This study examines the integration of heterogeneous bibliographic information resources from geographically distributed locations in an automated, unified, and controlled way using abstract data types called "classes" through the Message-Object Model defined in Smalltalk-80 software. The concept of achieving data consistency by…

The efficacy of using the BIOSIS Previews database as an online information retrieval tool in clinical psychology was investigated in a study conducted at the University of West Florida. Recognizing the importance of multi-database searching strategies when seeking comprehensive results, this study compared the citation output of this…

Examines online and printed equivalents of selected government documents indexes to compare the recall, precision, overlap, and cost effectiveness of online and manual searching. Indexes studied were the Monthly Catalog, CIS (Congressional Information Service) Index, and Government Reports Announcements and Index. (CLB)

Examines relationship between journal productivity (number of references to particular journal) and journal obsolescence (median age of references to particular journal) for database of references dealing with desalination. Citation age by Bradford zones, continuous measurement of productivity and citation age, and underlying structure of observed…

Applies a method for generating synopses of scientific fields to a co-citation cluster in field of cancer virology and describes the resulting specialty narrative. Implications of procedure for the cognitive processes involved in reviewing a field are discussed. Appended are lists of highly cited and citing papers. (35 references) (EJS)

Assesses the impact of current coverage and indexing policies on MEDLINE's retrieval performance in the medical behavioral sciences literature by comparing retrievals in EXCERPTA MEDICA, PSYCHINFO, SCISEARCH, and SOCIAL SCISEARCH. Searches were made with descriptors, cited references, and natural language, and recall, precision, and novelty ratios…

Case study on acid rain illustrates procedures for systematized tracking of issues: using bibliometric methods to list journals to be scanned; using current awareness searches of online databases to supplement journal scanning; using literature monitoring to create significant terms file; and tracking terms through online database index. (10…

A project which involved an intensive search of the literature and contacts with individuals in the field concerning the dissemination of information about educational software is described. Included are an analysis of education software information available to educators, a needs assessment of Canadian educators, and the generation of an…

Designed to evaluate the usefulness of the BIOSIS PREVIEWS database when searching the psychiatric literature, this study compared the effectiveness of this online database with the effectiveness of two other computerized databases, MEDLINE and PsycINFO (Psychological Abstracts), which psychiatric researchers and clinicians usually rely on when…

Describes a study which demonstrates that unintended logical connections within scientific literature, which potentially reveal new knowledge, are unmarked by reference citations or other bibliographic clues. Citation analysis of two separate literatures in biomedicine that have a logical link is used to support this hypothesis. (Author/CLB)

The library's role in helping the social or behavioral scientist find bibliographic material is explained, and methods for the retrieval of bibliographic information are given. A table giving titles of relevant abstracts and indexes also provides time spans covered, frequencies of publication, disciplines for which each is useful. (Author/MLW)

This disc version is the fifth edition of the "Ethnographic Bibliography of North America," the classic print source of anthropological literature on Native Americans from Human Relations Area Files, Inc. It contains nearly 60,000 citations. Using the files and some shortcomings are reviewed. (SLD)

This report assesses the impact of instruction in online bibliographic database searching on high school students' use of library materials and facilities in three Delaware secondary schools (one public, one parochial, and one private) during the spring of 1984. Most students involved in the analysis were given a brief explanation of online…