Of 25 databases available on both DIALOG and European Space Agency's Information Retrieval Service (ESA/IRS), five are less expensive on DIALOG by three price factors (online connect charges, online displays of citations, offline prints); five are less expensive on ESA/IRS; remaining 15 represent mixed bag (connect charges offset citation…

Outlines major online agricultural information services--agricultural databases, databases with agricultural services, educational databases in agriculture--noting services provided, access to the database, and costs. Benefits of online agricultural database sources (availability of agricultural marketing, weather, commodity prices, management…

The data base coverage of these two services was examined and selected computerized searches performed. The results of this study provided some meaningful conclusions as to the general utility of these services. (3 references) (Author/NH)

The performance of CA Condensates" (CC) and Chemical Titles" (CT) based on analysis of precision and relative recall CT/CC" for 46 search profiles was studied for one year. The results are discussed in terms of the value of the systems as seen from the users' and the documentalist's point of view. (13 references) (Author/NH)

Summarizes responses given by representatives of the four major bibliographic utilities (OCLC, RLIN, UTLAS, WLN) to 26 questions formulated to gather information for special librarians evaluating those utilities. An appendix provides specific data for each system, including address, affiliation, interviewer, and interviewees. (FM)

Methods for retrieval of information on chemical compounds utilizing several computer data bases are compared to determine scope of data base coverage. Preparation of search questions is outlined and comparative results are reported indicating the yield from each data base. (6 references) (Author/NH)

Compares two online information services on basis of target audience, communication services, news and publications, business and financial features, education-related features, online publication and information, personal service features, travel offerings, remote computing services, other facilities, navigating through utility, online storage…

The National Library of Medicine has discarded connect hour-only billing for a more equitable system, which distributes user costs by type and intensity of work performed and data delivered. User data (cost comparisons, interpolated input/output count per connect hours, connect hours per year) were analyzed and further improvements are planned.…

Designed to assist educators in selecting a computer network, this paper contains a listing and description of seven networks that currently exist specifically for educators, and compares the quality of their services in the areas of accessibility, responsiveness, cost, text editing, humanization, guidance and documentation, control, forgiveness…

Evaluated were the role and importance of request-receiver feedback in an information system. Participants were 50 university biological scientists who agreed to place requests for information by telephone with a specially established clearinghouse. One type of receiver was a scientist holding a Ph.D. in biochemistry, with over 20 years biological…

Determined were the functional design requirements of two components of an information system, the request-receiver and request-processor. The participants were 46 university biological scientists in the Washington, D.C. area who agreed to place requests by telephone with a specially established clearinghouse. A trained, experienced biological…

Studies show that the majority of Web searchers enter extremely simple queries, so a reasonable system design approach would be to build search engines to compensate for this user characteristic. One hundred representative queries were selected from the transaction log of a major Web search service. These 100 queries were then modified using the…

Compares the relative costs of online and offline printing of retrieved citations in bibliographic searching. A formula for cost comparison is presented, and some of the advantages of high-speed (120 characters per second) output devices are outlined. (JL)

Describes an experiment which compares two methods of charging users for online searches; first, a time-based charge; and second, a two-part fee determined by connect time and citations printed. The results are analyzed in terms of patterns of user activity under both systems. (CLB)

This paper presents the design of an Internet-enabled search service that supports educational resource discovery within an educational brokerage service. More specifically, it presents the design and implementation of a metadata-driven approach to implementing the distributed search and retrieval of Internet-based educational resources and…