> Robert Schnucker, editor of the SIXTEENTH CENTURY JOURNAL,
> recently published an article in SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING (U. of Toronto),
> calling on editors of historical journals to publish abstracts and
> key words for each article, preferably under the title on the first
> page of each article. Schnucker believes that this practice would
> save researchers considerable time and would also position historical
> journals for any future on-line search tools that may become widely
> available.
I have to admit that I don't read historical journals, but this practice
is common in the computing world. There is some debate though about its
use. First, although an author/editor may be presumed to know what the
article's about B-) his/her choice of terms may not accord with those
used by the database provider (and users).
Second, with even the current generation of search tools (such as WAIS) it
is relatively easy and efficient to index the whole article, so to select only
an abstract and key terms for indexing provides the user with less than is
possible and desirable.
But it's a step in the right direction.
And a Merry Christmas from the gloriously sunny antipodes.
Kerry
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Kerry Webb T T T T T T T T
k.webb@nla.gov.au I I I I I I I I
National Library of Australia I I I I I I I I
Phone: +616 2621484 Fax: +616 2733648 T T T T T T T T
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