Individuals in contact with the criminal justice system are a key population of concern to public health. Record linkage studies can be useful for studying health outcomes for this group, but the use of aliases complicates the process of linking records across databases. This study was undertaken to determine the impact of aliases on sensitivity…

Describes a transaction log analysis of the New York Public Library research libraries' OPAC (online public access catalog). Much of the remote searching occurred when the libraries were closed and was more evenly distributed than internal searching, demonstrating that remote searching could expand access and reduce peak system loads. (Contains…

Describes the VISION (video indexing for searching over networks) digital video library system which was developed at the University of Kansas as a testbed for evaluating automatic and comprehensive mechanisms for library creation and content-based search and retrieval of video over local and wide area networks. Discusses experimental results.…

Recently, increasing reliance on Web technology by end-users in organizations has encouraged corporate libraries to provide Web user training. To understand the effects of this new service, a case study was conducted on 17 participants at a large Canadian utility company. After an initial questionnaire, participant usage of the Web was…

Statistics textbooks for undergraduates have not caught up with the enormous amount of analysis of Internet data that is taking place these days. Case studies that use Web server log data or Internet network traffic data are rare in undergraduate Statistics education. And yet these data provide numerous examples of skewed and bimodal…

Considers how media audiences and online users differ in their assessment of news. A national survey that studied the perception of interactivity in mass media and computer networks, and its relationship to the assessment of news, indicated that more emphasis on feedback is needed. (Author/LRW)

Online public access catalogs from 67 libraries using NOTIS software were searched using Internet connections to determine the positional operators selected as the default keyword operator on each catalog. Results indicate the lack of a processing standard for keyword searches. Five tables provide information. (Author/AEF)

Examines the influence of three combinations of document structures and menu designs on users' attitude, performance, and learning in search tasks. Three versions of a document introducing UNIX, Internet, BITNET, and general computing and networking resources at a university were implemented using HyperCard. Results showed that only the accuracy…

Discussion of CD-ROM as an alternative to online searching for academic libraries focuses on a comparison between online and CD-ROM costs at the University of Natal (South Africa) library. Other factors examined include funding methods; user fees; staff involvement; user training; user access, including search intermediaries and networking; and…

Examines the effectiveness of four Web-based search engines--Alta Visa, infoseek, Lycos, and Open Text--from users' perspectives. Results show that although Lycos has the best relevance ranking performance and highest precision ratio, Alta Vista has the best connectivity, highest user satisfaction ratios for precision and three components of…

Discussion of the use of telecommunications highlights projects designed by the New York City Board of Education to investigate telecommunications alternatives for the classroom. Telecommunications systems models are described, including electronic bulletin boards and networking; and instructional models are explained, including computer mediated…

This System and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) flyer/kit is based on two research efforts: a 1986 SPEC survey on the collection and use of management statistics related to reference services, and a 1987 supplemental survey on qualitative measures of reference services. A brief introduction describes the survey and discusses the evaluation of…

A five-page electronic questionnaire was sent to 113 special librarians who responded to "Call for Participation" announcements posted on nine computer conferences in July 1991 and a similar announcement in the August 1991 issue of the monthly newsletter of the Special Libraries Association. Fifty-four librarians completed the…

Describes a study conducted at Ohio State University libraries that gauged success using the Library Resources Network by having 43 users complete an exercise that forced them to make database selections, use a variety of database interfaces, and select appropriate terminology. Sample screen displays and the questionnaire used are appended.…

Describes an undergraduate course that was developed at Salem State College to provide students with an overview of information technologies, including online databases, online catalogs, CD-ROM, hypertext, interactive video, electronic bulletin boards, and computer networks. Student reactions are discussed, including changed perceptions, and…