Discusses the dual nature of EIPs (electronic information products), which display characteristics of both tangible products and intangible services. Differences between products, services, and EIPs are summarized in table form, and several advantages of and reasons for purchasing CD (compact disc) products are presented. (MES)

Compares WILSONDISC's Index to Legal Periodicals with LEGALTRAC's Legal Resources Index in terms of: contents; searching (including comparison of several identical searches run on both databases); and costs. (MES)

Provides an overview of CD-ROM technology and local area networking focusing on NetWare Loadable Modules (NLMs) which provide network access to CD-ROMs, using Novell's NetWare operating system. The characteristics and benefits of various products and concerns in choosing one are discussed, and comparative specifications and vendors are listed.…

This explanation of how the basic economic model of pricing applies to the CD-ROM industry considers the supply and demand sides of the market and compares three distinct pricing strategies: (1) pricing to maximize profits; (2) average cost pricing; and (3) marginal cost pricing. (EAM)

Compares the compact disc read-only-memory (CD-ROM) Magazine Article Summaries (MAS) and Magazine Index Plus Backfile (MI+) in terms of system hardware, index coverage, searching capabilities, citation display, printing citations, local holdings, and miscellaneous features and costs. Finds in favor of MAS. (DMM)

Compares pricing of seven CD-ROM-based public access catalog systems for libraries of diverse sizes and groupings. Other features of the systems are outlined in the broad areas of database preparation, indexing, database updates, hardware, information retrieval, library controlled elements, interlibrary loan, reports, user support, future…

Describes a study that compared the "Video Source Book,""Variety's Complete Home Video Directory," and OCLC in order to judge their comprehensiveness, currency, uniqueness, and redundancy in cataloging videos. The strengths and weaknesses of each source are discussed and suggestions for further research into the bibliographic…

Describes Ulrich's PLUS (a CD-ROM version of Ulrich's serials directories) and EBSCO's CD-ROM version of "The Serials Directory," and compares the two in terms of their use as reference tools. Areas discussed include database content, user aids, system features, search features, and a comparison of search results. Equipment requirements…

This study of INFOTRAC and WILSONDISC examined published reactions of librarians and users to these two products, as well as differences between the products in terms of search techniques and presentation of information. (25 references) (MES)

Examines a number of current products that enhance CD-ROM use. Highlights include shareware; audio players; drive control, including security devices; caching, to increase speed; benchmarks and diagnostics, to compare different drive models; enhanced extensions; and file management. (LRW)

Considers the appropriateness of using CD-ROM versus online systems. Topics discussed include cost effectiveness; how current the information is; full-text capabilities; a variety of interfaces; graphical user interfaces on CD-ROM; and possibilities for image representations. (LRW)

Compares Frame Relay with digital and analog alternatives for connecting sites on a Wide Area Network. Cost considerations, the concepts on which the technology is based, its carrying capacity, the use of CD-ROM and Graphical User Interface (GUI) on Frame Relay, and engineering bandwidth limitations are covered. (KRN)

Discusses the need for comprehensive and accurate sources of information for librarians looking for information about online databases or CD-ROMs and compares, examines, and makes recommendations regarding three print and electronic directories--the "Gale Directory of Databases," Bowker's "World Databases," and Waterlow New…

Representing the point of view of Philips Subsystems and Peripherals on Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) and Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I) issues, this position paper attempts to point out differences and similarities between the basic CD-ROM standard and the CD-I standard proposed for interactive use of data. (Author/MBR)

Explores the new storage technology of optical data disks and introduces a data structure, the inverted signature tree, for storing data on optical data disks for efficient text searching. The inverted signature tree approach is compared to the use of text signatures and the B+ tree. (22 references) (Author/CLB)