This operating manual was constructed for the first version of the experimental database system SOUCIT, a qualified citation index for educational technology designed by the Computer Services Unit of Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology (RGIT) in association with the Scottish Education Department. The database comprises 45 references generated…

This paper concerns an experiment in teaching a graduate seminar on Information Retrieval using telediscussion techniques. Outstanding persons from Project INTREX, MEDLARS, Chemical Abstracts, the University of Georgia, the SUNY biomedical Network, AEC, NASA, and DDC gave hour-long telelectures. A Conference Telephone Set was used with success.…

Term selection methodology used in the Subject Access Project is outlined in this manual. This project was designed to demonstrate how a card catalog in machine-readable form can be augmented to allow greater subject access to the information content of a library collection. Rules and regulations for selecting words from indexes and contents pages…

The purpose of the study was to determine how many questions judged relevant to an article are also judged relevant using different length representations of the article, and how this proportion changes as the length of the representation changes. Several persons made relevance judgments for each of a set of articles to each of a set of questions.…

This third quarterly report for the period January to March 1977 describes the production schedule, records, and estimated costs and times in creating the Subject Access Project data base. Plans for on-line use of the data base and search strategy design are outlined. A table of specifications for preparing the data base for on-line searching is…

The Subject Access Project second quarterly report for September to December 1976 summarized in-progress work to improve subject access to monographs. Activities include: (1) analysis of book indexes and tables of contents for terms to augment MARC subject description; (2) analysis of additional book sections--e.g., maps, illustrations, charts,…

Costs and cost-related factors connected with providing on-line search services through the public library are examined. The examination was based on preliminary results from an on-going evaluation of an experimental program (DIALIB). In the DIALIB experiment Lockheed's DIALOG search service was available to the public through four public…

A cost analysis was made of on-line bibliographic searching in four public libraries in the San Francisco Bay Area using the Lockheed DIALOG system. The study involved monitoring the time that 35 individuals in the libraries spent processing some 411 search requests. The study identified a set of seven tasks that are performed for each request and…

An attempt is being made to improve subject access to monographs by augmenting MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging) records. Working with a sample of books drawn from the collections of the University of Toronto and comprising a number of subject areas in the humanities and social sciences, the project plans to enlarge the MARC description by using…

This paper reviews the current extent of, research into, and future expectations for the use of online bibliographic retrieval systems by untrained end users rather than by trained search intermediaries. Six sections cover: (1) studies of direct end user searching, done primarily with students or persons in highly technical fields; (2) problems to…

Discusses SOUCIT, a suite of programs designed by the Computer Unit of Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology in association with the Scottish Education Department Qualified Indexing Project to create a database of references to educational technological literature and link them in a meaningful way through qualified citation. The structure of the…

An experimental program placed computer terminals in four San Francisco Bay Area public libraries to be used to provide on-line computer search services to library patrons. The first few months of operation of the experiment showed that there was a significant impact on the participating libraries, on the library patrons, and on the community and…

Describes an eight-week continuing education program which used the Canadian Communications Technology Satellite to provide interactive educational television in the teaching of online computer retrieval techniques to librarians in remote areas. (FM)

TWO PROJECTS ON THE DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, IMPLEMENTATION, AND EVALUATION OF A MAN-MACHINE SYSTEM FOR COUNSELING IN THE PALO ALTO AND LOS ANGELES SCHOOL DISTRICTS ARE REPORTED. THE EARLIER PHILCO 2000 COMPUTER PROGRAMS SIMULATED A COUNSELOR'S WORK IN THE EDUCATIONAL PLANNING INTERVIEW BY ACCEPTING INPUTS SUCH AS SCHOOL GRADES, TEST SCORES, AND…

Findings are reported for a project designed to improve subject access to books by augmenting MARC records with subject descriptions. A BOOKS data base, consisting of humanities and social science monographs, was created and made available for online searching. The availability of suitable information in books to produce augmented subject…