========================================================================= Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 15:09:18 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: Ray Schwartz Subject: 6th ASIS SIG/CR Classification Research Workshop - Call for Participation ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- CALL FOR PARTICIPATION 6th ASIS SIG/CR Classification Research Workshop: An interdisciplinary meeting The American Society for Information Science Special Interest Group on Classification Research (ASIS SIG/CR) invites submissions for the 6th ASIS Classification Research Workshop, to be held at the 58th Annual Meeting of ASIS in Chicago, IL. The workshop will take place Sunday, October 8th, 1995, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. ASIS '95 continues through Thursday, October 12th. The CR Workshop is designed to be an exchange of ideas among active researchers with interests in the creation, development, management, representation, display, comparison, compatibility, theory, and application of classification schemes. Emphasis will be on semantic classification, in contrast to statistically based schemes. Topics include, but are not limited to: - Warrant for concepts in classification schemes. - Concept acquisition. - Basis for semantic classes. - Automated techniques to assist in creating classification schemes. - Statistical techniques used for developing explicit semantic classes. - Relations and their properties. - Inheritance and subsumption. - Knowledge representation schemes. - Classification algorithms. - Procedural knowledge in classification schemes. - Reasoning with classification schemes. - Software for management of classification schemes. - Interfaces for displaying classification schemes. - Data structures and programming languages for classification schemes. - Image classification. - Comparison and compatibility between classification schemes. - Applications such as subject analysis, natural language understanding, information retrieval, expert systems. - Representation and access on the Internet The CR Workshop welcomes submissions from various disciplines. Those interested in participating are invited to submit a short (1-2 page single-spaced) position paper summarizing substantive work that has been conducted in the above areas or other areas related to semantic classification schemes, and a statement briefly outlining the reason for wanting to participate in the workshop. Submissions may include background papers as attachments. Participation will be of two kinds: presenter and regular participant. Those selected as presenters will be invited to submit expanded versions of their position papers and to speak to those papers in brief presentations during the workshop. Submitted position papers will be refereed for acceptance for publication in the proceedings. Some of the accepted papers will be selected for an expanded version in the proceedings. Authors of expanded papers will be invited to speak to their papers in brief presentations during the workshop. All position papers (both expanded and short papers) will be published in proceedings to be distributed prior to the workshop. The workshop's early registration fee is $35.00 for SIG/CR members and/or participants; $45.00 for ASIS members; $60.00 for non-members. (The workshop is separate from the ASIS Annual, an additional registration is required for the Annual Conference). Previous proceedings are titled "Advances in Classification Research: proceedings of the ... ASIS SIG/CR Classification Workshop" and are published by Learned Information, Inc., Medford, NJ. Submissions should be made by email, or diskette accompanied by paper copy, or paper copy only (fax or postal), to arrive by April 15, 1995, to: Ray Schwartz, 530 Jefferson St., #13, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, USA Work Phone: 212-305-3294; Fax: 212-305-6193; Home Phone: 201-656-8807; Email: rps4@columbia.edu URL: http://www.columbia.edu/~rps4/sigcr.html Email or Postcard confirmations will be sent upon receipt of submissions. For additional information, email rps4@columbia.edu or access URL: http://www.columbia.edu/~rps4/sigcr.html ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 15:20:30 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: "Pfeffer, Andrea" Subject: Thesaurus Software and ORACLE ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I am interested in finding out if anyone is using thesaurus software in an ORACLE environment. If anyone is doing such, please e-mail me any information about your software and how it complies with ORACLE. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 15:20:46 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: Carolyn Weaver Subject: Washington State Indexers' Meeting ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- The next brown bag meeting of Washington State indexers is scheduled for Wednesday, February 8, 1995, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. (Note change in usual starting time.) WHERE: Bellevue Regional Library Meeting Room 3 1111 - 110th Avenue N.E. Bellevue, Wa. TOPIC: "Tax Stuff for the Self-Employed" Tess Sutton, CPA, will provide helpful advice on this timely topic. She will bring forms and other necessary handouts - and you may bring any questions for her to answer. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact Carolyn Weaver at cweaver@u.washington.edu or Elspeth Pope at ludgate@wln.com or 206/427-0760. Carolyn Weaver Bellevue, Wa. e-mail: cweaver@u.washington.edu voice: 206/930-4348 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 2 Feb 1995 16:32:22 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: Mrowland@aol.com Subject: Massachusetts Indexers' Group ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Indexing Software and Specific Indexing Techniques Saturday, March 4, 1995 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Waltham Public Library The Lecture Hall 735 Main Street, Waltham, Mass. The Massachusetts Society of Indexers is pleased to present the first of two programs demonstrating high-end software for indexing, and a discussion of how to use it with specific techniques such as revisions, cumulations and spin-offs. The speaker will be Frances Lennie, who has been an indexer for more than 18 years, specializing in professional and clinical medical texts. Her company, Indexing Research of Rochester, N.Y., provides indexing and abstracting services and is also known for its CINDEX indexing software. Lennie is currently serving a second term as Treasurer of the American Society of Indexers and has sat as an alternate juror on The Wilson Award committee. DIRECTIONS: The Waltham Public Library is conveniently located on the north side of Main Street, one block west of the Common between Spring and Exchange streets. This location is handicapped accessible. FROM THE EAST. Take Route 20 (Main Street) west. One block past the Common turn right onto Spring Street. The entrance to the library parking lot (which is metered) will be on your left. FROM THE WEST. Take Route 20 (Main Street) east, go past Exchange Street (which is one-way going the wrong way), then take the next left, Spring Street. The entrance to the library parking lot (which is metered) will be on your left. There will be no lunch break, so make sure you ve eaten before you come. There will be a meter break, however, since the library s meters have a two-hour limit. There is also on-street parking available on Spring and Exchange streets. For future reference: Our May 13 meeting will feature Nancy Mulvany discussing Macrex. This meeting will take place in the Sandwich Public Library, Sandwich, MA (Cape Cod). For more information about the March meeting, call Diane Benison at 508-393-3447 (e-mail 76620.460@compuserve.com). For more information about the May meeting, call Susan Phelan at 508-362-5172. For more information about the Massachusetts Indexers' Group, e-mail Marilyn Rowland at mrowland@aol.com. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Feb 1995 11:28:59 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: "Barbara E. Cohen" Subject: ASI Heartland Chapter, March meeting ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- The Next meeting of the ASI Heartland chapter (Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio members) will be on Saturday March 25 at 2 p.m. EST, at the Pike Library, 6526 Zionsville Road, Indianapolis. Our topic will be: comparison indexing project. To obtain a copy of the chapter we will be comparing, please contact Mary Neumann at (812) 333-6189 or write to her at P.O. Box 2002, Bloomington, IN 47404-2002. We will be comparing our results of this short indexing assignment. Non-ASI members are cordially invited. $2.00 donation requested at the door. For more information, contact: in Ohio: Alexandra Nickerson (513) 232-1916, or e-mail: alexnick@well.sf.ca.us in Indiana: contact Mary Neumann (see above) in Illinois: contact Margie Towery (217) 355-1963. We expect to have a good exchange of ideas about what is and is not indexable, so new indexers and wannabes are encouraged to attend this meeting. Posted by Barbara E. Cohen, becohen@well.sf.ca.us ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Feb 1995 11:29:26 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: "Anne M. Brennan" Subject: Library Sci. or Info. Sys. degrees? ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Do any of you have a Masters' degree in Library Science or Information Systems, by chance? I'm sure a good many of you (us) are freelancers who just sort of fell into indexing from other disciplines, but I'd like to hear from anyone who has a degree in an Information-related area. What school? Why did you choose it? Was it a good program? I'm just asking out of personal interest, since I'm considering a career in the electronic info/library systems field. Feel free to e-mail me directly, since this may be of no interest to the rest of the group. Thanks! Anne Brennan amb@mcs.net ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Feb 1995 11:43:30 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: Judith Weigel Subject: Re: Library Sci. or Info. Sys. degrees? In-Reply-To: <199502062125.NAA16995@ latimes.com> ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Hi, I do have an MLS, and I have been doing indexing of Los Angeles Times stories for 3 years. Newspaper indexing for a full text database is quite different from back of the book indexing, and I am not aware of any formal courses that address this. My degree helps me most when I talk about the work to my staff. Having the metainformation helps me see the bigger picture, and standardize practices and focus the indexing policies. Actually, most of my career was spent as a literature searcher in the aircraft industry. As such, I have been a consumer of indexing rather than the creator of such. Knowing how I would search for stories helps me capture the concepts of a story that are useful to the newsroom. Special libriarians have the luxury of knowing their patrons and their needs first hand. I marvel at back of the book indexers who have to gather knowledge about their indexes intended users without benefit of knowing them personally. Good luck! Judy Weigel Modern Myths: "Technology will Database Construction create the paperless office" LA Times, Editorial Library ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Feb 1995 11:46:14 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: becky walton Subject: Re: Library Sci. or Info. Sys. degrees? In-Reply-To: Message of Mon, 6 Feb 1995 11:29:26 ECT from ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Anne, I will graduate this May with a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina. The program and the school are wonderful. I am interested in a career in the indexing/abstracting field. Hope this info helps! becky Becky Walton College of Library & Information Science University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 home address: 141 Swint Avenue Milledgeville, GA 31061 912/452-0221 MEOW! ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Feb 1995 11:46:29 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: "Anne M. Brennan" Subject: Library/info degrees ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Thanks to everyone who answered my posting about library science degrees. Clearly I assumed wrong when I though many of the readers here did not have formal training. My apologies!! I appreciate everyone's info. Anne Brennan St. Charles, Illinois ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Feb 1995 12:14:39 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: Charlotte Skuster Subject: FAQ-no changes ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Contents: 1. Index-l procedures 2. Archives 3. Books on indexing 4. What has been written about automatic indexing? 5. What software do indexers use? 6. Courses or training for indexers (outside of library schools)? 7. Professional societies/organizations for indexers?=20 8. Network connections=20 9. Winners of the ASI/H.W. Wilson Company Award for Indexing=20 1. INDEX-L PROCEDURES There are three addresses you need to use for interaction with index-l: To take part in a discussion or send a message to the list (a.k.a. group or subscribers), address your e-mail to Index- l@bingvmb.bitnet or index-l@bingvmb.cc.binghamton.edu To send a message directly to the moderator (a.k.a. Charlotte), address your e-mail to Skuster@bingvmb.bitnet or Skuster@bingvmb.cc.binghamton.edu To send a command to the listserv, address your e-mail to listserv@bingvmb.bitnet or listserv@bingvmb.cc.binghamton.edu.=20 As subscribers, you are able to send commands to the listserv to see the archives, see a list of subscribers, stop your mail for a while, or a number of other options. To get a list of listserv commands and what they do, send the following message to the listserv:=20 INFO REFCARD Do not sign your name or put anything else in the message. 2. ARCHIVES There are two ways to look at the archives: ---Received directly from the listserv@bingvmb Send the following message to the listserv: index index-l. You will receive a list of available archives--monthly, for those prior to June 1994 and weekly thereafter. When you decide what you would like to see, send the following message to the listserv: get log9406B (for the second week in June, for example) ---On the library gopher at Georgia Southern University: Messages are stored here from the start of the listserv in 1992 through July 1994. A WAIS searching program is available to search through all years at once or through a selected year. =20 The GSU gopher is located through a gopher client at informer.cc.gasou.edu or by telnet to gsvms2.cc.gasou.edu, login info. =D4 =20 /Georgia Southern University/Henderson Library/Assistance to Professional.../Index-L 3. BOOKS ON INDEXING?=20 Bonura, L. The Art of Indexing. Wiley, 1994 Knight, G. N. Indexing, The Art Of. Allen & Unwin, 1979.=20 =20 Lancaster, F. W. Indexing and Abstracting in Theory and Practice. U of Illinois Press, 1991.=20 =20 Lancaster, F. W. Vocabulary Control for Information Retrieval,=20 2nd ed. Information resources Press, 1986=20 Mulvany, Nancy C. Indexing Books, University of Chicago Press, 1994. =20 Wellisch, H. Indexing and Abstracting, an International=20 Bibliography ABC-Clio, 1980.=20 =20 Wellisch, H. Indexing from A to Z. H. W. Wilson, 1991.=20 =20 =20 4. WHAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT AUTOMATIC INDEXING?=20 Books: Grefenstette, G. Explorations in Automatic Thesaurus Discovery, =20 Kluwer, 1994 Salton and McGill Introduction to Modern Information Retrieval=20 =20 Salton, Automatic Text Processing=20 =20 Van Rijsbergen Information Retrieval=20 Jones, Karen Spark Information Retrieval Experiment=20 =20 Papers:=20 =20 Bell, C. and Jones, K. "Back-of-the-book Indexing: A Case for the Application of Artificial Intelligence", Informatics 5, ASLIB=20 Pub., pp. 155-161, 1979=20 =20 Bennion, B. "Performance Testing of a Book and its Index as an=20 Information Retrieval System", JASIS, pp. 265-270, July 1970=20 =20 Borko, H. "Experiments in Book Indexing by Computer" Information=20 Storage and Retrieval, 6:5)16, 1970=20 =20 Dillon, M. and McDonald, J. "Fully Automatic Book Indexing"=20 Journal of Documentation 39(1):135-154, 1983=20 =20 Dion, M. Thesaurus-Based Automatic Book Indexing", Information =D4 =20 Salton, G. "Syntactic Approaches to Automatic Book Indexing",=20 Proceedings of the 26th ACL, pp. 204-210, 1988=20 =20 =20 5. WHAT SOFTWARE DO INDEXERS USE?=20 (All of these are for DOS machines...no Macs)=20 =20 IN>SORT=20 Kensa Software=20 P.O. Box 4415=20 Northbrook, IL 60065=20 (708) 559-0297=20 =20 Macrex=20 Bayside Indexing Service=20 P.O. Box 3051=20 Daly City, CA 95015-0051=20 (415) 756-0821=20 FAX: (415) 757-1567=20 =20 Cindex=20 Indexing Research=20 Box 18609=20 Rochester, New=20 (716) 461-5530=20 FAX: (716) 442-3924=20 =20 =20 6. COURSES OR TRAINING FOR INDEXERS (OUTSIDE OF LIBRARY SCHOOLS)? Graduate School of the USDA=20 Correspondence Programs, Ag Box 9911=20 Room 1114, South Agriculture Building=20 14th St. and Independence Ave. SW=20 Washington, DC 20250=20 (202) 720-7123 TDD: (202) 690-1516=20 Tuition: (includes all materials)=20 $281,00--Basic Indexing (beginning) $275.00--Applied Indexing (more advanced) 7. PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES/ORGANIZATIONS FOR INDEXERS?=20 (this question was not actually asked..but here's the answer=20 anyway)=20 =20 American Society of Indexers (ASI)=20 P.O. Box 386=20 Port Aransas TX 78373=20 (512) 749-4052=20 FAX: (512) 749-6334=20 E-Mail: asi@well.sf.ca.us=20 =20 Indexing and Abstracting Society of Canada =D4 Toronto Ontario=20 Canada M4Y 2N6=20 =20 National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services=20 (NFAIS)=20 1518 Walnut Street Suite 307 Philadelphia PA 19102-3403=20 (215) 893-1561 FAX: (215) 893-1564 E-MAIL: nfais@hslc.org=20 =20 Society of Indexers (SI)=20 16 Green Road Birchington, England=20 CT79JZ=20 =20 Australian Society of Indexers (AusSI)=20 GPO Box 1251L, Melbourne=20 Victoria 3001, Australia=20 =20 =20 8. NETWORK CONNECTIONS=20 =20 America Online (800) 227-6364=20 =20 CompuServe (800) 848-8199=20 =20 Delphi (800) 495-4005=20 =20 GEnie (800) 638-9636=20 =20 The Well (415) 332-4335=20 =20 Real/Time Communications (512) 459-4391=20 =20 See also.=20 Maren, M. "The Age of E-Mail. Home Office Computing,=20 December, 1993, 63-70.=20 Tetzeli, R. "Is Going On-line Worth the Money?" FORTUNE 129(12):104-105, 108. June 13, 1994. =20 =20 9. WINNERS OF THE ASI/H.W. WILSON COMPANY AWARD FOR INDEXING=20 =20 1979--Hans H. Wellisch, author and indexer; John Wiley, publisher: The Conversion of Scripts: Its Nature, History and Utilization =20 1980--Linda I. Solow, indexer; M.I.T. Press, publisher: Beyond Orpheus:Studies in Musical Structures.=20 =20 1981--Delight Ansley, indexer; Random House Publisher: Cosmos by Carl Sagan, =D4 =20 1982--Catherine Fix, indexer; Wm. Saunders Company, publisher: Diagnosis of Bone and Joint Disorders.=20 =20 1983--Award not given.=20 =20 1984--Trish Yancey, indexer; Information Handling Services, publisher: Index and Directory of U.S. Industry Standards=20 =20 1985--Sydney W. Cohen, indexer; Random House, publisher: The Experts Speak by Cerf and Navasky.=20 =20 1986--Marjorie Hyslop, indexer; American Society for Metals, publisher: Metals Handbook.=20 =20 1987--Award not given.=20 =20 1988--Jeanne Moody, indexer; National Wildlife Institute, publisher: Raptor Management Techniques.=20 =20 1989--Philip James, indexer; Butterworths, publisher: Medicine for the Practicing Physician, 2nd ed..=20 =20 1990--Marcia Carlson, indexer; Cornell University Press, publisher: Strategic Nuclear Arms & Arms Control Debates.=20 =20 1991--Daniels, Nancy L., indexer; Van Nostrand Reinhold, publisher:Beyond Public Architecture: Strategies for Design Evaluation. =20 1992--Johnson, Rachel Jo., indexer; Matthew Bender, publisher: American Law of Real Property.=20 =20 1993--Award not given.=20 1994--Deminna, Patricia, indexer; U. of California, publisher: Carnal Israel: Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture by Daniel Boyarin =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Charlotte Skuster Health Sciences Bibliographer =09=09 Binghamton University Libraries tel: (607) 777-4122 fax: (607) 777-2274 cskuster@library.lib.binghamton.edu ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Feb 1995 13:40:29 ECT Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: Charlotte Skuster Subject: Index-l on auto pilot I will be away, off and on, for the next couple of weeks--Index-l will be unmoderated during that time. The only difference you will see may be an occasional non-message like "subscribe" or "unsubscribe". So, keep those messages coming...and they will be dispersed. Charlotte Skuster Index-l Moderator ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1995 10:13:21 +1100 Reply-To: Indexer's Discussion Group Sender: Indexer's Discussion Group From: Peter W Meyer Subject: Library thesauri Hi, I am new to this list and am not sure whether my question is within the scope of your normal discussions. If not, please tell me. I work with law firms setting up document management systems. In my perception, document management now includes all electronic documents such as externally produced legal publications as well as internally generated documents. It is my experience as a former practising lawyer that the most frequently used and efficient search mechanism for information resources, as opposed to client based documents, is to use a subject search. Text searches are a fall back. So, to provide a consistent and comprehensive interface to the firm's legal resources, it is necessary to have a subject thesaurus for the library which covers internal documents (eg, the firm's standard form documents & opinions), electronic publications and the physical book collection. So far this should be relatively straight forward. The difficult part in my experience is in the actual interface for a subject search. Most systems require the searcher to enter a proposed search term into a field on screen. If the searcher knows the terms as used in the thesarus, the user immediately gets the hits he or she is after. If not, the software will hopefully direct the searcher to the correct term with references to other terms or narrower terms. Library professionals generally appear happy with this system because they know their library thesaurus. However, in my experience, these systems are not very friendly for normal users. I have been experimenting on a small scale with hierarchical displays of subject terms so that the users can immediately see which terms *are* there, rather than to speculate about what might be there. So far, it has been very successful in practise. I have been using the Macintosh Finder to provide a hiearchical display of electronic resources in folders on a remote server. There are obvious limitations with the use of the Macintosh Finder as the interfact for a library, the most obvious being that it does not deal with the physical collection. The essence of the hierarchical display of subject terms is that the user is led from broader terms to narrower terms. The user navigates to lower levels by clicking on a search term to reveal the terms nested within. To work properly the lists of terms at each node in the hiearchy should comfortably fit within 1 screen and the hierarchy should not extend beyond about 3 levels in depth. This requires an even distribution of terms from bottom to top of the hierarchy. Even in a specialised area such as the law, a subject thesaurus will have many terms. I have not yet attempted to construct a graphical hierarchical display from such a thesaurus but would now like to investigate this further. So, at long last my questions, before I start to try and create a hierarchy from an existing thesaurus: 1. Has anyone had experience with graphical displays of subject terms in a hierarchy and if so, can it work at the necessary scale? 2. A hierarchical display only contains the terms actaually used in the catalogue. There is no place for synonyms. Should one abandon them altogether or leave the traditional text entry field interface for those who don't wish to use the graphical display? 3. Are there any problems with using the same term in different hierarchies? My perference would be to generally try to avoid this but it is not always convenient. I would appreciate your comments and references to writings and examples in this area. Please feel free to set me straight if I am on the wrong track here. Peter Meyer ______________________________________________________________________ Peter W Meyer pmeyer@magna.com.au Desktop Law Pty Limited Mobile: 61 18 245 128 Fax: 61 2 416 9995 ______________________________________________________________________