ABSTRACT

One of the core responsibilities of any library in keeping with the laws of library science as propounded by Professor Ranganathan is to save the time of the user. One of the effective ways of saving the time of the user is through the use of indexes and abstracts because they facilitate quick access to information resources. The process and procedure through which indexes and abstracts come about are referred to as indexing and abstracting. Oti (2016) observes that before the introduction of computers into the operations and services of libraries, indexes and abstracts were used by librarians to assist library users, especially researchers to locate information beyond the limit of the vertical file. Librarians Who specialize in indexing and abstracting are trained on how to list available information materials and also summarize the subject content. The beauty of indexing and abstracting is that they serve as quick pointer to give information. In fact, abstracting and indexing services for various academic disciplines are aimed at compiling a body of literature for the particular subject. To this end, library users who may not have enough time to read voluminous information materials rely on indexes and abstracts for help. The importance of these twin tools in information retrieval and access cannot be over emphasized and make libraries undertake indexing and: abstracting services seriously. O In this chapter, we shall look at the meaning and definitions of; index and abstract, types of index and abstracts and functions? and purposes of index and abstract in information access and; retrieval.