Measures extent of coverage of Australian research and journal titles in 34 international databases: 17 in the area of science and technology and 17 in the social science and humanities. A comparison of American and British terms and grammar is included. Illustrative material is provided. (EJS)

This update covers the approximate time period from mid-1980 through late 1981, contains 640 references, and includes books, state of the art reviews, program descriptions, use studies, periodical articles, and the proceedings of four conferences on information retrieval. (Author/JL)

Discusses an "intelligent" videodisc system utilizing a H-P 2000 computer and an optical videodisc for retrieval of images of art slides stored on disc at the University of Iowa. The results of a user survey are discussed, including such concerns as image quality, search time, and programing limitations. (Author/JJD)

Includes articles on the use of online databases for historical research, machine readable data sources for historical research, the librarian-historian interface in reference service, and a sampler of databases for searches in history as well as a selected list of guides to history databases and data archives. (JL)

Presents the results of a study undertaken to determine the bibliographic control requirements of a small- to medium-sized public library as these are expressed through library patrons' telephone and catalog reference. Data are presented in five tables, and a 17-item reference list is included. (Author/JL)

Discusses interviewing techniques in two steps: determining user's knowledge of and expectations for computerized literature searching, including beginning the interview and dealing with misconceptions, and the search strategy. The figure provided illustrates four stages of a thesis proposal and the related literature search purposes as aids in…

Describes a study of the different effects of online bibliographic searching and manual bibliographic searching on research quality and productivity among a group of graduate students assigned the task of compiling bibliographies. The study methodology is outlined, and 12 references and tables summarizing student responses to a questionnaire are…

Suggests improvement to online catalogs based on a 2 1/2 year study of patron search patterns. Preliminary findings indicate significant differences in search strategies and suggest that these strategies and the reasons patrons choose them should be important factors in the design of future online catalogs. Fourteen references are included.…

Presents the background, database, user instructions, design criteria, hardware, and commands of the online catalog system at the University of New Brunswick (Canada) library, as well as self-instructional features of the system. Evaluation of systems use and potential applications are discussed, and sample displays are provided. (RBF)

The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) system, which provides access to a wide variety of information concerned with education, is discussed. The process of acquiring, selecting, retrieving, and disseminating documents is described. (Author/PHR)

Considers several systems automating local departmental-based data facilities. Describes design and implementation of a simple system. Concludes by reflecting on changes needed in the system. (Author/CK)

Describes a Web-based information service, Northern Light, which demonstrates a new paradigm for serving large populations of users and delivering high-quality content on topics both general and narrow. Discusses performance of the search engine, search syntax, Northern Light's special collection, and pricing. (AEF)

Reports on a study of 40 audiotaped reference interactions between librarians and public library users. Data analysis focused on users' problem formulation, librarians' elicitation of information from the user, unsolicited information provided by users and the effect of these factors for the outcome of the interaction. (Author/AEF)

Describes the ViewFinder interface, designed at Indiana University as a client to a database server; it supports querying based on both visual and verbal clues. Presents results of usability analysis performed on ViewFinder with 18 users. High search success rates were achieved through both types of querying means; verbal clues were used more than…

Describes an integrated approach to similarity coefficients that allows multiple index dimensions to be integrated into a single, flexible navigation tool. Categorizes different types of similarity measures by the kinds of index terms they employ and describes the underlying similarity measures. (Author/AEF)