PubMed® is an on-line literature database hosted by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Containing over 21 million citations for biomedical literature--both abstracts and full text--in the areas of the life sciences, behavioral studies, chemistry, and bioengineering, PubMed® represents an important tool for researchers. PubMed® searches return…

Millennial students make up a large portion of undergraduate students attending colleges and universities, and they have a variety of online resources available to them to complete academically related information searches, primarily Web based and library-based online information retrieval systems. The content, ease of use, and required search…

Reports on a research project to build a new indexing technique, integrating experiences in database searching and indexing into a matrix model based on Internet use. Emphasizes the need for improving Web usability in specific domains and gives two examples from Italian Web sites, one for museums and one for health information. (Author/LRW)

Reviews three database systems available for searching generic chemical structure representations: (1) Derwent's Chemical Code System; (2) IDC's Gremas System; and (3) Derwent's Markush DARC System. Various types of searches are described, features desirable to users are discussed, and comparison searches are described that measured recall and…

Presents suggestions from online searchers for using online services. Topics discussed include decreasing costs by using less expensive files; modifying searches on Dialog; use of controlled vocabularies and free text; using a variety of databases; the importance of search intermediaries understanding the topic; and patent searching. (LRW)

Describes specific techniques for using the MAP command for business searches on DIALOG that use more than one file. Limits of the MAPping function are discussed, and modification of these techniques for application to other databases and systems is explained. (Four references) (LRW)

Examined the search strategies used by researchers and others to search the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database through questionnaires completed by 3,420 users. Results indicate that college professors and educational researchers do a better job searching ERIC, but most end-users should be using better search strategies. (SLD)

When helping undergraduates assess materials, academic librarians balance the reference interview with instruction in electronic databases. This article describes a method connecting these tasks with a search strategy dependent on the user's information needs. The connection is made by labeling the user's need with a diagnostic tool based on…

Online searchers waste time and money if they log on without first reading help files and database descriptions; determining search goals; tailoring the search to fit needs; choosing the best source; keeping an open mind for search alternatives; considering other keyword search formulations; and knowing the online system tricks and tools. (PEN)

The importance of prior knowledge of informational content and organization for search performance on a database was evaluated for 17 undergraduates. Pretraining related to content, and information did facilitate learning logical search principles in a relational database; contest pretraining was more efficient. (SLD)

Develops an approach for advance estimation of user charges based on information actually retrieved by searching numeric databases, and defines a method for query cardinality estimation. Based on the relational data model, which uses relational algebra, this method uses formal file descriptions to describe the database files. (LRW)

Examines the challenges of using the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Indexes to perform citation searches for personnel decisions and offers specific guidelines for searchers to follow during the presearch interview. Potential obstacles, search techniques, and systems commands are also described. (five references) (KRN)

Describes CANSEARCH, an intermediary computer system incorporating fundamental features of the expert systems approach. Designed to provide access to information on cancer therapy in the MEDLINE database for doctors with no experience in document retrieval, search strategies are explained and menu selection from a touch terminal is illustrated.…

Discussion of online searching focuses on the first three of seven stages of searching: (1) the reference interview, including user needs, the search request, and the user's expectations; (2) the tactical overview, including institutional control and cost and time factors; and (3) database selection considerations, including relevance,…

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…