Describes textual database queries in the humanities based on poststructuralist theories and experiences with the ARTFL (American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language) database. The use of computers for literary research and text interpretation and analysis is considered. (Contains nine references.) (LRW)

Discussion of information retrieval as a process of communication focuses on the concept of symbolic interaction. Topics addressed include communication, interaction, and information retrieval; information retrieval as symbolic interaction and as social interaction; and examples from a study of the information behavior of humanities scholars at…

Contrasts the nature of citation practices in the sciences and in the humanities, and details the workings of the Institute for Scientific Information's new Arts and Humanities Citation Index. Fifteen references are cited. (FM)

Describes the development of a system to retrieve images for an international project that is producing a pictorial dictionary of classical mythology, the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. Applications to other types of information are discussed, two classification systems for Art History are described, and design principles for…

Describes the "Rutgers Inventory of Machine-Readable Texts in the Humanities" that provides bibliographic information through RLIN (Research Libraries Information Network) for electronic texts in the humanities. Highlights include adaptation of MARC format; access points; search strategies; and unresolved issues in the bibliographic…

An attempt is being made to improve subject access to monographs by augmenting MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging) records. Working with a sample of books drawn from the collections of the University of Toronto and comprising a number of subject areas in the humanities and social sciences, the project plans to enlarge the MARC description by using…

This guide to searching for "America: History and Life," a bibliographic database offering resources on topics in social sciences, humanities, and arts in the United States and Canada, covers subject scope, selection and coverage, document types and records, combined entries, subject indexing, personal names, geographic names, historical periods,…

Reviews the status of the concept of information in information science, with reference to interdisciplinary trends. Highlights include defining scientific terms; studies and sources of the word information; the concept of information in the natural sciences, and in the humanities and social sciences; librarianship; information retrieval; and the…

Two major research streams of information science, bibliometric mapping and document retrieval combined in the literature visualization movement with the implementation of VIRI (visual information retrieval interface). The capability now exists to quickly map the citation images of thousands of persons through AuthorLink, to map displays of…

Explores the usefulness of the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN) to humanities scholars. Contends that factors such as inaccessibility of terminals and difficult-to-use interfaces inhibit the utility of the database. Maintains that use of the RLIN should help database managers plan the next generation of information systems. (CFR)

Discusses humanities projects that can be facilitated by communications technology: multiple language representations, providing cross-platform multilingual font sets and distributed multilingual enabling technologies; high-quality images and tools for archival image annotation, search, and retrieval; three-dimensional representations to provide…

Presents abstracts of 34 special interest group (SIG) sessions. Highlights include humanities scholars and electronic texts; information retrieval and indexing systems design; automated indexing; domain analysis; query expansion in document retrieval systems; thesauri; business intelligence; Americans with Disabilities Act; management;…

Describes the structure, purpose, and some of the idiosyncracies of the Century of Prose Corpus. The database covers English prose for the 1675-1780 period. Part A consists of 20 major authors; part B contains 100 secondary authors. Selections vary in length and allow scholars to search for comparisons and inconsistencies. (MJP)

Utilizes a computer program to search for legal terminology in Concepcion Arenal's 1861 treatise "The Woman of the Future." Arenal appropriated two different types of legal discourse in her work. Discusses the problems this presented for linguistic analyses. Includes fascinating details on Arenal and her work. (MJP)