Subject Indexing - Indexing Theory

Indexing Theory

Hjørland (2011) found that theories of indexing is at the deepest level connected to different theories of knowledge:

Rationalist theories of indexing (such as Ranganathan's theory) suggest that subjects are constructed logically from a fundamental set of categories. The basic method of subject analysis is then "analytic-synthetic", to isolate a set of basic categories (=analysis) and then to construct the subject of any given document by combining those categories according to some rules (=synthesis). Empiricist theories of indexing are based on selecting similar documents based on their properties, in particular by applying numerical statistical techniques. Historicist and hermeneutical theories of indexing suggest that the subject of a given document is relative to a given discourse or domain, why the indexing should reflect the need of a particular discourse or domain. According to hermeneutics is a document always written and interpreted from particular horizon. The same is the case with systems of knowledge organization and with all users searching such systems. Any question put to such a system is put from a particular horizon. All those horizons may be more or less in consensus or in conflict. To index a document is to try to contribute to the retrieval of “relevant” documents by knowing about those different horizons. Pragmatic and critical theories of indexing (such as Hjørland, 1997) is in agreement with the historicist point of view that subjects are relative to specific discourses but emphasizes that subject analysis should support given goals and values and should consider the consequences of indexing one way or another. These theories believe that indexing cannot be neutral and that it is a wrong goal to try to index in a neutral way. Indexing is an act (and computer based indexing is acting according to the programmers intentions). Acts serve human goals. Libraries and information services also serve human goals, why their indexing should be done in a way that supports these goals as much as possible. At a first glance this looks strange because the goals of libraries and information services is to identify any document or piece of information. Nonetheless is any specific way of indexing always supporting some kind of uses at the expense of other. The documents to be indexed intend to serve some specific purposes in a community. Basically the indexing should intend serving the same purposes. Primary and secondary documents and information services are parts of the same overall social system. In such a system different theories, epistemologies, worldviews etc. may be at play and users need to be able to orient themselves and to navigate among those different views. This calls for a mapping of the different epistemologies in the field and classification of the single document into such a map. Excellent examples of such different paradigms and their consequences for indexing and classification systems are provided in the domain of art by Ørom (2003) and in music by Abrahamsen (2003).

The core of indexing is, as stated by Rowley & Farrow to evaluate a papers contribution to knowledge and index it accordingly. Or, with the words of Hjørland (1992, 1997) to index its informative potentials.

"In order to achieve good consistent indexing, the indexer must have a thorough appreciation of the structure of the subject and the nature of the contribution that the document is making to the advancement of knowledge." (Rowley & Farrow, 2000, p. 99).