I remember early in my library career and while still in my public service days, my shock at learning of a high school aged patron looking up George Washington in the "G" volume of the encyclopedia. But then my paper address book had entries formatted directly, even if they were filed under last initial. Now my cell phone address book files in exactly the direct order I've entered names (except for close friends who have numerical prefixes so they file first and for library colleagues who have z prefixes so they file together and only a few clicks up). I can enter names in my Outlook address book in direct order and it offers me the option of direct or indirect order indexing for each entry. I now look up people in Wikipedia by entering their name in direct order. Also I frequently do direct entry keyword searching in OCLC's authorities rather than inverted format, command line searching.
In a paper world where indexing was sequential, the logical arrangement of inverted entry and indexing made sense. In an electronic world where indexing is random access, and where relationships are more likely made apparent via hyperlinks than proximity in an index, the need for inverted entry is less necessary. I still worry about the loss of overall skills of information organization and contextualization, but in the electronic context, why shouldn't someone be able to look up an entry under and see that entry as "George Washington"? John F. Myers, Catalog Librarian Schaffer Library, Union College 807 Union St. Schenectady NY 12308 518-388-6623 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
