Knowledge Organisation and Retrieval Questions and Answers

Answer: B

Research in automatic classification for information retrieval, using terms or clusters of terms, is called the theory of clumps, so the answer is B.

The theory of clumps was developed by R. M. Needham and A. F. Parker-Rhodes at the Cambridge Language Research Unit, as a way of finding groups of terms that occur together, and it was applied to automatic classification.

Evaluation theory (A), time binding theory (C) and dynamic theory (D) are not names of this line of research.

Answer: A

The key gives the internal user label as the chief source of information for a machine-readable data file in AACR-II (R), so the answer is A.

For a data file there is no title page, so the cataloguer takes the details from what the file itself carries: the internal label that identifies it, and the title screen when it is displayed.

A title page (B) and a colophon (C) belong to printed books. A title frame (D) belongs to films and videos, where the title is shown on a frame of the film.

Answer: B

The key says that the vocabulary in a database is controlled by standard files and authority files, so the answer is B.

Vocabulary control keeps one agreed form for each term or name, and the files that hold these forms, namely the authority files and the standard lists of terms, are used for it. A thesaurus is the best-known tool for controlling subject terms.

Import files (ii) only carry data into a database and control nothing. Options A, C and D each contain an import file or leave out the authority file, which is why the key rejects them.

Answer: A

The Common Communication Format for bibliographic records refers to data transfer and the standard tags for data identification, so the answer is A.

CCF was prepared under UNESCO as a format for the exchange of bibliographic records between different systems. It does this by defining standard tags that identify each data element, so that records can be passed from one system to another.

It is not a method of data storage (ii) or a format for the layout of individual records (iv), which is why the other codes, each of which includes one of these, are wrong.

Answer: B

The assertion is true and the reason is false, so the answer is B.

In Ranganathan's scheme the array 11, 12, 13 is formed from class 1 and the array 31, 32, 33 from class 3. They are arrays of the same order that do not belong to the same chain, so they are collateral arrays.

The reason says that they are derived from the original universe 'O'. Each array is derived from its own parent class (1 and 3), and only the first-order arrays come straight from the universe, so the reason does not describe them correctly and is rejected in the key.

Answer: C

The key accepts both statements as correct, so the answer is C.

The Resource Description Framework is a W3C standard for describing resources on the web, and so it supports the use and exchange of metadata. Bibliographic standards are, in general, the means to create and share secondary information such as catalogue records and indexes.

Options A, B and D call one of the two statements false.

Answer: B

The correct matching is chain indexing with S. R. Ranganathan, relational indexing with J. E. L. Farradane, subject indexing with E. J. Coates and PRECIS with Derek Austin, so the answer is a-ii, b-iii, c-iv, d-i, option B.

Chain indexing was devised by Ranganathan from the chain of a classification number. Farradane's relational indexing uses relations between the terms. Coates, in the British Technology Index, developed subject indexing, and Austin developed PRECIS from his work.

The other codes give the methods to the wrong persons.

Answer: C

The key matches collateral classes with 'classes of the same order not belonging to the same chain', multiple classes with 'a class comprising two or more entities', chain of classes with 'a sequence of classes made up of a given class and its universe', and co-ordinate classes with 'a subject fixed with others in the universe', so the answer is a-ii, b-i, c-iv, d-iii, option C.

These are terms of Ranganathan's theory of classification. A chain runs from the universe down to a class through its successive divisions, and the classes of the same order but in different chains are collateral.

The other codes interchange the descriptions and so cannot all be matched correctly.

Answer: A

The subject Biotechnology is formed by fusion, option A. In the study of how new subjects arise, fusion occurs when two or more existing subjects merge to produce a new one, as biology and technology combine in biotechnology.

Lamination (option B) is the overlaying of one subject on another, as in a subject studied from the viewpoint of another discipline. Fission (option C) is the splitting of a subject into parts, the reverse of fusion. Agglomeration (option D) is the gathering of loosely related subjects into a group without real integration. Biotechnology is a true blend, so fusion fits.

Answer: B

The keyed answer is E. J. Coates, option B. The order of significance of the three elements Thing, Material and Action in a compound subject is associated in the key with the work of Coates in subject indexing, who developed the sequence of thing, material and action for arranging the terms of a compound subject.

J. Kaiser (option A) is known for the concrete and process approach to indexing. J. R. Sharp (option C) worked on classification and indexing in the same period, and J. E. L. Farradane (option D) is known for relational analysis with operators. The question rests on the attribution given by the official key, and the other three names belong to other approaches.