the LEXIS and WESTLAW services did not specifically explain full-text searching as end-user indexing, we early on came to characterize the activity as just that. The notion that full-text database searching requires users to function as indexers served as the starting point for our effort to help legal database users understand the nature of the task they faced. We highlighted the point early in our new book (p. 15): "Indexing by the user defines the new relationship computer-assisted legal research establishes between researchers and legal information." To emphasize the significance of this change, this footnote follows that thought: "This new relationship reflects a profound change: researchers have relied on prepared indexes since at least 650 B.C., when patrons of the library at Ninevah in ancient Assyria referred to indexes written on clay tablets. See Ruth Cross, Indexing Books 3 (1980)." The theme of researcher-as-indexer not only affected our approach to the book, but eliminated any hope of limiting the subject's treatment to 30 or 40 pages. (The book finally came in at 771 pages of text, plus a 44-page index.) In addition, as we came to understand the consequences of researchers trying to create their own indexes (and of material the researcher/indexer has not yet read, no less), we also came to a fuller appreciation of the value of indexes and of the skill it takes to create a good one. We tried to help our readers understand that point, too, by writing that "[t]he satisfaction of being able to retrieve documents by searching for words in the documents' text can make it easy to forget that in using this search technique, you give up benefits you enjoy when you use professionally prepared indexes" (p. 665). I don't want to leave the impression that USING COMPUTERS IN LEGAL RESEARCH focuses exclusively on end-user indexing; the book also serves as a detailed guide for using LEXIS and WESTLAW, an approach that includes explanations about which buttons to push to do certain things. But the book is, I think, the first one written for a nontechnical audience (here, users of LEXIS and WESTLAW, two of the largest database services that offer full- text searching) that specifically highlights end-user indexing as a central characteristic of full-text searching and explores in detail the consequences of that characteristic. From that exploration, many readers will, I think, reach the conclusion that not only do indexes continue to play a critical role in an age that affords full-text searching, but the importance of good indexes will almost certainly increase as the Internet and other electronic rivers flood the world with data. (Paul Saffo, a research fellow at the Institute for the Future in Menlo Park, California, makes an analogous point in a piece entitled "It's the Context, Stupid" in the March 1994 issue of WIRED Magazine.) For those interested in seeing how the theme of end-user indexing played out in Jill's and my book, your local public library, a nearby law library, or your local bookstore might have a copy. If you want more information about USING COMPUTERS IN LEGAL RESEARCH or have questions or comments about this note, please feel free to contact me. Chris Wren Madison, Wisconsin (608) 251-1774 -- voice cgwren@acm.org -- e-mail ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 31 Mar 1994 12:50:29 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: GLDT@utxdp.dp.utexas.edu Subject: Seminar reminder ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Continuing Education Seminars Sponsored by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) The University of Texas at Austin Program Update (2 seminars) 1) Austin, Texas, Thursday and Friday, June 2-3, 1994 -- due to popular demand, we will be having a SIXTH PRESENTATION of the two-day seminar, "APPM and Archival Cataloging: a Workshop in the Practical Application of Archives, Personal Papers and Manuscripts, 2nd Edition," held at the Guest Quarters Suite Hotel in Austin, TX. Do call to see if space is available, because this seminar is limited to 40 registrants and filled up very early when given previously. Fee is $250 (no group rate is available). Lunches and handout material are included, but you must bring your own copy of APPM 2nd edition for use in the workshop. Copies may be ordered from Teresa Brinati at the Society of American Archivists, Chicago, phone (312) 922-0140. The speaker is Steve Hensen, assistant director of special collections at Duke University Library, and author of "Archives, Personal Papers and Manuscripts," the AACR2-based cataloging manual recommended by LC, OCLC, RLIN, and SAA as the authorized standard for all archival cataloging. The program will be a hands-on workshop utilizing a combination of lectures, open discussion, and working exercises. It is aimed both at practicing archivists with responsibilities in bibliographic description as well as library catalogers who need to know more about modern archival cataloging. Some familiarity with US MARC-AMC format will be useful. Topics covered include: "Archival Cataloging in General," "Bibliographic Components and Record Types," " Archival Titles," "Physical Description and Statements of Extent," "Archival Cataloging Notes in General," "Principal and Other Notes," and "USMARC AMC Format Considerations." 2) Austin, Texas, Monday-Friday, June 20-24, 1994--the five-day workshop, "1994 Workshop in Visual Resources Collection Fundamentals: Current & Emerging," will be held in the Fine Arts Building at The University of Texas at Austin. Fee is $395 (no group rate, very limited enrollment), dormitory accommodations are available in Jester Center through UT Summer Conference Housing. The Speakers are Nancy Schuller, senior lecturer and curator of visual arts for the Visual Resources Collection, Department of Art, The University of Texas at Austin; Christine Sundt, curator of the Slide and Photograph Collection, The University of Oregon Library of Architecture and Applied Arts; and Toni Petersen, director and one of the founders of the Art & Architecture Thesaurus Project of the Getty Art History Information Program. Co-sponsored by the UT Austin Department of Art and Art History. This workshop is a revised version of the Visual Resources Collection Fundamentals Workshop held in previous years. In addition to aspects of traditional image management, this workshop will introduce emerging issues that visual resources curators must now begin to consider in their long-range planning. It is designed for persons just beginning as visual resources curators in educational institutions, museums, archives, or the private sector, those who wish to gain knowledge of the field as a potential career choice, as well as for those wishing to refresh their training and learn about how new technologies are changing the visual resources landscape. Topics will include: acquisition and collection development; facilities planning; conservation and maintenance; circulation and control; administrative activities; descriptive cataloging and classification; ICONCLASS and The Art and Architecture Thesaurus; and electronic access to images. ****************************************************************************** For more information, or to register, contact: David Terry at (512) 471-8806; email: gldt@utxdp.dp.utexas.edu; fax (512) 471-3971. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 31 Mar 1994 15:09:35 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: bob wallace Subject: Gopher the Gold ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I've just located an incredible collection of resource materials in gopherspace, for those of you who have access to it. In a folder called "Reference Desk (Dict., Thesaurus, zip/area codes)" (which you can search for using Veronica [have I lost everybody?]), you'll find the following, among other things: ACRONYM Dictionary American English Dictionary CIA World Factbook Congressional Directories Country Codes Electronic Reference Books General References Geographic Name Servers Library and Research Information Local Times around the World Reference (Library of Congress) Roget's Thesaurus US Telephone Area Codes US Zip Code Directory US Census Information Virtual Reference Desk World Country & Area Telephone Codes Index And that's not all! Under (within?) General References, Reference (Lib. of Congress), and Virtual Reference Desk, you'll find lots of other really neat stuff. So locate Reference Desk (Dict., Thesaurus, zip/area codes) and open it . . . if you dare! Happy browsing, fellow reference junkies, Carol Roberts rw16@cornell.edu ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 31 Mar 1994 15:57:22 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: "Jeff Finlay, aka H-Amstdy Moderator" Organization: St. Peter's College, US Subject: Re: Gopher the Gold ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- > I've just located an incredible collection of resource materials in > gopherspace, for those of you who have access to it. In a folder called > "Reference Desk (Dict., Thesaurus, zip/area codes)" (which you can search > for using Veronica [have I lost everybody?]), you'll find the following, > among other things: [list deleted] Carol, next time you're in the "Reference desk" menu type shift-a and press ENTER. You'll then have a gopher bookmark and by pressing v and pointing to "Reference Desk" can access that menu without having to go through a whole bunch of others. If you look in your gopherrc.;1 file you'll find the address of that Reference Desk. If you wouldn't mind letting me have it--it sounds useful stuff for indexers. Jeff ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 31 Mar 1994 15:58:18 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: MCLAUGHB@CGSVAX.claremont.edu Subject: SoCal/ASI Meeting ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- The Southern California Chapter of the American Society of Indexers will sponsor an Introduction to Macrex program on Saturday, April 16, 11:30 A.M. at the Velvet Turtle in Covina. Nancy Mulvany of Bayside Indexing Service will be providing an overview of indexing software and the history of Macrex, one of the leading stand-alone computer indexing programs. She will then give a demonstration of Macrex and answer individual questions. Cost of lunch and the program is $20.00. A check made out to ASI can be sent to Bonny McLaughlin at 7391 Mt. Laurel Drive, Highland, CA 92346. For a reservation form and directions, send your snail mail address to Bonny at MCLAUGHB@CGSVAX.CLAREMONT.EDU.