1. Department of Information Science & Library Management
University of Dhaka
Course Title: Indexing & Abstracting
Course No.: ISLM-313
Definition of Index
1. The American National Standards Institute defines index as, “a systematic guide to
items contained in or concepts derived from a collection (document, group of documents,
or set of objects). It is arranged in a known or stated order, usually different from that of
the items or concepts within the collection itself”.
2. According to Encyclopedia of Information & Library Science, “Within the fields of
library practice & documentations, an index is a guide to the contents of any reading
matter or other documentary materials which provides a systematic, sustained subject
analysis of the contents of such materials arranged according to alphabetical,
chronological, numerical, or other chosen order. Each entry is followed by page number,
paragraph number, or other indicator showing the exact location of the reference”.
3. The ALA Glossary of Library & Information Science defines index as, “A
systematic guide to the contents of a file, document, or group of documents, consisting of
an ordered arrangement of terms or other symbols representing the contents & references,
code numbers, page numbers, etc. for accessing the contents”.
4. According to Encyclopedia of Library & Information Science an index is, “A table
of reference which is held in memory in some key sequence. It may be addressed to get
the addresses of other items of data, for example items in a file on some backing store”.
5. According to Harrod’s Librarians’ Glossary an index is, “A detailed alphabetical list
or table of topics, names of persons, places etc., treated or mentioned in a book or series
of books, pointing out their exact positions in the volume, usually by page number
(sometimes with an additional symbol indicating a portion of a page) but often by
section, or entry, number.
6. According to Encyclopedia of Library & Information Science, “An index is a
systematic guide to items contained in or concepts derived from a collection. These items
or derived concepts are represented by entries arranged in a known or stated searchable
order, such as alphabetical, chronological or numerical”.
7. An index is “a systematic guide to the text of any reading matter or to the contents of
other collected documentary material, comprising a series of entries, with headings
arranged in alphabetical or other chosen order, & with references to show where each
item indexed is located”. (Reference Service; Krishan Kumar, p.302)
8. A similar definition of index has been given by Bonn; according to him, “An index is
a detailed alphabetical list of the names, terms, topics, places, formulae, numbers, or
other significant items in a completed work (such as book, set or bound journal) with
exact page references to material discussed in that work”.
This assignment is prepared by: Rajib Hossain Khan, Roll: 38, 3rd Year 5th Semester.
2. Department of Information Science & Library Management
University of Dhaka
Course Title: Indexing & Abstracting
Course No.: ISLM-313
Definition of Abstract
1. The American National Standards Institute defines abstract as, “An abstract is an
abbreviated, accurate representation of a document”.
2. According to Harrod’s Librarians’ Glossary an abstract is, “A form of current
bibliography in which sometimes books, but mainly contributions to periodicals are
summarized; they are accompanied by adequate bibliographical descriptions to enable the
publication or articles to be traced, & are frequently arranged in classified order”.
3. According to Webster’s Dictionary, “An abstract is a summary or an epitome of a
book, scientific article or legal document”.
4. According to Ranganathan, “An abstract is a summary usually by a professional,
other than the author, of essential contents of a work, usually an article in a periodical
together with the specification of its original”.
5. Ashworth defines the term abstract as, “A précis of information, which in its narrower
sense now usually refers to the information contained in an article in a periodical, short
pamphlet, or serial publication”.
6. Lancaster defines, “An abstract as a brief but accurate representation of the contents
of a document”.
7. Guinchat & Menou mentioned that, “An abstract is a documentary product, usually
take the form of quite short texts either accompanying the original document or included
in its surrogate”.
8. According to Encyclopedia of Librarianship, an abstract is a, “summary or
abridgement of a publication or article which must include concise bibliographical detail
to the original”.
9. An abstract is “the terse presentation in (as far as possible) the author’s own language,
of all the points made in the same order as in the original piece of primary documentary
information – that can be a book, a research report, a periodical article, a speech, the
proceedings of a conference, an interview, etc”.
This assignment is prepared by: Rajib Hossain Khan, Roll: 38, 3rd Year 5th Semester.
