Examines uses of standardized general markup language (SGML) in digital libraries to enhance full-text searching and retrieval of documents, improve end-user accessibility to documents, and allow electronic transmittal of documents. Discusses the history and characteristics of SGML, authoring and acquiring SGML materials, searching and retrieving…

Describes a study that investigated search intermediaries' requests for information from patrons during mediated online searching in an academic library. Topics of search intermediaries' elicitations include search terms and strategies, database selection, relevance of retrieved items, patrons' knowledge and previous information seeking, and other…

Explains the history and organization of the U.S. Global Change Research Program. Highlights include participating agencies; data and information management needs, including the Global Change Data and Information System (GCDIS); and four sidebars that discuss GCDIS implementation, prototype projects, the library access, search, and retrieval pilot…

Studied how preexisting beliefs about the transmission of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) interact with repeated reading of a persuasive text to influence the nature of information encoded from the text with 61 undergraduates. Preexisting beliefs appeared to influence retrieval but not encoding processes. (SLD)

Describes evaluation of an automatic query expansion (AQE) facility in the Okapi System, an online library catalog at City University in London (England). Results of transaction log analysis, search replays, questionnaires, and interviews are presented; and findings are discussed which indicate that AQE was beneficial in many searches. (12…

Describes an integrated database developed at Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia) that includes bibliographic records, thesauri, and a union catalog of serials. Information products and services are described, fields and formats of the records are explained, data conversion and downloading are discussed, and sample records are appended. (five…

Describes policies formulated by the Chinese government that use information technology to facilitate the development of scientific and technical information activities. Highlights include online information retrieval; the construction of databases, including Chinese language, numeric, and Chinese trade and technology databases; the development of…

Discusses reference management software that is used for the storage and retrieval of bibliographic and text files on personal computers. Uses in health sciences are reviewed, selection criteria are discussed, needs assessment is described, guidelines for selecting appropriate software are presented, and a list of software products is included.…

Discusses the development of networked information services from a user's perspective. Topics discussed include user education; the issue of access to, versus retrieval of, information; the role of the library, including education and training, bibliographic control, and electronic information services; and training and education for librarians.…

This study examined the experiences of 59 novice end users with a multifile, full-text information retrieval system. A regression model was developed of the relative contributions of computer, system, and subject knowledge to search success as measured by user judgments of the relevance of retrieved documents. Results indicated all three variables…

A study investigated the relationship between the completeness of end users' mental models of an online system and their ability to use the system effectively. Although all of the study subjects were relatively successful, those with more complete mental models tended to have better search results than subjects with incomplete or poor mental…

Describes plans for an investigation of gopher protocol use for browsing and searching for information available via the Internet. Use of classification schemes based on traditional library models will be compared to the use of an existing gopher. Research questions, literature on related issues, construction of the classification schemes, and the…

Discussion of human/system interactions that are fundamental to online searching focuses on studies that examined online searchers' performance on DIALOG when they searched specific users' questions. Cognitive tests that were given to searchers are described; and calculating the odds for relevance, precision, and recall is explained. (four…

Discussion of issues involved in planning a multimedia CD-ROM product explains the selection of authoring tools, the design of a user interface, expert systems, text conversion and capture (including scanning and optical character recognition), and problems associated with image files. The use of audio is also discussed, and a 14-item glossary is…

BUDCAT/MEDIT software mounted on Digital Equipment Corporation VAX equipment at the University of Saskatchewan Library has proven to be effective for rapidly creating a database for the collection of government publications. Simplified records and the ease of using this system have made it possible to create a database with only minimal additional…