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)

Describes a scheme in the United Kingdom that coordinates geochemistry publications with a computerized geochemistry database. The database comprises not only data published in the journals but also the remainder of the pertinent data set. The discussion covers the database design; collection, storage and retrieval of data; and plans for future…

Briefly describes a project that created an archive of electronic versions of published text. The procedures used to access the archives are described and the policies of the archive for proper use of electronically delivered documents by scholars and libraries are discussed. (5 references) (CLB)

This paper traces the development of the US/MARC and UK MARC formats from their origins to the present day, showing some of the divergence between them and illustrating how Library of Congress records have been converted to UK MARC by a continually changing program. Sixteen references are cited. (Author/EJS)

Describes a study funded by the Commission of the European Community that applied document retrieval algorithms to the "Excerpta Medica" database using the EMTREE thesaurus. Nonhierarchical relations were added to enrich the thesaurus, and document ranking is discussed in terms of the conceptual distance between the documents and the…

Considers the future of copyright in an electronic environment due to the ease with which materials can be copied. Discusses relevant legal cases; reproductive rights organizations; the role of contracts; databases; European Union initiatives; and conflict of laws. Concludes that increased owner-user cooperation is needed if copyright is to…

Describes an image storage system for contract documentation in the Engineering Directorate of Thames Water Utilities (England) which uses optical disc storage and a relational database for indexing and retrieval of nearly 500,000 pages in compressed image format, and provides end user access through 7 workstations. Requirements, feasibility…

Describes a project at the Ministry of Health Library and Documentation Centre in Malawi, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), that changed the role of the library from information collector to producer of information through the use of desktop publishing and the creation of CD-ROM databases. (LRW)

Describes the development of computer-based information services in New Zealand for education and the social sciences. Highlights include national systems; the influence of personal computer technology on the development of information services; the lack of a national information policy; and the lack of standardized software. (13 references) (LRW)

Presents methodology and findings of an empirical study comparing local citation patterns with the holdings lists of various sources of journal articles in the United Kingdom, including the British Library. Topics include identifying data that indicates researchers' use of journals in academic libraries and identifying data to indicate journal…

To compare the value of subject descriptors and title keywords as entries to subject searches, two studies were conducted, both concentrating on monographs in the humanities and social sciences held by online public access catalog of the National Library of the Netherlands. (Author/AEF)

Reports on a survey of 70 research libraries in Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Results show that libraries are rapidly acquiring automated processing systems, CD-ROM databases, and connections to computer networks. Discusses specific data on system implementation and network services by country and by type of…

Describes PLEXUS, an expert system for information retrieval related to gardening, designed at the University of London for use in public libraries. Focusing on the semantic problems encountered, methods used in artificial intelligence and information science to resolve them are discussed, including classification and facet analysis. (Author/LRW)