Describes a project that investigated the application and impact of electronic publishing techniques in areas of scientific and technical information in the Federal Republic of Germany. Areas discussed include the state of research, technology, and applications; reactions of publishers and authors; and ways in which databases are actually accessed…

Describes a study that compared the effectiveness of screen designs for system interfaces by tallying keyboarding errors during online searches. The methodology is described as an unobtrusive means for obtaining objective and empirically based data for interface comparisons. A questionnaire used to determine users' reactions to screen designs is…

Description of the use of CD-ROM as an alternative to online searching at the University of Bahrain discusses hardware selection, database selection, CD-ROM operation, and implications for libraries in developing countries. (six references) (MES)

Discusses the use of computers in two college European history seminars. Students were required to perform online database searches to prepare their bibliographies, and to check their writing mechanics using a mainframe computer software package. Concludes that student-generated data searches should be included in required historical methods…

The first of three articles on the design of user interfaces for information retrieval systems discusses the need to examine types of display, prompting, and input as separate entities. The second examines the use of artificial intelligence in creating natural language interfaces, and the third outlines standards for case studies in human computer…

Describes the development and evaluation of a CD-ROM local area network that allows multiple users to access the same CD-ROM disk simultaneously. The discussion covers the planning process, administrative issues, reactions of users and staff, and future issues to be considered in expanding CD-ROM access. (CLB)

Describes a microcomputer-based multimedia system that enables videotape presentations to be created by assembling still or moving data, with sound and in color, from a variety of sources. Source media include Macintosh storage of text and graphics, and various types of videotape and disc players. (18 references) (CLB)

Describes a study in which users of an academic library search service completed online search request forms which asked open, bibliographic, and structural questions. The discussion covers the effect of the type of question asked on the amount of information elicited from users, searcher behavior, and the relevance of search results. (17…

Reviews the literature that examines new capabilities and new problems associated with online catalogs, online searching of bibliographic databases, indexing, full text retrieval, and expert systems. The need for research that focuses on individual needs and that adopts an integrated approach which views indexing and retrieval as interrelated…

Reviews the results of studies that have measured manual and online reference performance in public libraries. Topics discussed include librarian interactions with patrons; characteristics of successful online searches; the recall and precision tradeoff; and the cost effectiveness of online searching. (two references) (CLB)

Considers the relationships between bibliography, library records, and catalogs in light of computer technology. Consequences of electronic publishing for bibliography and catalog design are discussed, and an approach to information retrieval in the future is suggested. (24 references) (MES)

Reviews ConSearch 3.0, a product that provides flexible searching of electronic files, allowing the location of related meanings as well as exact matches. ConSearch 3.0 differs from other file retrieval approaches by relating words in search phrases of questions to the "meaning" of the words, which are stored in a "conceptual…

Describes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lexical Dictionary (NLD), a machine-aided indexing system used online at the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI). The functions of NLD system components are described in detail, and production and quality benefits resulting from machine-aided indexing at CASI are…

Discusses the results of modeling the performance of searching large text databases via various parallel hardware architectures and search algorithms. The performance under load and the cost of each configuration are compared, and a common search workload used in the modeling is described. (Contains 26 references.) (LRW)

Referent structures produced by the instructor, other experts, averaged experts, and the best students were compared with those of 71 college students for their ability to predict examination performance in computer-programming courses and to differentiate among levels of expertise. Differences among expert referents are discussed. (SLD)