A Comparative Analysis of the Major Abstracting and Indexing Services for Library and Information Science; With Notes on Their Coverage of Archival Material.

Six major indexing and abstracting services were studied to isolate similarities and differences, obtain raw data, and attempt to estimate primary material covered by the services. The 1973 issues of all services were examined and statistics were obtained for periodical and non-periodical entries. Data were analyzed and the services compared by: (1) subject arrangement, (2) coverage and overlap of periodicals, (3) core periodicals, (4) coverage of nonjournal material and archives, (5) timeliness, (6) bibliographic description, and (7) origin of abstracts. Services were found to be uneven in coverage and timeliness. The authors concluded that: (1) each service's view of the scope of the field governs coverage of library science and/or information science literature, and periodical and/or nonperiodical literature, and (2) the low circulation of the services may hinder financing of improvements. It was recommended that the editors and representatives of the publishers meet to explore the possibility of linking English language services into a single, comprehensive service. Extensive data tables, lists, and service profiles are included. (KP)