Symbiotic development of thesauri and information systems: A case history

With respect to information storage and retrieval, a thesaurus is a means to various ends. This paper describes these desired ends (and the utility of a thesaurus with respect thereto) and provides a case history of symbiotic development of an information system (for financial information) and its thesaurus. In this connection, the DISCLOSURE data base publication system and thesaurus are described, and the applications of the thesaurus both to the data base system and to retrieval applications are described. The history of thesaurus development, its present status, its planned future, and its costs vs. its benefits are summarized.