This report examines (1) the present state of the art of hardware and software applicable to large-scale conversion, storage, and retrieval of retrospective bibliographic information; (2) the organizational and administrative aspects of the task; (3) costs of hardware, software, and manpower; and (4) possible approaches to the timing and funding…

This instructional manual for the use of vocational educators in Montana describes a continuing enrollment/exit/follow-up computerized survey of vocational education and provides instructions for its implementation. The survey is intended to make available information which will provide insights for evaluating and improving vocational education…

The purpose of this article is to describe a system for protecting the anonymity of subjects in longitudinal research and for maintaining the security of data files. The basic system comes from the American Council on Education Cooperative Institutional Research Program. Data is collected from questionnaires, and converted to magnetic tape.…

The computational complexity of a formal process for the construction of term classes for information retrieval is examined. While the process is proven to be difficult computationally, heuristic methods are applied. Experimental results are obtained to illustrate the maximum possible improvement in system performance of retrieval using the formal…

The Retrospective Conversion (RECON) Working Task Force investigated the problems of converting retrospective catalog records to machine readable form. The major conclusions and recommendations of the Task Force cover five areas: the level of machine-readable records, conversion of other machine-readable data bases, a machine-readable National…

Usable data about human resources in the economy are fundamentally important, but present methods of obtaining, organizing, and using such information are increasingly unsatisfactory. The application of electronic data processing to manpower and social concerns should be improved and increased. This could stimulate closer exchange between…

Social science data, existing in a format that can be manipulated by computing machinery, can be used for many purposes in addition to those for which they were initially collected. Scholars and government planners should hve ready and equal access to such material and these groups will be best served if they are informed regarding the…

Higher education is now and will increasingly be faced with requests for data from a variety of sources to which it is accountable. Such data may ultimately be used in decision-making regarding the appropriation of public and private resources. Comparisons of costs and other measures among institutions will be the byword. Thus it is important that…

The logical structure of the data bank is described from the user's point of view, without reference to machine implementation. The length of files, records, segments, and fields are variable and unlimited; duplication factors are unlimited; sequence of files, records within file, and segments within record are random. All data are subject to…

The Association of Information Dissemination Centers (ASIDIC) formed the Cooperative Data Management Committee to address the problems of information center operators and data base suppliers. The number of operating centers in the U.S. is limited and their future expansion in numbers and in type of services, will depend on the education of users.…

The scheduling process at Bakersfield College (California) is explained in this report. The basic philosophy of the college (existing to teach and serve students) is exemplified in student scheduling and registration. SWITCH (Sectioning with Instructor and Time Choice) is the processing of data by computer. Fundamental SWITCH concepts of student…

A study to provide the National Center for Educational Communication (NCE) with information that could be useful in making the ERIC data base more relevant to the needs of educators and more efficiently usable by them is discussed. Specific purposes of this project were to use an empirical field-survey study as an armature around which to: (1)…

The results of the second 18 months (December 15, 1968-June 30, 1970) of effort toward developing an Information Processing Laboratory for research and education in library science is reported in six volumes. This volume contains: the rationale and description, definitions, index and coding key, retrieval procedures, and examples. This manual is…

The results of the second 18 months (December 15, 1968 - June 30, 1970) of effort toward developing an Information Processing Laboratory for research and education in library science is reported in six volumes. This volume contains two parts. Part I includes: a user's guide - a guide to writing programs to TMS (Terminal Moniter System) for…

The purpose of this Guide is to help those receiving data and data products from the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) to make better use of the material obtained. In addition, it should help data requesters to intelligently formulate inquiries based on a knowledge of the capabilities (and limitations) of the data base. Chapter I of the…