The author believes it would be appropriate to review the current National Technical Information Service (NTIS) pricing policy in terms of its rationale, legality, and the possibility of mitigating or reversing the demonstrated pattern of repeated cost increases. (Author/SJ)

Discusses the components of marketing (i.e., consumer markets, product development, sales, advertising and promotion, packaging, distribution, pricing, and market research), how information products and services relate to those components, and the pricing of products from a bibliographic database. Two figures and a 17-item reference list are…

Profiles 25 database distribution and production companies, all of which responded to a 1997 survey with information on 54 separate online, Web-based, or CD-ROM systems. Highlights increased competition, distribution formats, Web versions versus local area networks, full-text delivery, and pricing policies. Tables present a sampling of customers…

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…

Discusses political questions raised by the existence and growth potential of the online retrieval industry because it is privately owned and profit oriented. The user fee debate, information ownership, danger of manipulation, libraries as marketers, library action, and a library database consortium are highlighted. Seventeen references are cited.…

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…

At the March 7, 1973, Association of Scientific Dissemination of Information Centers meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a panel discussion on cost elements and charge bases in information centers was held. The panel was composed of representatives of seven information centers which process machine-readable bibliographic data bases and provide…

Description of bibliographic databank produced by the H. W. Wilson Company covers databases (bibliographical, directory, forthcoming); the WILSONLINE search system (search statement formulation, identifying search terms, other search features); print options; search management features; performance, documentation, and assistance; costs; and…

Benefits associated with private file services offered by online system hosts in the United States and Europe are outlined, noting currently available services, private file design, file input, costs and charges, service comparisons, security, and videotex services. Three references are included. (EJS)

Discusses the use of computer information retrieval (on-line electronic search methods). Examines advantages and disadvantages of on-line searching versus manual searching. Offers questions to help in the decision to purchase and use on-line searching with students. (MS)

Describes the Kodak Picture Exchange that includes a database of over 200,000 photographic images collected from 28 stock photography companies in the United States that allows the user to search for images by topic. Highlights include installing the software, alternative search strategies, costs, manipulating images, and rules governing the use…

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 experiences, costs, price policy, market, sales promotion and foreign cooperation of a Danish documentation department are described in relation to two data bases. (Author/MM)

Study of the newspapers in the United States that are available online and the populations of the cities where they are published shows that the 24 largest cities are well represented in online newspaper files and that 4 vendors provide access to varying numbers of these newspapers. Availability of newspapers on CD-ROM is also reviewed. (LAE)

Suggests that online searching could ease problems of information access in Trinidad and Tobago and examines benefits of online access to international databases (speed and timeliness, comprehensiveness in retrieval, flexibility in searching, utilization of local collections); costs of online access to international databases; and implications for…