|
Wilson
Edits, Updates Decades of Print Indexing for New Web Reference—
Humanities
& Social Sciences Index Retrospective
New
York, New York, March 3rd, 2004
Library users can now digitally search content as far back as 1907
in core journals in the humanities and social sciences, with H.W.
Wilson's Humanities
& Social Sciences Index Retrospective 1907-1984.
This new WilsonWeb database features cover-to-cover indexing of
articles from some 1,200 noted periodicals, encompassing the most
important 20th-century scholarly journals from the U.S., Canada, and
Europe. Information from 46 printed volumes that would otherwise
require some 12 feet of shelf space are now readily searchable on
the web.
In
creating this database, Wilson editors did far more than simply
transcribe data from print to electronic format. Data for this new
resource—citations to more than 1,300,000 articles in
total—comes from decades of print annuals from Wilson's Social
Sciences & Humanities Index, Social
Sciences Index, Humanities
Index, and International
Index. These indexes represented a treasure-trove of
citations and historical subject headings, but also a major
challenge: that of reconciling the subject headings between the
various indexes and updating the headings for easy searching using
contemporary terms.
Ultimately,
some 85,000 headings were updated, and all now conform to a
consistent and modern controlled vocabulary. Search the antiquated
term "child placing" and you'll get results for the more
up-to-date term "foster care." Search the modern term
"mentally handicapped" and results will include citations
to past articles about "defectives" and
"laggards." Search the modern term "clergy" and
results will include articles once indexed under the heading
"ministers of the Gospel."
Original
subject headings have been retained as "Historical
Subjects"—preserving the full value of the data as a
historical source, and providing insight into the way issues of the
day were framed. Both current and historical headings are
searchable.
Reconciliation
of variant forms for nearly 500,000 personal and corporate names
ensures that name searches find all available information on a
particular individual or institution, e.g. a search using
"Stanford University" will also find citations to the
earlier name, Leland Stanford Junior University.
Users
will appreciate Humanities &
Social Sciences Index Retrospective for access to
contemporaneous coverage of historical events, including book
reviews of controversial works at the time of their initial release.
Over 240,000 book reviews are among the articles cited. Humanities
and social science coverage is also supplemented with coverage of
many important science journals through the 1950s.
Precise
bibliographic information in every citation helps users acquire
actual articles. A holdings indicator links to the library's OPAC—letting
researchers know if they'll find cited articles on the shelves. At
no extra charge, WilsonWeb's SFX-powered software links to the full
text of articles that reside in any of the library's open-URL
compliant databases. In addition, document-delivery links make
ordering the actual articles easy.
For
maximum flexibility, libraries also have the option to subscribe to
separate humanities and social sciences components of the
database—Humanities Index
Retrospective or Social
Sciences Index Retrospective. Both index some 1,000,000
articles back as far as 1907. Since both databases draw information
from the print resource Social
Sciences & Humanities Index, coverage overlaps up
through 1974.
Free
30-day trials of
Humanities & Social Sciences
Index Retrospective, Humanities
Index Retrospective, and Social
Sciences Index Retrospective are available to libraries
and members of the working press. H.W. Wilson also offers Humanities
Full Text and Social
Sciences Full Text, with coverage from 1984 and 1983
respectively, through the present.
Contact:
Roseward Sky
Phone (800) 367-6770, x2272
Email: rsky@hwwilson.com
Eileen Sutter
Phone (800) 367-6770, x2312
Email: esutter@hwwilson.com
|
