Suggests new method of external distribution called tree partitioning that involves use of binary tree to split incoming file into successively smaller partitions for internal sorting. Number of disc accesses during a tree-partitioning sort were calculated in simulation using files extracted from British National Bibliography catalog files. (19…

This study compares results of searching full text of journal articles available on standard inverted file systems with searching of various parts of a document's surrogate. Relative recall and precision ratios for four search methods (full text, abstract, controlled vocabulary, bibliographic union) are reported. Search topics are appended. (14…

Discusses alternatives to the Boolean system that would enable users of online bibliographic databases--primarily those containing scientific and technical information--to obtain their required level of performance at lowest cost. Highlights include recall and precision factors (natural and controlled language, titles, abstracts, quorum function)…

The School District Data Book (SDDB) is a database and information system housed on 51 CD-ROMs containing the most extensive set of data ever developed on children, their households, and the nation's school systems. The Data Book allows comparisons among school districts and permits the extraction of data about districts with particular…

This paper presents European perspectives on the future of copyright management. The first section is an overview of intellectual property rights in Europe, including differences between copyright countries and "droit d'auteur" countries. The second section addresses European Community legal policy, including examples related to the…

Evaluates overlapping coverage of 21 scientific databases used in 10 online pesticide searches in an attempt to identify minimum number of databases needed to generate 90 percent of unique, relevant citations for given search. Comparison of searches combined under given pesticide usage (herbicide, fungicide, insecticide) is discussed. Nine…

Union catalogs and distributed search systems are two ways users can locate materials in print and electronic formats. This article examines the advantages and limitations of both approaches and argues that they should be considered complementary rather than competitive. Discusses technologies creating linkage between catalogs and databases and…

Describes the usability evaluation of the CUNY (City University of New York) information system in Web and Graphical User Interface (GUI) versions. Compares results to an earlier usability study of the basic information database available on CUNY's wide-area network and describes the applicability of the previous usability instrument to this…

Discusses search engines on the World Wide Web and information retrieval from the Internet; describes categories and special features of Web-based databases and compares them with traditional databases; and presents a review of the literature on the testing and evaluation of Web-based search engines. (Author/LRW)

The Association of American Medical Colleges Faculty Roster System allows comparison of a cohort of faculty at any selected time following their first faculty appointments. Disparities between men and women in rank attained in radiology and internal medicine were examined. (Author/MLW)

Compares two natural language processing search engines, WIN (WESTLAW Is Natural) and FREESTYLE, developed by LEXIS. Legal issues in natural language queries were presented to identical libraries in both systems. Results showed that the editorials enhanced relevance; a search would be more thorough using both databases; and if only one system were…

Describes a project at the University of Sheffield that is investigating the use of nearest-neighbor retrieval algorithms for full-text searching. Nearest-neighbor searching is compared with Boolean retrieval and hypertext, and an experimental text retrieval system called INSTRUCT (Interactive System for Teaching Retrieval Using Computational…

Reviews changes in the ERIC database on compact disk that have been made in systems offered by the following vendors: Dialog, SilverPlatter, and OCLC. Highlights include system requirements, costs, search strategies, printing, help screens, tutorials, double posting, available formats, display of search results, and searchable fields. (LRW)

Introduces the multicharacter trie as an index structure that can improve the time needed for retrieving full-text materials stored on CD-ROMs. The advantages of this structure compared to other structures are described, and experimental results comparing it to the widely used B+ tree and other structures used for full-text retrieval are…

Discussion of online searching in the humanities focuses on a comparison of the retrieval from two databases which cover philosophical materials, Philosopher's Index and FRANCIS. Retrieval performance measures are described, including precision and number of relevant records, and the results are discussed. The article concludes with a…