This commentary begins by summarizing the five contributions to this special issue and briefly recapping the background to the topic of student learning in higher education. Narrative and systematic reviews are compared, and the relative value of different bibliographic databases in the context of systematic reviews is assessed. The importance of…

Introduction: For some time now the field of medical education has been criticized by many of its stakeholders. Countless debates have been presented in the literature regarding the quality of medical education research, adequacy of methodological rigor, and other concerns. Methods: At present, the views expressed have largely come from physicians…

Online bibliographic and network-based information systems are starting to blur the boundaries that separated print documents. Two concepts emerge as a consequence: the union record, an entity that combines multiple catalog records for a single bibliographic item; and an information dossier, a hypertext-like information object built by linking…

Describes the changes scientific abstracting and indexing services are making to develop new production systems for a marketplace which is influenced by the information superhighway and the demand for information in an electronic format. Descriptions are included of computer system and data input changes implemented by several database producers…

Discusses the growth in nonbibliographic online databases and machine-readable data files (MRDF) that are accessed offline, and considers how libraries need to respond to the changing needs and expectations of researchers. Textual and numeric databases are described, and three possible levels of library service are outlined. (13 references) (LRW)

Discussion of bibliographic databases and the structure of records focuses on the structure of education information based on publications of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. Faceted design is discussed, and mandatory and optional fields in education database design are considered. (Contains 16 references.) (LRW)

Proposes a solution to the problem of loading repetitive bibliographic information in a microcomputer-based relational database management system. The alternative design described is based on a representational redundancy design and normalization theory. (12 references) (Author/CLB)

One size does not fit all. For anyone who has ever tried to make something fit (especially when it won't), it's best to realize that the word "all" does not really mean "everyone." The same thing is true for subscription databases. While it might seem that all students in grades K-12 can benefit from the use of the database contents, in reality,…

Examines problems encountered when setting up a hypertext link, called an identity link, for moving between bibliographic and full text databases. MEDLINE and CCML (Comprehensive Core Medical Library) are used as examples, BRS/SEARCH text retrieval software is explained, and problems with syntax are discussed. (two references) (LRW)

Describes a conceptual design of a bibliographic retrieval system that enables more thorough control of bibliographic entities. The conceptual schema describes a database comprising two separate files of bibliographic description, one of intellectual works and the other of physical items. This model provides information about a work's association…

A hierarchical extension to the American National Standard for Bibliographic Information Interchange on Magnetic Tape is defined and described. The accommodation of the extension within the existing standard is discussed, modifications to the existing standard are proposed, and applications of the hierarchical format are presented. (21 references)…

Outlines the file structure requirements for a microcomputer-based information retrieval system using FoxPro, a relational database management system (DBMS). Issues relating to the design and implementation of such systems are discussed, and two possible designs are examined in terms of space economy and practicality of implementation. (15…

Discussion of information retrieval and the derivation of new knowledge from bibliographic databases focuses on medical journal literature. Topics discussed include the incomplete coverage of medical literature on databases; searching by free text or title words versus searching by assigned subject headings; and the implications of these factors…

Places the question of the relatively limited storage capacity of optical data disks when applied to very large databases into practical perspective, and considers some of the possibilities offered by the integration of different databases on a single CD-ROM. The advantages and disadvantages of three production options for integrated databases are…

Describes a study that examined the ability of the dBase database management system to perform secondary key retrieval on multivalued data items. The results are presented as time cost relative to the number of matching records, and situations in which a different management system might be appropriate are identified. (CLB)