Indexing Service in the Library: Is It Dying Or Not?

The study aimed to determine if indexing service in the library is still a relevant or a dying function of librarians. It made use of quantitative method of research. The questionnaire was created in Google Form and sent through email in gathering data. The respondents were 34 librarians from school, academic and public libraries in Northern Luzon, Philippines. The study revealed that the most common type of indexes that are readily available in the library were periodical and newspaper indexes in both in-house and commercial indexes while microform, computerized and index to literature collections were almost neglected. Periodical, newspaper and computerized indexes were reported as being practiced by the majority of the librarians, only one who declared on doing index to literature collections, and none for the microform indexes. The librarians viewed that indexing: 1) is a challenge to develop or enhance your knowledge and mastery; 2) is needed for fast and easy access of information; and 3) is a regular task of a librarian. They also revealed the following major function of indexes: 1) it facilitates easy retrieval of information; 2) it facilitates reference to the specific item or locate wanted information; 3) it facilitates document analysis; 4) it makes the information storage and retrieval system useful to individual; 5) it indicates relationships among topics; and 6) it directs users seeking information under terms not chosen as index headings to headings that have been chosen, by means of see references. Librarians believed that indexing has a function to fulfill in the library and their identified reasons were: 1) It is still useful even in this computer age; 2) It is useful for compliance to the different accreditation bodies; 3) It gives quality service by providing users tools that can aid them in easy access and retrieval of information; and 4) It is continuously evolving with the help and use of technology. Furthermore, they conveyed that indexing is still a very vital function of the library for it is still being used as an aid to information retrieval and they pointed out that with the emerging technology, information can now be easily retrieved from the internet but still indexing has a vital role.

Keywords: indexing service, information access, information seeking, information retrieval tools, library practices, library services.