Indexação e controlo da terminologia em bibliotecas do ensino superior politécnico em Portugal: : o sistema no instituto politécnico de Portalegre

The main objective of this work was to evidence the existing difficulties in subject indexing in bibliographic databases. The normative instruments and tools that support the process are somewhat diffuse and hard to use for many professionals in the area. The indexing terms collected from different sources, may lead to the inconsistency of subject headings, unless the control of authorities is done. And inconsistent subject indexes compromise an accurate information retrieval in library catalogs.
This research is divided in two distinct parts: the first one was to identify the use of indexing instruments and tools in the Portuguese polytechnic libraries, and the second one was to analyze the catalogs’ subject indexes in a group of libraries (Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre). The methodology was developed according to the defined levels of observation, namely through an inquiry to the institutions, and through the analysis of index features in the bibliographic records, where three central points were defined: the UNIMARC format, the subject headings syntax and the terminology.
The obtained results led us to the conclusion that the situation of indexing without normative support is dominant, and the use of the Portuguese indexing system

SIPORbase is quite slight. The indexing terms are essentially collected from thesauri, and are not controlled, the same happening to the subject headings in their syntax.
The lack of consistency in the bibliographic catalogs revealed that an indexing policy is necessary, and with the aim of establishing a guiding one, a simplified indexing model is proposed.