Award-winning author F.W. Lancaster has revised his
widely used text, Indexing and Abstracting in Theory and Practice, to
address growing complexities in the field. New chapters in the second
edition feature multimedia sources and indexing within the Internet;
chapters on text searching, automatic processing methods, and the
future of indexing and abstracting are substantially revised. The
first nine chapters, covering basic principles and theories, are
updated and the section of practical exercises is modified by use of
the current edition of UNBIS Thesaurus.
Researchers from a wide range of disciplines are now involved in
content analysis activities that formerly were the sole concern of
members of the library and information science field. At the same
time, indexing and abstracting have grown in interest within other
major disciplines, such as medicine. As a result, relevant articles
have become increasingly scattered throughout varied literatures, and
a wide range of technologies such as linguistics, computer science,
artificial intelligence, and pattern recognition now impinge upon the
subject matter of this book, providing the impetus for updating a text
noted for both its practicality and attention to theoretical
underpinnings.
As with the first edition, Indexing and Abstracting in Theory and
Practice remains primarily a text for teaching the subject. However,
it also holds value for managers of information services and others
concerned with indexing, abstracting, and all related issues of
content analysis. Chapters focus on indexing principles, indexing
practice, consistency and quality of indexing, the types and functions
of abstracts, writing and evaluating the abstract, enhancing indexing,
natural language in information retrieval, automated indexing and
abstracting, indexing of multimedia sources, indexing within the
Internet, and the future of indexing and abstracting services. The
section of exercises provides concrete illustrations of the text's
major points.
F. W. Lancaster, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science, is the recipient of numerous awards for his books in the field of library and information science. The first edition of Indexing and Abstracting in Theory and Practice, which appeared in 1991, won the "Best Information Science Book Award" in 1992 from the American Society for Information Science. An additional three of his books have earned this ASIS "Best Book" award, and another two have received awards from the American Library Association. Technology and Management in Library and Information Services (co-authored with Beth Sandore) is listed on Library Journal's 1998 best professional reading list. Professor Lancaster is the editor of Library Trends, the premier thematic quarterly journal in the field of American librarianship, produced by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois.
