The University Libraries Computer Search Service (State University of New York at Albany, SUNYA) provides access to databases from many vendors including BRS, Dialog, Wilsonline, CA Search, and Westlaw. Members of the Computer Search Service, Collection Development, and Reference Service staffs select vendor services and new databases for their…

Examines the cooperative efforts of the Western Library Network (WLN) and its members to maintain authority control over its central bibliographic database. The first section describes authority maintenance activities performed by WLN centrally, and the second describes the contribution of an individual member library--the Washington State…

Discussion of difficulties in finding tests and measuring instruments for academic library users focuses on electronic databases. Highlights include the Educational Testing Service collection; eight databases for finding measures; Internet access to databases; other national and local databases; print sources of measures; and obtaining copies of…

Developed at the beginning of the decade to serve as a union catalog for identifying the holdings in all University of California (UC) libraries, the MELVYL online catalog as of October 1989 contained 10 million holdings for over 5 million monographic titles of print and nonprint materials, and more than 1.2 million periodicals holdings which…

Four articles on dBASE III include three on library applications: a photocopy invoicing system for interlibrary loan, a vertical file subject headings list program, and a subject index to statistical resources. Another article explains the differences between interpreters and compilers and the advantages of the Clipper compiler for dBASE III. (EM)

Three problems in online searching in women's studies are type of indexing, database quality, and adequacy of coverage. Results of a recent study show there is significant end-user satisfaction and the searches done are described in order to promote greater and more effective use of online retrieval in women's studies. (Author/EM)

The first of two articles discusses the advantages of online subject searching, the recall and precision tradeoff, and possible future developments in electronic searching. The second reviews the experiences of academic libraries that offer online searching of bibliographic, full text, and statistical databases in addition to online catalogs. (CLB)

Presents the results of research into the automatic selection of Library of Congress Classification numbers based on the titles and subject headings in MARC records from a test database at the University of California at Berkeley Library School library. Classification clustering and matching techniques are described. (44 references) (LRW)

This manual is designed to assist the indexers and inputters of the Oregon Index, which is an online index to Oregon's major newspapers and journals. The Index provides dial-up access to a database of citations and is available at hundreds of points around Oregon, including libraries, schools, newspapers, and government offices. The database has…

An informal handbook for both the undergraduate and graduate student in education, this guide begins by briefly describing and explaining the card catalog, Library of Congress Subject Headings, Library of Congress Classification System, and the Dewey Decimal System. It then lists some of the more useful materials and reference works basic to…

Describes a study undertaken by San Jose State University of business-related ready reference searches done at that library. The results suggest that within certain restrictions of patron questions, librarian training, search cost, and the database, ready reference online searches can be the most cost effective approach to providing business…

Describes a study that investigated the value of various access points in online catalog records by determining their usefulness to searchers who requested location information for items. Results of a transaction log analysis of the Illinois Library Computer Systems Office online union catalog for 45 academic libraries are discussed. (LRW)

Describes the implementation of a new set of indexes in the NOTIS/LUIS system that provide author, title, and subject access to bibliographic and authority records in the NOTIS/MARC format. The discussion covers index record structure and content, the design philosophy and process, and functions supported by the system. (Author/CLB)

Describes a study that investigated search intermediaries' requests for information from patrons during mediated online searching in an academic library. Topics of search intermediaries' elicitations include search terms and strategies, database selection, relevance of retrieved items, patrons' knowledge and previous information seeking, and other…

Presents a taxonomy of 11 sources of information used during library and database searching based on observations of 49 searches in a variety of libraries and search situations. Three categories of sources are identified: those internal to the searcher, those created by the searcher, and those external to the searcher. (Contains 54 references.)…