The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Aboutness and Conceptual Analysis: A Review
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of aboutness and conceptual analysis, essential concepts for LIS practitioners to understand. Aboutness refers to the subject matter and genre/form properties of a resource. It is identified during conceptual analysis, which yields an aboutness statement, a summary of a resource's aboutness. While few scholars have discussed the aboutness determination process in detail, the methods described by Patrick Wilson, D.W. Langridge, Arlene G. Taylor, and Daniel N. Joudrey provide exemplary frameworks for determining aboutness and are presented here. Discussions of how to construct an aboutness statement and the challenges associated with aboutness determination follow.
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In the citing paper
“Yet subject indexing is precisely such a task: Holley & Joudrey (2021) describe aboutness determination and conceptual analysis as cognitive processes that precede heading selection in professional practice.”
From A Skill-Based AI Agentic Pipeline for Library of Congress Subject Indexing (2026) · cites this paper as Holley & Joudrey (2021)
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A Skill-Based AI Agentic Pipeline for Library of Congress Subject Indexing
Chow, E. H. C. (2026) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2605.03537 · Cited by 1
“Yet subject indexing is precisely such a task: Holley & Joudrey (2021) describe aboutness determination and conceptual analysis as cognitive processes that precede heading selection in professional practice.”
Metadata
- Authors
- Holley, R. M., & Joudrey, D. N.
- Affiliations
- Simmons University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Holley, Ralph M.
- Venue
- Cataloging & Classification Quarterly
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-12-21
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 2-3
- Pages
- 159-185
- ISSN
- 0163-9374 (ISSN-L)
- 1544-4554
- OpenAlex
- W3116639095
- Cited by
- 3
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2023: 1 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 0.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cataloging & Classification Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Library Science and Information Systems
- Social Sciences › Library and Information Sciences › Library Science and Information
- Social Sciences › Library and Information Sciences › Information Science and Libraries
- Keywords
- aboutness, conceptual analysis, subject matter, library cataloging, library and information science
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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