Summarizes the first phase of a federally funded study of 157 clearinghouses that store data on human services. Factors addressed include the tasks of a clearinghouse, its potential for overlap, its relationship to its parent organization, the types of product and services it provides, and how it uses its database. (FM)

Develops an approach for advance estimation of user charges based on information actually retrieved by searching numeric databases, and defines a method for query cardinality estimation. Based on the relational data model, which uses relational algebra, this method uses formal file descriptions to describe the database files. (LRW)

Describes experiment designed to assess information value for individual searchers in realistic search environment. Included in data analysis are comparison of two alternative retrieval methods, evaluation of how well humans are able to estimate document relevance, and investigation of value function components (features and coefficients) and…

The findings of a CAUSE survey of institutions of higher education that are either currently using or have used a database management system are presented. In addition to demographic information, other issues addressed are: management implications, systems concepts, systems development, personnel, operational considerations and prospects for the…