EVOLUTION OF CONSISTENCY VALUES WITHIN AN OPTICAL COINCIDENCE SYSTEM: (A Case Study of Agricultural System)

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Date
1986-08
Authors
MAINA, MODU
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This study is an attempt to show how inter-indexer consistency can be measured to see the evolution of consistency values within an Optical Coincidence System of the Institute of Agricultural Research Library at Ahmadu Bello University. This study is not only to evaluate the present level of performance, but also to find a way of improving the performance of the system. The study tried to find answers to the following questions:- (a) Is there indexing Consistency in the System over the period 1974 to 1986? (b) If there is inconsistency, then identify some of the factors responsible for the inconsistency. The hypothesis tested is that: Consistency in the system varies with the change of indexers over a period. The study involved examination of the document cards of the Information Retrieval System in the IAR library. The indexing terms assigned by two groups of indexers to similar documents were compared. The indexing period in the IAR system was divided into two Periods, P1 (1974 - 1978) and P2 (1979-1986). Pairs of similar index entries with one entry falling within either P1, or P2 were sorted out and compared for indexing Consistency Over the two periods. The cards were selected in such a way that they covered all the eleven main subjects vi areas which the IAR collection covered. A total of 130 pairs pf entries for similar documents were found in the data base. Out of these, 64. pairs were found to satisfy the condition set for the final selection, that is each pair has one entry falling in P1 and the other in P2. The degree of consistency was determined by totalling the number of identical terms assigned to the documents at each indexing, as compared to the total number of terms assigned to the two documents. Hooper's one-indexer consistency model was used in measuring inter-indexer consistency. The findings showed that indexing consistency in the system is decreasing with the change of indexers. The consistency values ranged from 47.5% to 28.68% per indexer and pair-wise consistency values ranged from as high as 65.4% to as low as 51% per pair. The study concluded that consistency in the system varies with the change of indexers over a period. This measure of inconsistency can partly be due to differences in subject background and experience of the indexers.
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EVOLUTION OF CONSISTENCY VALUES WITHIN AN OPTICAL COINCIDENCE SYSTEM: (A Case Study of Agricultural System), EVOLUTION OF CONSISTENCY VALUES WITHIN AN OPTICAL COINCIDENCE SYSTEM: (A Case Study of Agricultural System)
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