Survey to determine impact of online availability on subscriptions to printed publications found 2-5 percent annual attrition in subscriptions to printed publications over past five years is not related solely or primarily to availability of online databases, and evolution of online databases and printed publications as separate entities is…

Reports on a study that examined scope notes added to subject headings in the Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) Online User Manual. Types of messages conveyed by scope notes and word patterns within the notes are identified, and comparisons between the 1982 and 1987 editions of the manual are made. (16 references) (MES)

Discusses the rationale, principles, required tools, advantages, and disadvantages of the Multifile Multidisciplinary (Horizontal) Search approach to searching online databases. It is noted that this approach is characterized by the use of a large number of files spanning a wide variety of disciplines. (12 references) (MES)

Reports on a study designed to ascertain the occurrence of 10 terms from the field of urban planning in 55 databases available on the DIALOG system by searching the terms in the Dialindex file. Total postings and postings in 10 top ranking databases for each term are shown. (eight references) (MES)

This paper discusses examples of searching vocabularies, i.e., lists of terms which have been prepared with the online searcher, rather than the indexer, in mind. These lists are categorized as: enhanced thesauri or subject heading lists, synonym listings, index term listings, and merged vocabularies. Eight references are provided. (EJS)

Discusses strengths of abstracting and indexing services (subject coverage, resolution of language problems, systematic indexing) and summarizes sources, countries of origin, languages, total coverage, and indexing of four scientific and technical services--Biosis, Engineering Information, Inspec, Chemical Abstracts Service. Characteristics of…

Argues that the major forces related to economic factors that effect the future of secondary services are growth of primary literature and expansion of secondary products; migration of use from print products to tape products; new technology and impact on production of products and services; and redefinition of user as end user. (EJS)

Describes the development of a knowledge-based system, REX, that creates subject bibliographies by downloading reference material from an online bibliographic service. The expert systems architecture is explained, use of Prolog is described, and creation of the subject knowledge base and an author index are discussed. (10 references) (LRW)

Traces the evolution of Engineering Information, Inc. (Ei), from beginnings in 1884 to present transition from role of traditional publisher of print-based bibliographic abstracts and indexes to provider of computer-based information products and services. Ei's concept of future as one-stop engineering information supermarket is defined. Ten…

Evaluates database searching and compares results of online and manual literature retrieval conducted in support of environmental research. Discussion covers search topic and construction of online profile, results and costs of online searches, results of manual searching, relevant references missed by online searching, and availability and…