Discusses the special characteristics of personal file management software and compares four microcomputer software packages: Notebook II with Bibliography and Convert, Pro-Cite with Biblio-Links, askSam, and Reference Manager. Each package is evaluated in terms of the user interface, file maintenance, retrieval capabilities, output, and…

Briefly describes some available database design tools and provides a detailed description and evaluation of the ER-Design Package, a sophisticated and comprehensive tool available on microcomputer. Some of the ER-Design functions evaluated include the main design module, diagram generation, conversion to relational schema, normalization of files,…

Describes a study that assessed the availability and use of microcomputer database management interfaces to online public access catalogs. The software capabilities needed to effect such an interface are identified, and available software packages are evaluated by these criteria. A directory of software vendors is provided. (4 notes with…

Presents description of the Generalized Automatic Text Organization and Retrieval system (GATOR), a database system that indexes and retrieves information from machine-readable texts such as interviews and case histories. Qualitative and quantitative analyses are discussed, and integrating GATOR with standard statistical packages is described.…

Describes an information retrieval system developed at Bell Laboratories to create and maintain a variety of different but interrelated databases, and to provide controlled access to these databases. The components discussed include the interfaces, indexing rules, display languages, response time, and updating procedures of the system. (6 notes…