Provides overview of design requirements for transparent information retrieval (implies that user sees through complexity of retrieval activities sequence). Highlights include need for transparent systems; history of transparent retrieval research; information retrieval functions (automated converters, routers, selectors, evaluators/analyzers);…

Survey of recent developments in microcomputer technology, mass-storage technology, and telecommunications technology shows how these new technologies are driving the development of a new generation of information systems. Major changes in the information industry precipitated by arrival of new information systems and telecommunication…

Presents a product selection chart for 12 currently available gateways or front-end packages suitable for online searching. Information provided for each package includes producer, cost, type, location, information accessed, equipment required, operating system, and search capabilities. A 94-item bibliography to published literature on these…

Presents data model based on text data model (TDM), universal relation model, and nonfirst normal form (NFNF) relations, and discusses applicability to text processing and document retrieval systems. Highlights include database technology applied to information retrieval, NFNF and universal relation, and TDM integration with NFNF universal…

Presents an approach to using online sources of information for competitor intelligence (i.e., monitoring industry and tracking activities of competitors); identifies principal sources; and suggests some ways of making use of online databases. Types and sources of information and sources and database charts are appended. Eight references are…

Use of online bibliographic databases in Mexico is provided through Servicio de Consulta a Bancos de Informacion, a public service that provides information retrieval, document delivery, translation, technical support, and training services. Technical infrastructure is based on a public packet-switching network and institutional users may receive…

Outlines history of the development of the Unesco Common Communication Format, which is designed to enable exchange of records (monographs, serials, journal articles, contributions in proceedings) between different agencies throughout the world. Highlights include definition of "exchange format," major technical features, and examples of…

An overview of the management and planning issues that confront higher education institutions in the area of telecommunications is provided. The focus is on management issues such as coordination, cost control, functionality, flexibility, and relationship between telecommunications and management information systems. (Author/MLW)

This annual article reviews the progress and pitfalls experienced by the automated library system marketplace during 1985. Marketplace activity is represented by events in four segments: turnkey systems; library-developed software; software designed to run exclusively on microcomputers; and production of computer output microform catalogs. List of…

The development and implementation of an institutional framework to guide the management and use of information technologies (computing, office automation, and telecommunications) at Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta, are described. (Author/MLW)

Discusses number and type of microcomputer software programs useful to libraries and types of hardware on which they run, as identified by Nolan Information Management Services. Highlights include general application programs, applications designed to support library technical processes, producers of library software, and choosing among options.…

Follows development of New England Library Information Network (NELINET) since its 1964 beginning and explores important issues in library network development: economic imperative for cooperative efforts in automation; funding, governance, and organizational structure; and the evolving role of regional networks and their relationship to nationwide…

Discusses results of opinion poll conducted by Library and Information Technology Association of 334 academic, public, government, and corporate libraries concerning authority control in the online environment. Use of authority files on bibliographic utilities, presence of online catalogs, Library of Congress authority records, and comments from…

Five prominent consultants--Richard Boss, Susan Baerg Epstein, Rob McGee, Joseph Matthews, James E. Rush--discuss the most common mistakes vendors make in implementing library automated systems. Suggestions are made for correcting basic problems relating to identification of library needs, communications, delivery dates, inadequate systems, and…

The Hepatitis Knowledge Base (text of prototype information system) was used for modifying and testing "A Navigator of Natural Language Organized (Textual) Data" (ANNOD), a retrieval system which combines probabilistic, linguistic, and empirical means to rank individual paragraphs of full text for similarity to natural language queries…