A hypertext-based thesaurus as a subject browsing aid for bibliographic databases

Abstract Browsing is a very common information-seeking strategy, particularly for retrieval of bibliographic information. Conventional information retrieval systems, however, provide little support for this activity. In hypertext systems browsing is the major, and often the only, way of retrieving information. Unfortunately, hypertext users often become disoriented even when browsing a small information space. If hypertext is to be used to support browsing in bibliographic databases, some form of navigational assistance will be required. This article examines the role of thesauri as navigational aids for the subject domain of a bibliographic database. The design of an experimental hypertext-based browsing interface for a thesaurus is presented and its implementation using a commercially available hypertext program described. As the ultimate goal of the thesaurus browsing interface is to facilitate subject access to bibliographic databases, strategies for linking the thesaurus to a database are examined.