Recent, far-reaching developments in the provision and retrieval of educational information in the United Kingdom are described, focusing on changes to an established research tool, the British Education Index, and the new British Education Thesaurus, modeled on the ERIC Thesaurus. Technological advancements are also considered. (Author/MSE)

This two-page paper is an instructional guide for the use of the DIALOG OnDisc version of ERIC on CD-ROM in a university library. It is noted that the computer with which the guide is to be used provides access to citations of documents and journal articles in the ERIC database from 1980 to the present. Instructions are provided in a sequential,…

Key tailors, desk organizers; text-oriented database programs, outlining programs, thesauruses, spelling checkers, and punctuation and style checkers are described. The functions these programs perform will probably become more common as application programs absorb the functions into their own operation. (Author/MLW)

Four articles on dBASE III include three on library applications: a photocopy invoicing system for interlibrary loan, a vertical file subject headings list program, and a subject index to statistical resources. Another article explains the differences between interpreters and compilers and the advantages of the Clipper compiler for dBASE III. (EM)

Demonstrations to graduate education students on the use of the ERIC database for research of children's literature materials involved using the thesaurus and subject indexes. Electronic searches served as follow-up to the classroom instruction, and the advantages of online searching were illustrated through various approaches used to retrieve…

Describes an integrated database developed at Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia) that includes bibliographic records, thesauri, and a union catalog of serials. Information products and services are described, fields and formats of the records are explained, data conversion and downloading are discussed, and sample records are appended. (five…

This book is designed to assist the beginning searcher of those online systems that primarily provide information in the form of bibliographic citations. These systems also contain files in other formats that are designed to provide answers to reference-type questions. It is intended not only to provide basic "how-to" information on the…

Describes study conducted with British undergraduate library science students that compared natural language indexing and searching with controlled language searching on a computerized database. The use of the ERIC Thesaurus and Sears List of Subject Headings is explained, recall and precision measures are reported, and further research is…

Compares Wilson's database tape and the IAC "Expanded Academic Index" as explored by librarians in the State University System of Florida. Features addressed include journal coverage; abstracts and full text; subject headings, including consistency versus precision and controlled vocabularies; search software; disk storage requirements;…

Describes a survey of library users at Hofstra University that was conducted to determine how well end-user search services satisfy information needs and the extent to which users apply concepts and techniques emphasized in the training program. The impact of thesaurus use is examined and modifications in training are recommended. (four…

Describes the use of MultiLIS, a fully bilingual integrated library-management software package, at Laurentian University. The authority control module is explained, its potential as a control system for multilingual or multithesaurus controlled vocabularies is considered, and an evaluation of the MultiLIS authority module is presented with…