NTA NET Teaching

Subject indexing is the process of assigning descriptive terms or phrases, known as subject headings or descriptors, to documents or information resources to facilitate their retrieval based on content. It involves analyzing the subject matter of a document and selecting controlled vocabulary terms from a predefined thesaurus or subject heading list, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) or Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), to represent the document’s themes. Subject indexing helps users discover materials relevant to their queries by enabling more accurate and systematic retrieval compared to free-text searching. This process is essential in libraries, databases, and information retrieval systems, ensuring consistency in how subjects are categorized, leading to improved accessibility and retrieval efficiency. Subject indexing also supports cross-referencing, which allows users to locate related topics and navigate complex information landscapes.