Reports the results of a study comparing the performance of commercial document suppliers with the performance of traditional interlibrary loan. The discussion covers comparisons of speed, cost, the effect of publication characteristics on speed and cost, and success rates, as well as implications of the findings for interlibrary loan services.…

Discussion of historians as library users divides the historians into four categories: professional historians, student historians, amateur historians, and family historians. Highlights include examples of problems with library services, including misleading library catalogs and inadequate reference service; the reference librarian as guide to…

Describes the results of a three-year study that tracked actual and perceived future use of electronic communication for teaching, research, service, and personal activities by faculty at Eastern Illinois University. Use before and after a local area network (LAN) installation is discussed, and previous research is reviewed. (20 references) (LRW)

Discusses the information database Britannica Online. Topics include compact discs versus online feeds; database delivery via the Internet; use of technology such as hyperlink, graphics, audio, and video; Britannica's search engine architecture; search options; user reactions, and costs. (AEF)

Discusses the relationship between prior computer experiences and the linear or nonlinear steps students choose when working with hypermedia environments and time spent on task (based on a study of graduate students). Experience with content-area software, word processing, databases, spreadsheets, programming, hypermedia, and authoring are…

Describes online information sources for Japanese business, scientific, and technical developments. Highlights include English language materials versus the need for translation from Japanese; government research; scientific and technical information; patent information; corporate financial information; business information from newswires and…

Discussion of relevancy in information retrieval systems focuses on an analysis of the efficiency of various cluster-based retrieval (CBR) strategies. A method for combining CBR and inverted index search is proposed that is cost effective in terms of time efficiency; and results of experiments are reported. (Contains 32 references.) (LRW)

Provides guidelines for producing CD-ROMs. Issues include target platform; disc architecture and formats; data integrity and performance; CD-ROM recording systems; publishing service bureaus; insurance concerns; a step-by-step production strategy; cost comparisons; and spreadsheets for decision support. (AEF)

Describes a student affairs database developed especially for urban institutions of higher education. Such a database enables urban institutions to refer to comparison groups with similar characteristics. Specific examples of data use by chief student affairs officers and others are provided. (SLD)

Develops analytical techniques to determine "borrowability," the ease with which a lexical item or category of lexical items can be borrowed by one language from another. These techniques are then applied to Spanish borrowings in Bolivian Quechua on the basis of a set of bilingual texts. (29 references) (MDM)

Maintains that both traditional and computerized scholars face problems when they attempt empirical research on women writers and women readers using currently available computational tools. Discusses factors that have inhibited empirical research and uses examples from research on 18th century English poetry. (CFR)

Presents and analyzes data from the 1992 AIDSLINE database on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and compares it with data from the 1989 AIDSLINE database regarding the shift in productivity of various journals and the changing frequencies with which Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms were used to provide subject access and control.…

Discusses the publication of short stories and problems of electronic access to them through online databases. Magazines that publish short stories and are indexed in databases are discussed, electronic access to university publications is described, online citations and abstracts are explained, and the future of fiction is considered. (four…

Discussion of CD-ROM as an alternative to online searching for academic libraries focuses on a comparison between online and CD-ROM costs at the University of Natal (South Africa) library. Other factors examined include funding methods; user fees; staff involvement; user training; user access, including search intermediaries and networking; and…

Describes a spreadsheet system that enables students, teachers, and curriculum developers to use Microsoft EXCEL's database and graphics capabilities in the science classroom. System design goals are explained, examples of system applications are given, and possible future developments are discussed. (15 references) (LRW)