Development and implementation of a thesaurus for the visual sciences

A thesaurus has been developed to serve as the integrating unit for the computerized information storage and retrieval system of the Vision Information Center. The Center maintains records of information in the visual sciences which are available to the user in the forms of computer-assisted instruction, literature retrieval, and patient records. The numerical coding system used in the thesaurus permits seven levels of specificity; this specificity is required for depth of indexing, as well as to limit the retrieval to those bibliographic citations which are relevant to a highly specific search request. The flexible design of the thesaurus facilitates frequent revision and addition of new terminology.