Methods of obtaining information which were developed by the Prussian General Staff (military) could be adapted to reference interviews. (JAB)

A comparative study of the cost effectiveness of retrospective manual and on-line bibliographic searching is described. Individual task times for question analysis, searching, photocopying, shelving and output distribution were measured, and component costs for labor, information, reproduction, physical space and telecommunications calculated. The…

The user's judgment of the relevance of output from an information system may or may not be appropriate reference points for the evaluation of systems. A more penetrating understanding of the information transfer process is needed to elucidate the problems of developing information systems to support the new intellectual technology. (Author/MBR)

A method of preparing computerized subject and author indexes for research and development laboratory notebooks is described. Wiswesser Line Notation is used as the subject entry capable of listing specifically and unambiguously the compounds described in the notebooks. (Author)

Survey results are reported for foreign readers of Online regarding their average on-line expenditures, budgets, anticipated 1978 budget changes, and salaries of information managers as well as beginning and experienced searchers. Data are arranged in tabular form by country and type of library. (JPF)

The problems most frequently encountered in subject searching of the NY Times Information Bank are currency, multiconcept terms, generic descriptors, and verbosity. Vocabulary modifications are proposed and suggestions offered to help searchers overcome these problems and reduce their online connect time. These suggestions decreased the New York…

An overview is provided of a computer based reference course at the State University of New York at Albany which uses the ERIC file on BRS to teach online searching techniques. Course highlights include question negotiation, Venn diagramming, explanation of STAIRS file structure and Boolean logic, and management of services. (J PF)

Explains a technique whereby a large data base may be automatically classified into maximally connected clusters called cliques. The data base used is a section of United States patents. (Author/ MBR)

Describes an efficient, manual method for organizing reaction engineering problems, based upon retrieving information by the key concept method. (MLH)

Using computerized mailing labels is an innovative method for counselors to obtain career information at low cost. (Author)

Describes the role of the clinical librarian in establishing information flow within clinical teams at teaching hospitals. (KP)

Data bases in the social sciences are briefly surveyed with emphasis on content, coverage, and currency. Coverage of certain topics are quantitatively compared among several social science and more general files. Techniques for on line thesaurus utilization and a systematic application of the same search strategies across multiple files are…

Describes the general methodology of time and motion studies and reports the results of a study which used this methodology to compare digitization of images in a microcomputer environment with storage of images on microforms. (CLB)

Reviews two studies that explored people's expectations for success and how it affected searching in information sources. An earlier study, using pencil and paper format, was updated to use a computer-interactive format. A review of the studies in light of confidence assessment provides suggestions for designing computerized database interfaces.…

Describes the simulation of a nearest neighbor searching algorithm for document retrieval using a pool of microprocessors. Three techniques are described which allow parallel searching of a binary search tree as well as a PASCAL-based system, PASSIM, which can simulate these techniques. Fifty-six references are provided. (Author/LRW)