SUBJECT ANALYSIS TEACHING

EPISTEMOLOGICAL CHALLENGES IN INDEXER EDUCATION

Abstract

Subject analysis constitutes a central activity in Knowledge Organization and Representation, being responsible for the thematic identification and representation of documents in Information Retrieval Systems. However, it is an epistemologically complex process marked by subjectivity, inference, cognition, and contextualization, aspects that affect its teaching and indexer education. This paper aims to discuss the epistemological challenges of subject analysis teaching in Brazilian Library Science, analyzing how curricular content incorporates aspects related to interpretation, inference, cognition, and thematic contextualization in indexer education. Methodologically, the study is characterized as qualitative, exploratory, and interpretative research, combining exploratory bibliographic research with a reinterpretation of data derived from the documentary analysis of 29 course syllabi from Brazilian Library Science programs. The results reveal terminological and conceptual dispersion in course titles and content, a predominance of technical-operational approaches, and less explicit attention to the cognitive and interpretative dimensions of subject analysis. The study concludes that strengthening the epistemological dimension of subject analysis teaching requires pedagogical approaches capable of integrating epistemological foundations, documentary reading, cognition, inference, and contextualization into indexer education.