A bibliographic index is a
bibliography
Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
intended to help find a publication. Citations are usually listed by author and subject in separate sections, or in a single alphabetical sequence under a system of authorized headings collectively known as
controlled vocabulary
Control may refer to:
Basic meanings Economics and business
* Control (management), an element of management
* Control, an element of management accounting
* Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization
* Controlling ...
, developed over time by the indexing service. Indexes of this kind are issued in print
periodical
A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also examples ...
form (issued in monthly or quarterly paperback supplements, cumulated annually), online, or both. Since the 1970s they are typically generated as output from
bibliographic database
A bibliographic database is a database of bibliographic records, an organized digital collection of references to published literature, including journal and newspaper articles, conference proceedings, reports, government and legal publications, p ...
s (whereas earlier they were manually compiled using
index cards).
"From many points of view an index is synonymous with a catalogue, the principles of analysis used being identical, but whereas an index entry merely locates a subject, a catalogue entry includes descriptive specification of a document concerned with the subject".
The index may help search the literature of, for example, an academic field or discipline (example: ''
Philosopher's Index
The Philosopher's Information Center is a nonprofit, educational organization. It was founded in 1967 by Richard H. Lineback, who continues to serve as president.
The center is publisher of ''The Philosopher's Index'', a comprehensive bibliograph ...
''), to works of a specific literary form (''
Biography Index'') or published in a specific format (''
Newspaper Abstracts
ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, providi ...
''), or to the analyzed contents of a serial publication (''
New York Times Index
The ''New York Times Index'' is a printed reference work published since 1913 by ''The New York Times'' newspaper. It is intended to serve as a reference for accessing stories printed the previous year in the newspaper. It was created by publis ...
'').
See also
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Citation index
A citation index is a kind of bibliographic index, an index of citations between publications, allowing the user to easily establish which later documents cite which earlier documents. A form of citation index is first found in 12th-century Hebr ...
*
Guide to information sources
A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom.
Travel and recreation
Ex ...
*
Indexing and abstracting service
An abstracting service is a service that provides abstracts of publications, often on a subject or group of related subjects, usually on a subscription basis. An indexing service is a service that assigns descriptors and other kinds of access poi ...
*
Library catalog
*
List of academic databases and search engines
This article contains a representative list of notable databases and search engines useful in an academic setting for finding and accessing articles in academic journals, institutional repositories, archives, or other collections of scientific and ...
*
Metabibliography A metabibliography (or biblio-bibliography) is a bibliography of bibliographies.
Bibliographies serve the finding of relevant documents. Metabibliographies serve the finding of the relevant bibliographies in which the relevant documents may be foun ...
*
Metadata registry
A metadata registry is a central location in an organization where metadata definitions are stored and maintained in a controlled method.
A metadata repository is the database where metadata is stored. The registry also adds relationships with r ...
*
Subject index
References
Bibliographic databases and indexes
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