Analyzes data from quarterly surveys of vendors to determine revenues and usage of government databases and identify those receiving high revenues and high usage. It is concluded that the current decline in their market share is due to increasing numbers of databases from the private sector rather than actual usage. (EM)

Traces data base activities in the areas of searches, users, subject coverage, retrospective files, types of documents, funding, charging, professional organizations, publications, terminology, standards, file design, software, vocabulary, networking, progress, and problems. (KP)

The Information Retrieval Research Laboratory of the University of Illinois regularly calculates certain statistics associated with the MARC II data base. Statistics pertaining to data element occurrence, data element length, and distribution of records by Dewey Decimal division and Library of Congress class code are given. (Author)

This paper discusses network sharing of resources for on-line data base searching. Uses of on-line searching, equipment, personnel, search strategy development requirements, costs, and advantages of such services are also considered. (Author/KP)

Provides a directory of online databases available as of October 1979. Scope, vendor, update frequency, and user charges are included. (RAA)

Criteria for selection of data bases and data base services such as searching features, logical capacity, document delivery, output format and medium, and costs are examined. (Author)

Describes the Information Market Indicators survey that monitors online vendors, database producers, and specific databases in terms of the revenues generated and number of connect hours of usage. Highlights and facts relative to calendar years 1982 and 1983 (usage, revenue data, vendor databases, database producers, classes of users) are…

Presents a study of journal title elements as represented in eight databases, and describes four measures developed to show the extent of standardization within a database and some of its implications for searching. (FM)

This paper discusses vehicles for education and training, tools and techniques for promotion, and details the information requirements of the processors, service managers, searchers, and end users of on-line data bases. (Author/KP)

This article explores the growth, origins, technological development, and current activities of bibliographic data bases, and examines the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science national program relative to these aspects. (Author)

Provides statistical summaries of database development and growth for 1979, based on the "Database of Databases" file at the University of Illinois Information Retrieval Research Laboratory. Bibliographic, bibliographic-related, and natural language databases are analyzed in four subject categories: scientific/technical, humanities,…

Provides update to 13-year analysis of finances of major database producer noting actions taken to improve finances (decrease expenses, increase efficiency, develop new products, market strategies and services, change pricing scheme, omit print products, increase prices) and consequences of actions (revenue increase, connect hour increase). Five…

The users of online retrieval systems can and should provide feedback to the system operators or vendors to influence them to make changes and further improvements, or to reinforce operator's decisions to make changes in the systems. All members of the database chain--database producers, processors, search service brokers, searchers, and end users…

The major objective of the IITRI Computer Search Center is to educate and link industry, academia, and government institutions to chemical and other scientific information systems and sources. The Center was developed to meet this objective and is in full operation providing services to users from a variety of machine-readable data bases with…

Information centers exist to provide information from machine-readable data bases to users in industry, universities and other organizations. The computer Search Center of the IIT Research Institute was designed with a number of variables and uncertainties before it. In this paper, the author discusses how the Center was designed to enable it to…