Indexing and Abstracting in Theory and Practice. By F. Wilfrid Lancaster. Champaign: University of Illinois, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 1991. 328 p. ISBN 0–878 –45083–1. $39.50.
Let me begin by praising this book for its coverage of the principles and practices of indexing and of abstracting. Basically it is well organized and easy to follow, and should prove to be a valuable addition to the field. The book is enjoyable and will prove to be profitable to the reader; these are both marks of a worthwhile text. Librarians and scholars in the Third World who wish to index or abstract books or other documents will find Lancaster to be a dependable guide, and it would be a good first purchase for libraries with limited funds.
One problem with this textbook on indexing and abstracting is that it discusses indexing before abstracting. This is a problem held in common with other textbooks, such as the one by Cleveland and Cleveland [1]. I feel that the teaching of abstracting should come before the teaching of indexing, and that the title and organization of a book should reflect this order. In abstracting one goes through the analysis of the document and determines the key points that need to be included. These same key points make up the foundation of the indexing descriptors that are going to be assigned to the document and to the abstract. If it makes sense to have the descriptors match the content of the abstract, then the abstract should be written first. Furthermore, in most organizations, the abstracting of the document is done before the indexing, and in fact many times the indexing is done from the abstract and by a different person from the writer of the abstract.
The discussion of types and functions of abstracts and the writing of abstracts is useful for its definitions, explanations, and examples, as well as for its helpful hints on writing abstracts. Indexing principles, types of indexes, and the chapters on evaluation of indexing and indexing services are well organized and will be of benefit to the learner.
The abstracting exercises and the indexing exercises will be useful to the learner in a classroom situation where the abstracts can be corrected and returned. It would be difficult for uninitiated students to appraise their exercises based on the information given in the text. Such exercises in abstracting and indexing require a great deal of feedback.
Although the references are helpful, it is inconvenient to refer to the back of the book each time a new reference is cited. In addition there are some cases where a reference cited cannot be located, e.g., on page 3 “(Lancaster, 1977)”; there is no such reference listed. On page 8, footnote, “Dabney (1986)” leads to two references, which are distinguished by “1986a” and “1986b”; there is no 1986.
Another problem is the lack of coordination of the exhibits and the printed text. In some cases the text is as much as three pages away from the exhibit. For example: Exhibit 5 is discussed on page 17, but is found on page 18; Exhibit 6 is discussed on page 23, but is found on page 25; Exhibits 34 and 35 are discussed on page 87 but are found on pages 88 and 89; and Exhibit 42 is discussed on page 100 but is found on page 102. It is hoped that in a future edition an effort will be made to correct this problem since it is distracting to the reader. There were also a few problems in the index, such as listing pages where there is no mention of the topic, or not indexing areas that are covered in the text.
The above comments concerning the references, exhibits, and index are not major criticisms, but are made in the hope that some of these problems will be corrected in future editions of this most valuable work.
1. Donald B. Cleveland and Ana D. Cleveland,Introduction to Indexing and Abstracting, Second ed. (Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1990).
Richard A. Davis is Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Rosary College. His master’s in library science is from the University of Chicago. He has been Chief, Technology Department; Chief, SLA Translation Center; Assistant Librarian of the John Crerar Library (Chicago); Librarian, Laboratories for Applied Science, University of Chicago; and, Assistant Dean in the Library School of Drexel University (Philadelphia). Mr. Davis has taught in National Taiwan University and at the University of Chicago. He has been a consultant for the U.S. Department of Education and for private industry. He has published A Thesaurus of Library and Information Science and numerous book reviews. His professional interests include indexing and abstracting, science bibliography, thesaurus construction, and information management. He is a member of the American Society of Indexers.