This test of the Strategy of Unlimited Aliasing, an indexing method that places terms from several indexers for the same information object in one index, utilized bibliographic records from the ERIC, LISA (Library and Information Science Abstracts), and ISA (Information Science Abstracts) databases. The test did not support the indexing method.…

Describes a study that compared the coverage of the nursing profession, subject heading specificity, and ease of retrieval of the MEDLINE and Nursing & Allied Health (CINAHL) online databases. The strengths and weaknesses of each database are discussed and hints for searching on both databases are provided. (four references) (CLB)

Presents a method for measuring the quality of controlled vocabularies that involves identifying clusters of documents, searching for each document, identifying terms used to index each document, and calculating certain measures to determine indexing quality. The results of a comparison of three library and information science databases using this…

Describes a study that analyzed search results in the medical behavioral sciences to compare the overall performance of descriptor and citation search strategies in identifying relevant and novel documents. The findings are presented in terms of retrieval overlap and novelty percentages, and factors affecting retrieval performance are discussed.…

Discusses previous research that examined the effects of different kinds of vocabulary control on retrieval effectiveness, and describes a study that addressed the effects of indexing depth on standard retrieval evaluation measures in the context of a typical commercial retrieval system. It is concluded that controlled vocabularies affect…

Describes a project that was designed to test the relative efficacy of index terms and full-text for the retrieval of documents in MEDLINE journals. Precision and relevance of citations retrieved from full-text databases versus bibliographic databases is discussed, and the addition of MEDLINE indexing to enhance full-text medical journals is…

Compares free text versus controlled vocabulary searching for information relating to women's issues on the ERIC laserdisk database from Dialog. Topics discussed include terminology and women's studies; Boolean operators; and adequacy of the ERIC thesaurus for searching relevant topics including women's social roles, antiabortion movement, teenage…

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)

Evaluates the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database. Summarizes ERIC's history and organization, and discusses criticisms concerning access, currency, and database content. Reviews role of component clearinghouses, indexing practices, thesaurus structure, international coverage, and comparative studies. Finds ERIC a valuable…

Reports on a study of citation retrieval performance using three Internet-accessible databases and a database composed of six Wilson databases. Variables examined included citation frequency, percentage of unique periodicals cited per search, and relevancy of citations to stated search topic. The implications of the data for database selection are…