Reviews template mining research and shows how templates are used in World Wide Web search engines and metasearch engines for helping end-users generate natural language search expressions. Potential areas of application of template mining for extraction of information from digital documents are highlighted, and how such applications are used is…

Describes a system called CINDI (Concordia INdexing and DIscovery System) for cataloging and searching documents in a distributed virtual library. The document author registers metadata in the form of a semantic header that contains information on syntactic and semantic content, and an expert system fills the semantic header according to accepted…

One size does not fit all. For anyone who has ever tried to make something fit (especially when it won't), it's best to realize that the word "all" does not really mean "everyone." The same thing is true for subscription databases. While it might seem that all students in grades K-12 can benefit from the use of the database contents, in reality,…

Formerly the "Directory of ERIC Information Service Providers," this directory lists 1,029 organizations that provide individuals with access to the ERIC database and related resources. It is designed to help users quickly locate organizations that offer ERIC resources and related services within a geographically short distance, and is…

This study examines precision and recall for title and keyword searches performed in the "FirstSearch" WorldCat database when keywords are used with and without adjacency of terms specified. A random sample of 68 titles in economics were searched in the OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) Online Union Catalog in order to obtain their…

Detailed reviews of two legal information databases--"Laborlaw I" and "Legal Resource Index"--are presented in this paper. Each database review begins with a bibliographic entry listing the title; producer; vendor; cost per hour contact time; offline print cost per citation; time period covered; frequency of updates; and size…

In 1988, the Associated College Libraries of Central Pennsylvania received a grant to create a value-added, compact disk, union catalog from the U.S. Department of Education's College Library Technology and Cooperative Grants Program, Title II of the Higher Education Act. Designed to contain, in time, 2,000,830 records from 17 member library…

To identify the procedures for selecting documents for inclusion in the Resources in Education (RIE) portion of the ERIC database, the directors of each of the ERIC system's 16 clearinghouses were contacted and asked the following questions: What is the acceptance rate of unsolicited manuscripts submitted to your clearinghouse for possible…

This discussion of ways in which OCLC can be used by rural libraries to enhance the library services offered to rural Americans suggests that OCLC is a type of technology that can be used to overcome the insufficiency of funds to finance library services. OCLC products and services that are particularly relevant to small, rural public libraries…

Designed to provide students of information science with an introduction to British librarian Samuel Clement Bradford's 1934 findings about the scattering of information, this reader on Bradford's Law begins by discussing its use in calculating search procedures in printed bibliographies as well as in databases. The following additional materials…

Discusses the probabilistic nature of information retrieval, and describes a front end system designed to permit searchers to attach probabilistically interpreted weights to query terms, which could be adapted for conventional information retrieval systems without requiring radical changes in current indexing procedures. (37 references) (CLB)

The 30-year history of the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education is reviewed. The article describes the partnership between the Council for Exceptional Children and ERIC, the broadened scope of ERIC in the 1980s, the Special Project to disseminate research funded by the Office of Special…

Seven core bibliographic database searching competencies for teachers are described and then illustrated in an Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) search. Once the electronic database skills and knowledge are identified and articulated, then means for teaching these competencies can be infused into preservice education. (AEF)

Surveys journalism and mass communication department heads to address questions related to the use of online databases in journalism higher education, database policy, resources used in providing online services, and satisfaction with database service. Reports that electronic information retrieval is just beginning to penetrate journalism at the…

Presents a set-oriented view of information retrieval and defines a precise model to capture this approach. A number of consequences of the model, such as the limitations implied by a finite index vocabulary, are examined, and the various ways in which the set orientation can influence thinking about information retrieval is discussed. (14…