Examines the role of the serials vendor in the collection assessment and evaluation process in academic libraries. Topics discussed include the subscription agency's resources, including databases; issues of quality, accessibility, and manageability; costs, both present and future forecasts; availability, including document delivery; and issues of…

Describes ACTS, an Automated Chinese Text Segmentation prototype for Chinese full text retrieval that applies partial syntactic analysis, (i.e., the analysis of morphemes, words, and phrases) but not complete sentences. Topics include Chinese morphosyntactic categories; word grammar; segmentation; category disambiguation; parsing; and possible…

Describes the overall statistical properties of the citation network in science using a new data representation of the citation links within the ISI (Institute for Scientific Information) database. Longitudinal coupling is introduced, which depends on documents which act both as cited and citing items, and bibliographic and cocitation coupling are…

Reports on the use of an electronic dictionary to research and develop a large-scale language database that will help computers process and understand natural languages, and will greatly contribute to future developments in information science. Also discusses the need for and uses of linguistic and world knowledge databases. (JMV)

Examines legal issues important to the library and information sector of the European Union. Discusses European Commission directives on length of copyright term, software, renting and lending, and database copyright. Reports on the Magill case on copyright in, and abuse of dominant position by, the copyright owners of television listings.…

Data from four states on vocational education outcomes are used to explore three themes: (1) the range of possible research findings is predetermined by the data collected; (2) frequency, duration, and detail of observation should be justified in terms of the decisions affected; and (3) more diagnostics should be undertaken to complement mandated…

Presents the following steps for simplifying students' online information searches: (1) identifying the problem, (2) selecting the appropriate database, (3) brainstorming keywords, (4) searching by subject or keyword, (5) refining the search, and (6) evaluating the search and planning a new strategy. A sidebar provides a search strategy worksheet.…

Describes a procedure for information retrieval testing that is based on the comparison of statistically independent methods of retrieval applied to the same database. The probability ranking principle is discussed, the statistical meaning of relevance is examined, and the methodology is illustrated on a large database of MEDLINE records. (19…

This pathfinder was originally prepared for "Biomedical Research and Animal Rights," a session sponsored by the Veterinary Medical Libraries and Research Libraries Sections of the Medical Library Association. Current resources are described, from bibliographies to electronic bulletin boards, which relate to the issue of laboratory animal…

Discussion of federal information policy focuses on a study that was conducted to identify federal information/locator systems, i.e., databases that identify information resources. The development of a database containing information on the systems is described, and the concept of a governmentwide information inventory/locator system (GIILS) is…

Describes the Human Communication Research Centre Dialogue Database. The database consists of over 700 transcribed and coded dialogues from pairs of speakers aged from 7-14. The speakers are recorded over 2 years while tackling cooperative problem-solving tasks, and the same pairs of speakers are recorded over 2 years tackling 10 different…

Discusses the problems of compressing a large textual database for storage on CD-ROM. A text-compression algorithm is presented, new algorithms for compression of indices are described, and the ARTFL (American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language) database is used as an example. (14 references) (LRW)

Provides an overview of the INTERNET and INTERNET services of interest to libraries, including electronic mail, bulletin boards, electronic publishing, online public access catalogs and databases, and downloaded texts and software. (16 references) (MES)

Discusses the importance of the next article in this issue, which deals with the acceptance of electronic or optical forms of data as evidence during litigation. The collection and storage of data in new formats is described, and the need for technological knowledge for attorneys acting as general counsel to agencies is discussed. (LRW)

Presents guidelines prepared by Department of Justice Management Division staff to provide an understanding of the rules of evidence as they apply to electronically filed records and ensure that appropriate agency procedures are instituted in creating and maintaining such records. Hearsay, authentication, and the laying of a proper foundation are…