La indización por materia de las monografías en los catálogos en línea de bibliotecas generales

SUBJECT INDEXING OF MONOGRAPHS IN GENERAL LIBRARIES ON- LINE CATALOGS. SOME PROBLEMS RELATED TO SUBJECT INDEXING OF MONOGRAPHS IN GENERAL LIBRARIES ON- LI NE CATALOGS ARE REVIEWED. THE SE PROBLEMS INCLUDE THE SMALL NUMBER OF DESCRIPTIVE TERMS IN BIBLIOGRAPHICAL RECORDS, IN CONSISTENCY OF INDEXING, AND OBSOLESCENCE OF INDEXING LANGUAGES. THREE SOLUTIONS HAVE BEEN PROPOSED: TO IN CREASE THE SUBJECT ACCESS POINTS FOR EACH BIBLIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, COMBINING KEYWORDS FROM NATURAL LANGUAGE (TITLE AND ABSTRACT OR CONTENT NOTE) WITH VERBAL CONTROLLED TERMS (SUBJECT HEADINGS OR DESCRIPTORES), AND NOTATIONAL CONTROLLED TERMS (CLASSIFICATIONS); TO PROVIDE ON- LINE ACCESS TO AUTHORITY FILES AND INDEXING LANGUAGES, BOTH FOR INDEXERS AND USERS, AND TO IMPROVE THE INDEXING LANGUAGES. THIS LAST PROPOSAL HAS BEEN AFFECTED BY ECONOMICAL ISSUES, MAKING IT VERY DIFFICULT TO CREATE OR REARRANGE THOSE TRADITIONAL INDEXING LANGUAGES LIKE SUBJECT HEADINGS LISTS AND DECIMAL CLASSIFICATIONS, AS WELL AS THE RECLASSIFICATION OR REINDEXING OF LIBRARY COLLECTIONS. THE EXPERIENCES OBTAINED IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES MAY HELP LATIN AMERICAN LIBRARIANS TO DISCUSS THE SE PROBLEMS, TO PREVENT THE SAME ERRORS, AND TO OFFER BETTER ON- LINE CATALOGS FOR USERS.