The Relationship between Classification and Alphabetical Authority Lists of Indexing Terms — the Compilation of Thesauri

The printed book has been a prime information source for some hundreds of years. A book’s alphabetical index unlocks its contents and, without it, a specific piece of information may be very difficult to find. Here are some abbreviated extracts from such an index (Pictorial knowledge, 1970):

A close examination of these entries will reveal a hierarchical structure:

These entries therefore provide a simple example of the use of classification in alphabetical indexing.