The European Commission is responsible for the development of online information systems and for providing public databases of information on the European Union's activities. Topics include the union's telecommunications policy and role; network facilities; ways to access online services; programs to promote the use of information services; and a…

A study for assessing automatic vocabulary switching from a thesaurus to Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) revealed that a maximum 61%, but a more realistic 41.5%, of the terms could be switched automatically; as long as LCSH is used for subject descriptions in online catalogs, interfaces for vocabulary switching can only be partially…

Describes the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE), a project at the University of Louvain in Belgium that collects written work from, and analyzes the usage of, advanced adult English as a Foreign Language learners. Recurring combinations and concordances in ICLE are examined. (Contains five references.) (MDM)

Discusses use of the MARC format for cataloging Internet resources. The benefits of MARC, importance of integrated information resources, and the guarantee of public access are cited as major reasons for using traditional cataloging and library OPACs. Suggests Internet resource collection criteria and the roles of various groups of people needed…

Considers the future of CD-ROM technology. Highlights include software challenges; interactive CD-ROM, including music and databases; applications on disk; print publishers' interest in CD-ROM; mail order catalogs; hardware needs; CD-ROM drives; and the information superhighway. (LRW)

Describes problems in devising a Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) encoding format for dictionaries. Asserts that the high degree of structuring and compression of information are among the most complex text types treated in the TEI. Concludes that the source of some TEI problems lies in the design of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). (CFR)

Surveys the field and literature of geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial data representation as it relates to GIS. Highlights include GIS terms, data types, and operations; vector representations and raster, or grid, representations; spatial indexing; elevation data representations; large spatial databases; and problem areas and future…

Describes the kinds of online sources to use and processes involved in finding information on emerging markets and new industry trends. Highlights include relevance ranking in DIALOG searches; press releases; news sources; news alert services; market research reports; tracking research in progress; company information; and tracking subsidiaries.…

Describes a database-filtering approach that combines citation, indexing, and productivity analyses as an effective tool for identifying journals that support multidisciplinary research and development, based on a study of biotechnology research and development. Cocitation analysis, including cocitation maps; subject heading profile analysis; and…

Describes an information retrieval system in which advanced natural language processing is used to enhance the effectiveness of term-based document retrieval by preprocessing the documents; discovering interterm dependencies and build a conceptual hierarchy specific to database domain; and processing the user's natural language requests into…

Reports on two studies in the second Text Retrieval Conference (TREC-2) program that investigated the effect on retrieval performance of combination of multiple representations of TREC topics. Six methods of query combinations and the combination of the same queries on different databases are examined. Results show that combining evidence from…

Describes and evaluates a system that selects key information from an event database by reasoning about event frequencies, frequencies of relations between events, and domain-specific importance measures. The system aggregates similar information and plans a summary tailored to a stereotypical user. (AEF)

Presents online search statistics, and reviews databases in the social sciences using the files found in DIALOG. Discusses the value of familiarity with fee-based databases for librarians and social science researchers. Concludes that database information plays a relevant role in research and expands the library resources, especially those without…

Discusses the use of state-of-the-art software tools in teaching a graduate, advanced, relational database design course. Results indicated a positive student response to the prototype of expert systems software and a willingness to utilize this new technology both in their studies and in future work applications. (JKP)

Presents an overview of the 1990 census and its many components, including sources of census data, format availability such as CD-ROM and databases, and ways in which census data are used. The effect of new technology, especially CD-ROM, on users and reference librarians is considered. (Author/LRW)