Essential thesaurus construction /

This engagingly written guide by the author of Essential Classification leads readers new to indexing through the steps of creating and maintaining a controlled vocabulary to retrieve materials from a body of literature. Broughton (School of Library, Archive and Information Studies, Univ. College London) establishes the difference between Roget's Thesaurus, familiar to all, and the kind covered in her book, stating, "The thesaurus as it occurs in information work is quite a different kind of tool.... The essence of the retrieval thesaurus is that it is an organized and structured list of terms, and not just a random selection." Twenty chapters are well formatted with numerous summaries, examples, and diagrams that illustrate and clarify each concept. Aimed primarily at information professionals who need to develop unique retrieval tools, this text is an asset to beginners in the art and science of library subject cataloging as well. Highly recommended.-Sheila S. Intner, Professor Emerita, Simmons GSLIS, Silver Spring, MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.