Preface of the Research Report

The Emergence of online information retrieval systems gave a renewed boost to the importance of heuristic search for information. the helpfulness the interactive mode of information retrieval systems in meeting the users needs is hardly necessary to emphasize. An IRRS essentially aims at receiving user’s query in his own terms at whatever level of breadth or depth and gradually guide him to precise surrogates, to source of information which satisfies his information. In other words IRRS will lead to heuristic search. One of the effective mechanisms in this process of interactive retrieval process is vocabulary control. The controlled vocabulary exists to facilitate communication in the information retrieval process. The complete set of index terms used in retrieval systems may be referred to as the vocabulary of index language of the systems. The objective of vocabulary control is
1.    To illustrate the role the vocabulary plays in information retrieval systems.
2.    Demonstrate some of the problems that occur when this vocabulary is not controlled.
3.    Illustrate the major functions of a controlled vocabulary. 
If the vocabulary control list also displays for each of the terms its broader, narrower, coordinate terms and associated terms then it would be a very useful tool in information retrieval. For the necessary terms to be used for indexing and for searching could be taken from the list. Such a list is thesaurus. Thesaurus, classification scheme and subject heading lists are three general types of tools designed to control vocabularies of a given information storage and retrieval system.
In this research project an attempt has been made to compile a thesaurus for information sciences in Tamil. The establishment of bilingual or multilingual thesaurus is one way of attaining a common indexing and searching tool suitable for use in an information system employing different languages. There are two basic methods for this. One is to start from the beginning and compile a multilingual thesaurus and the other is to translate an existing foreign language thesaurus into the target languages. This project describes a computer based systems using a PASCAL program which has been interfaced in CDS/ISIS package designed by UNESCO for information storage and retrieval purpose. This thesaurus in the first instance, was constructed in English language using as input, facet analyzed subject headings derived from a collection of terms in the field of information science. For the compilation of this thesaurus approximately 2000 terms were collected from various sources such as dictionaries. Encyclopedias, Indexes, review articles, periodical publications etc. Each term has been analyzed using facet analytical approach and each of the terms was treated as an individual entry and was entered in CDS/ISIS worksheet as well as in cards. Numbers of unsuitable terms were discarded at the final stage.
Most of the definitions or scope notess were taken from “Harrod Librarian’s glossary of technical terms”. The basic list of the terms was prepared in English using computer. The system builds a dictionary of terms in the subject headings assigning unique serial numbers to each of the terms. When all the processing was over giving rise to the broader, narrower, synonymous, coordinate and associative relationships between terms, the dictionary of terms was replaced with equivalent term in Tamil language. Each equivalent Tamil term was entered in cards and all the cards were arranged in

திருச்செல்வம் செல்வமனோகரன்  யாழ்ப்பாணப் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில்   இந்து நாகரிகத் துறையின் விரிவுரையாளர். இவர்  'இந்து மெய்யியல்'  துறையை  தனது கற்கையாக, ஆய்வாக, புலமைச் செயற்பாடாக வளர்த்து வருபவர். பின்னைக் காலனிய நோக்கில் இந்து மெய்யியல் சிந்தனைகள்  குறித்து புதிய பொருள்கோடல் மரபை உருவாக்கும் அல்லது  கண்டுபிடிக்கும் அறிவு, ஆய்வு இவரது ஆளுமையின் வெளிப்பாடாகின்றது.   மெய்யியல், இலக்கியவியல், கலையியல் உள்ளிட்ட துறைகளில் ஊடாடித்  தமக்கான விமரிசனச் சிந்தனைசார்  நவீன அணுகுமுறைகளுடன் கூடிய கோட்பாட்டாக்க மரபை உணர்ந்து, தெளிந்து உருவாக்குபவர். இதன் அடையாளமாகப் பல்வேறு ஆய்வுக் கட்டுரைகளை எழுதுபவர்.  மரபுக்கும் நவீனத்துவத்துக்கும் இடையிலான தொடருறு உரையாடலை  வளர்த்து நிதானமாக  இயங்குபவர். தமிழ்ச் சூழலில் 'தமிழர் மெய்யியல்'  குறித்த தேடல் தவிர்க்க ம�