From classification to thesaurus … and back? Subject indexing tools at the library of the Afrika-Studiecentrum Leiden [extended abstract]

Abstract

The African Studies Centre (ASC) Leiden is an independent foundation associated with Leiden University. Its aims are to undertake research on Africa in the social sciences, to maintain a specialist library and documentation department, and to facilitate the dissemination of information on Africa. The library houses a broad-based collection in the field of the social sciences and the humanities, the only collection in the Netherlands focusing entirely on Africa. Current holdings include some 75,000 books, 2,000 periodicals, of which almost 600 are current subscriptions, about 1,000 documentaries and feature films, and a growing digital collection. Approximately half the holdings are English, about a third French, and the remainder is divided between German, Dutch, Afrikaans, Portuguese and Spanish. Between 2000 and 2006, the library carried out a project to improve subject access to the ASC collection by building an African Studies Thesaurus and converting all subject codes used until then into thesaurus descriptors.