INFORMATION DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE—Lesson Two
Northeastern
Seminary (
*Information
description language objectifies the phenomenon of language—the means of oral
and written human communication. This
objectification becomes especially important when we translate the ‘natural
language’ of everyday communication into searchable concepts.
*In
traditional libraries, information is contained in resources such as books and
articles. Without the tools developed by
libraries, research would require searching through individual items—a daunting
task to say the least, particularly in large university libraries. Fortunately, libraries have the means for
searching for information without rummaging through individual resources. Libraries organize the actual sources themselves
through classification systems (e.g., Library of Congress Classification
System, Dewey Decimal Classification system), but
provide invaluable directories to these resources and their contents called library
catalogs.
*Library
catalogs have bibliographic records that represent the actual resources,
and these bibliographic records describe the resources and their contents. Bibliographic records are divided into fields
that describe specific aspects of these resources—titles, subject headings,
authors, descriptors, and (especially in the case of periodical indexes)
abstracts that contain brief descriptions of the contents. Some records will have tables of contents
that supply chapter headings.
Bibliographic records serve as surrogates
for actual resources—these surrogates provide significantly enhanced access to
the contents of the resources. Rather
than tediously looking through individual documents, you can translate your
information needs into the language of the bibliographic records—title words,
author names, subject headings, descriptors, keywords within abstracts,
classification numbers—and locate pertinent information far more quickly.
*Information
description language breaks down natural language into words that represent
concepts. For example, subject
headings are standardized means for representing the main topics of
resources. A book that has the subject
heading CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF
CHRIST) discusses a specific religious body within the Stone-Campbell
Restoration Movement. Library of
Congress Subject Headings have been developed by the Library of Congress
for standard use by libraries on their bibliographic records. Other examples include WOMANIST THEOLOGY,
HOLY SPIRIT and CHURCH WORK. Some
subject headings can be subdivided, such as JESUS CHRIST—PERSON AND OFFICES.
*Descriptors
are commonly found in commercial electronic databases such as ERIC, the most
authoritative research database in the field of education. Descriptors are like subject headings—but
unlike the Library of Congress Subject Headings—an ‘artificial’
subject-descriptive nomenclature imposed on a body of literature—descriptors
are subject terms directly derived from the database itself.
*Corporate
headings are subject headings that describe a proper name of a social entity or
organization—for example, FREE METHODIST CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA is a corporate
name. Another example is UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH (U.S.). When searching
online for a corporate name, accuracy is vital.
Once you’ve found a corporate name subject heading in a commercial
database or in an online library catalog, almost always you can double-click on
that name to retrieve all records that contain that corporate name as a subject
heading.
*Keywords
are terms that can occur anywhere in the database—in any field. More than any other element, keywords are
prone to ambiguity—multiple meanings.
Never try searching the ATLA Religion Index database for ‘theology’—too
much is represented by the concept behind the word. With keywords, the searcher has to rule out
ambiguity and use the most specific terms possible. Sometimes it’s impossible to describe a
concept with one word. Complex searches
often require linking multiple search terms to pin down a precise
concept—several keywords linked together, or a keyword linked with a subject
heading or proper name. Internet search
engines often permit this kind of precise searching in their “Advanced
Searching” interface. Google has one of
the best ‘Advanced Search’ interfaces on the ‘Net.
*The
difficulty with complex searches stems from the nature of language—people often
embed ideas in nuances that convey expressive power through implication rather
than direct statement. This becomes more
difficult with ‘soft’ subjects such as theology, where concepts like atonement
and sanctification have lengthy doctrinal histories across multiple
traditions. Doctrinal statements in
denominational handbooks often contain confessions that attempt to precisely
state abstract theological notions—e.g. the doctrine of entire sanctification
as a second work of grace, subsequent to regeneration, that cleanses the human
heart from original sin. Historically,
denominations such as the Church of the Nazarene have often tried to clarify
their position with such terms as ‘eradication’ versus ‘suppression.’ Recognizing the ‘unscriptural’ use of
‘eradication,’ this denomination no longer sanctions its use for defining the
experience, thus requiring much longer statements to more precisely articulate
their historic faith.
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Last Modified
27
January 2006