Information Retrieval for Soil Engineers

Authors of soil mechanics literature must facilitate the transfer of information to others by using concise titles, writing informative abstracts giving results and conclusions, and providing key-word index terms using the Soil Mechanics Thesaurus. The information explosion requires author participation in processing their work for information retrieval because computers are no substitute for intellectual effort, and the cost of abstracting and indexing by qualified professionals is prohibitive. Part A, Instructions for Authors, provides suggestions for titles, abstracts, key-word indexes, and reference citations. Filing and retrieval systems designed for the individual engineer are given in Part B, including author files, key words as subject headings, the Uniterm system, and the Bureau of Reclamation shingle filing and retrieval system. Part C contains the Soil Mechanics Thesaurus of the Engineers Joint Council type, using 1,550 approved main terms (descriptors) and their cross references. Access to the descriptors is (1) by alphabetical listing with broader terms, narrower terms, and related terms for each descriptor, (2) by 35 subject groups of broadly related terms, and (3) by a condensed alphabetical listing of descriptors.