- Email: [email protected]
Introductory CD ROM searching: The key to effective ondisc searching
of both print and electronic versions. An electronic discussion list called NewJour-L2posts announcements of new electronic journals and newsletters. The NewList? provides announcements of new public mailing lists but is not limited to academic lists and discussion groups. Now, with all this information, how does the librarian decide which, if any, version of the directory to buy (or point to). First, I would strongly recommend that some sort of access to this material be provided to library staff and patrons. Academics, whether faculty, students, or professional librarians, need to be reading electronic journals and participating in, or at least lurking on, discussion lists in their fields of endeavor. That is simply a given. The best way to find these journals, newsletters, and lists is clearly the Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists. Thus, the question becomes
simply one of which version and how best to provide access. My recommendation would be to provide both print and electronic versions, if at all possible. If the library or its parent institution has a Gopher or World Wide Web server, access to the electronic version is as simple as creating a link to it on ARL’s Gopher. This version would then be accessible to anyone with access to either a Gopher client or a Web browser, whether on a personal desktop computer or through a public client on a central campus time-share machine. The library’s reference desk, serials librarians, and technical services staff would also have ready access. If the library doesn’t have access to these Internet tools, the print edition should either be in the serials department or at the reference desk, right next to Ufrich ‘s, and just as readily available. Even if the electronic version is on the library Gopher, it wouldn’t hurt to buy the print edition as well if the budget permits. It is easier to browse a printed book than a computer screen and it can be handed to a patron to take to a table, instead of having the reference desk’s terminal tied up by patrons searching the online directory. The Internet is a growing organism, just like a library, and librarians, especially serialists, need to keep up with its growth. The Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists
is an important tool to help us in this task.
NOTES 1. Point your Gopher at arl.cni.org or find it under Washington, DC, in the menu of all United States Gophers. Choose Association of Research Libraries from the first menu and then ARL Publications.
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TOOJS OF THE SERIALS TRADE -
[email protected], moderated by Ann 2. Okerson. To subscribe send the following message to listserv@e-math. amsorg (substitute your own first and last names): SUBSCRIBE NEWJOUR-L firstname lastname. [email protected]. edu, moderated by Marry Haag. 3. To subscribe send the following message to [email protected] (substitute your own first and last names): SUBSCRIBE NEW-LIST firstname lastname (Directory listing #L1661).
Rioux is acquisitions/systems librarian, MBL/WHOI Library, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
Introductory CD ROM Searchin : The Key to Eflective Ondisc Sear-cfling Carol Bednar
Meloche, Joseph. Introductory CD ROM Searching: The Key to E_tfcective OndiscSearching. New York: The Haworth Press, 1994. $39.95 library binding; $25.95 pa. 205~. ISBN l-56024-412-7; l-56024-413-5 pa. Joseph Meloche provides a useful tool for the novice in Introductory CD ROM Searching: i%e Key to E_fective Ondisc Searching. The book’s purpose is twofold. It provides basic, introductory instruction to the search strategies and logic that are common to all CD-ROM searching, and it serves as a training manual for eight specific CD-ROM products. Part one, “Essentials of Ondisc Searching,” consists of four chapters in textbook format. In chapter one, Meloche explains why the power of ondisc searching comes from the ability to combine search terms. Chapter two discusses basic searching strategies including Boolean logic, truncation operators, controlled vocabulary, and field-specific searching. In chapter three, he describes record structures, then applies field-specific searching technique to the structures. Chapter four gives a brief overview of the microcomputer including concepts such as formatting and copying files to floppy discs. Each of the four chapters concludes with a chapter summary and review questions. The strength of this portion of the book is contained in the description of search strategies and the use of examples and diagrams to demonstrate those strategies. Meloche describes the three basic steps to ondisc searching as creation of the search question, identification of keywords from the search question, and combination of the keywords using appropriate SPRING1995
93
Boolean operators. He offers a concrete example of a search question and uses that question to demonstrate how to determine the keywords and Boolean operators needed to perform a successful search. This is an effective instructional method that should provide clarity to novice searchers. He gives a detailed explanationof Boolean logic and uses Venn diagrams effectively. Underthesectionheading “SearchingTechniques,” Meloche includes instruction on the use of brackets, controlled vocabulary, truncation, proximity operators, stopwords, variant spellings, and field-specific searching. The inclusion of the major topics of fieldspecific searching and controlled vocabulary seems inappropriate here, alongside the secondary topics of variants spellings and proximity operators. Although Meloche addresses field-specific searching in more detail in chapter three, a fuller treatment of the concept of controlled vocabulary is warranted. Also, a discussion of the significance of controlled vocabulary as it relates to the identification of keywords in the search process would have been helpful. The second part of the book consists of eight chapters, each of which describes a specific CD-ROM software product. Included are DIALOG Ondisc, SilverPlatter, Wilsondisc, UMI, Compact Cambridge, AUSTROM (Australian social science and education databases), Grolier Encyclopedia, and two IS1 Citation Indexes, Social Sciences Citation Index and Science Citation Index. Each chapter begins with a list of databases with the shared software. However, as Meloche states, the lists are not comprehensive. The central focus of each chapter is an explanation of the searching mechanism of the software product. While the explanations are fairly detailed, and illustrations and concrete examples of searches are given, the ondisc help files contained within the individual products are generally superior and easier to understand than the presented text. At times, the simple layout of the book makes the examples difficult to interpret. Setting the sample searches apart as separately numbered figures would have added clarity. Chapters in part two con-
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clude with instructions for printing or downloading. Only the chapter on the IS1 Citation Indexes includes a summary. Additional aids to the reader are included in the appendixes. The first appendix is a summary list of major CD-ROMs by subject area including vendor, type of database, time coverage, and update frequency. While the list is far from complete and is not annotated, it will give the novice user an impression of the variety of products available. The second appendix contains a helpful glossary of terms used in the text and a brief bibliography. The book concludes with an index that increases its utility as a reference source. Introductory CD ROM Searching should be a useful tool for several different audiences. High school librarians who are just beginning to utilize CD-ROM technology will find this book helpful both in its explanation of basic search techniques and in its description of specific products. The book should also bring comfort to those academic librarians who find themselves for the first time assuming assignments that require the use of electronic resources. Students in library science or library technician programs will also profit from this book. For the library science student, the book’s descriptions of eight different CD-ROM software programs should be particularly helpful. Few libraries have all of the described systems, so the book should increase the students’ awareness of various systems and allow for comparisons. The applicability of this book to the needs of the library patron is more questionable. Brief guides, on-screen help, and direct assistance from librarians are more likely to meet the typical patron’s needs. Meloche states in the introduction to his book that “the purpose of the book is to show the basic searching strategies and logic that are common to all ondisc searching.” In that, he has been successful. Bednar is government documents coordinator,
UniversityLibrary, CaliforniaStateUniversity, ton, California.
-
Fuller-
TERFSAMALINOWSKI -
simply one of which version and how best to provide access. My recommendation would be to provide both print and electronic versions, if at all possible. If the library or its parent institution has a Gopher or World Wide Web server, access to the electronic version is as simple as creating a link to it on ARL’s Gopher. This version would then be accessible to anyone with access to either a Gopher client or a Web browser, whether on a personal desktop computer or through a public client on a central campus time-share machine. The library’s reference desk, serials librarians, and technical services staff would also have ready access. If the library doesn’t have access to these Internet tools, the print edition should either be in the serials department or at the reference desk, right next to Ufrich ‘s, and just as readily available. Even if the electronic version is on the library Gopher, it wouldn’t hurt to buy the print edition as well if the budget permits. It is easier to browse a printed book than a computer screen and it can be handed to a patron to take to a table, instead of having the reference desk’s terminal tied up by patrons searching the online directory. The Internet is a growing organism, just like a library, and librarians, especially serialists, need to keep up with its growth. The Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists
is an important tool to help us in this task.
NOTES 1. Point your Gopher at arl.cni.org or find it under Washington, DC, in the menu of all United States Gophers. Choose Association of Research Libraries from the first menu and then ARL Publications.
-
TOOJS OF THE SERIALS TRADE -
[email protected], moderated by Ann 2. Okerson. To subscribe send the following message to listserv@e-math. amsorg (substitute your own first and last names): SUBSCRIBE NEWJOUR-L firstname lastname. [email protected]. edu, moderated by Marry Haag. 3. To subscribe send the following message to [email protected] (substitute your own first and last names): SUBSCRIBE NEW-LIST firstname lastname (Directory listing #L1661).
Rioux is acquisitions/systems librarian, MBL/WHOI Library, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
Introductory CD ROM Searchin : The Key to Eflective Ondisc Sear-cfling Carol Bednar
Meloche, Joseph. Introductory CD ROM Searching: The Key to E_tfcective OndiscSearching. New York: The Haworth Press, 1994. $39.95 library binding; $25.95 pa. 205~. ISBN l-56024-412-7; l-56024-413-5 pa. Joseph Meloche provides a useful tool for the novice in Introductory CD ROM Searching: i%e Key to E_fective Ondisc Searching. The book’s purpose is twofold. It provides basic, introductory instruction to the search strategies and logic that are common to all CD-ROM searching, and it serves as a training manual for eight specific CD-ROM products. Part one, “Essentials of Ondisc Searching,” consists of four chapters in textbook format. In chapter one, Meloche explains why the power of ondisc searching comes from the ability to combine search terms. Chapter two discusses basic searching strategies including Boolean logic, truncation operators, controlled vocabulary, and field-specific searching. In chapter three, he describes record structures, then applies field-specific searching technique to the structures. Chapter four gives a brief overview of the microcomputer including concepts such as formatting and copying files to floppy discs. Each of the four chapters concludes with a chapter summary and review questions. The strength of this portion of the book is contained in the description of search strategies and the use of examples and diagrams to demonstrate those strategies. Meloche describes the three basic steps to ondisc searching as creation of the search question, identification of keywords from the search question, and combination of the keywords using appropriate SPRING1995
93
Boolean operators. He offers a concrete example of a search question and uses that question to demonstrate how to determine the keywords and Boolean operators needed to perform a successful search. This is an effective instructional method that should provide clarity to novice searchers. He gives a detailed explanationof Boolean logic and uses Venn diagrams effectively. Underthesectionheading “SearchingTechniques,” Meloche includes instruction on the use of brackets, controlled vocabulary, truncation, proximity operators, stopwords, variant spellings, and field-specific searching. The inclusion of the major topics of fieldspecific searching and controlled vocabulary seems inappropriate here, alongside the secondary topics of variants spellings and proximity operators. Although Meloche addresses field-specific searching in more detail in chapter three, a fuller treatment of the concept of controlled vocabulary is warranted. Also, a discussion of the significance of controlled vocabulary as it relates to the identification of keywords in the search process would have been helpful. The second part of the book consists of eight chapters, each of which describes a specific CD-ROM software product. Included are DIALOG Ondisc, SilverPlatter, Wilsondisc, UMI, Compact Cambridge, AUSTROM (Australian social science and education databases), Grolier Encyclopedia, and two IS1 Citation Indexes, Social Sciences Citation Index and Science Citation Index. Each chapter begins with a list of databases with the shared software. However, as Meloche states, the lists are not comprehensive. The central focus of each chapter is an explanation of the searching mechanism of the software product. While the explanations are fairly detailed, and illustrations and concrete examples of searches are given, the ondisc help files contained within the individual products are generally superior and easier to understand than the presented text. At times, the simple layout of the book makes the examples difficult to interpret. Setting the sample searches apart as separately numbered figures would have added clarity. Chapters in part two con-
94
SERIALSREVIEW
clude with instructions for printing or downloading. Only the chapter on the IS1 Citation Indexes includes a summary. Additional aids to the reader are included in the appendixes. The first appendix is a summary list of major CD-ROMs by subject area including vendor, type of database, time coverage, and update frequency. While the list is far from complete and is not annotated, it will give the novice user an impression of the variety of products available. The second appendix contains a helpful glossary of terms used in the text and a brief bibliography. The book concludes with an index that increases its utility as a reference source. Introductory CD ROM Searching should be a useful tool for several different audiences. High school librarians who are just beginning to utilize CD-ROM technology will find this book helpful both in its explanation of basic search techniques and in its description of specific products. The book should also bring comfort to those academic librarians who find themselves for the first time assuming assignments that require the use of electronic resources. Students in library science or library technician programs will also profit from this book. For the library science student, the book’s descriptions of eight different CD-ROM software programs should be particularly helpful. Few libraries have all of the described systems, so the book should increase the students’ awareness of various systems and allow for comparisons. The applicability of this book to the needs of the library patron is more questionable. Brief guides, on-screen help, and direct assistance from librarians are more likely to meet the typical patron’s needs. Meloche states in the introduction to his book that “the purpose of the book is to show the basic searching strategies and logic that are common to all ondisc searching.” In that, he has been successful. Bednar is government documents coordinator,
UniversityLibrary, CaliforniaStateUniversity, ton, California.
-
Fuller-
TERFSAMALINOWSKI -