Authors, publishers, libraries, and individual consumers have different, sometimes conflicting, needs for scientific and technical information that are met in varying degrees by different publishing media. A number of print and nonprint formats (full-text journals, synopsis journals, microform, CD-ROM, online, etc.) are compared, and combinations…

Identifies areas of research needs in information science that were compiled from a review of the "Annual Review of Information Science and Technology." Areas highlighted include automated systems, including criteria, standards, evaluation, and legal issues; economics; indexing; information retrieval; and information seeking, including…

Describes the Book House, an interactive, multimedia online public access catalog (OPAC) developed in Denmark that uses icons, text, and animation. An alternative design model that addresses problems in OPACs is described; and database design, system navigation, use for fiction retrieval, and evaluation are discussed. (20 references) (MES)

Describes a study that investigated subject retrieval in a group of humanities databases. Scatter by subject field and type of search term is discussed, the effectiveness of natural language and of controlled vocabulary are compared, and implications for system designers concerned with end-user searches in the humanities are suggested. (37…

Describes research and development of the Mercury Electronic Library Project, which was developed at Carnegie Mellon University Libraries to design an advanced retrieval system. Topics discussed include system architecture; security; performance, including automated and manual assessments; enhanced retrieval, including available databases;…

Describes a project that addressed the problem of courseware reusability by developing a database structure suitable for organizing multimedia learning material in a given content domain. A prototype system that allows browsing a DBLM (Data Base of Learning Material) on earth science is described, and future plans are discussed. (five references)…

Discusses the concept of gatekeepers in the area of information and culture and presents a model for the information-seeking behavior of ethnolinguistic gatekeepers. Highlights include information needs and use models; information inequity in information and retrieval programs; affective and cognitive domains; and research implications for…

Four articles describe the usefulness of the Internet to reference librarians and discuss Internet search tools: "Getting Started on the Net" (Karen R. Diaz); "Gopher Searching Using VERONICA" (Lousie McGillis); "How to Use VERONICA To Find Information on the Internet" (Jackie Mardikian); and "The Internet…

Presents an algorithm that automatically extracts words and phrases containing geographic place names or characteristics from a text document and uses them as input to database functions that use spatial reasoning to approximate statistically the geoposition referenced in the text. Preliminary results and future work are discussed. (28 references)…

Reviews six doctoral dissertations currently in progress or completed during 1993 that may be of interest to those in the school library media field. Topics include technology; information seeking; literacy; the portrayal of African American males in realistic fiction picture books; and the role of youth services librarians. (KRN)

Describes an approximate document ranking process that uses a compact array of in-memory, low-precision approximations for document length. Combined with another rule for reducing the memory required by partial similarity accumulators, the approximation heuristic allows the ranking of large document collections using less than one byte of memory…

A discussion of the use of hypertext for college instruction looks at the potential of hypertext to support active construction of knowledge and outlines hypertext applications as a vehicle for traditional computer-assisted instruction, information retrieval, and creation of intentional learning environments and knowledge construction…

This theme issue discusses the Illinois Library and Information Network (ILLINET). Topics addressed include network components, the interlibrary loan code, the resource sharing union catalog, the OCLC users' group, OCLC's EPIC service, access to indexing services, SILO (Serials of Illinois Libraries Online) members, and excerpts from the…

Maintains that traditional social studies education materials such as textbooks and maps are ineffective when compared with the tools of information technology. Describes the equipment and software necessary to set up online technology for communications and database searching. Includes descriptions of several classroom projects using information…

Describes research that was conducted to determine the search state patterns through which users retrieve information in hypertext systems. Use of the Markov model to describe users' search behavior is discussed, and search patterns of different user groups were studied by comparing transition probability matrices. (Contains 25 references.) (LRW)