Autopsy /personal inspection / primary recording
By the construction of bibliographies, for the description and indexing of documents, the principle of autopsy states that the bibliographer/indexer should base his or her work on direct inspection of the work being described or indexed, not on document surrogates or other bibliographic descriptions.
This principle is broadly recognized as an important condition for quality in bibliographical work.
See also: Citing unseen references
Birger Hjørland
Last edited: 01-08-2006