Search results

The purposes of this study were to measure the relevance status of Index Islamicus, evaluate the semantic correlation between a query and documents and inquire the basis of its rank. Sorting the retrieved results from the most relevant to the least relevant is the common option of an information retrieval system. This sorting mechanism or relevance judgment is computed by measuring closeness of query with its documents.

Forming up 100 queries on Islamic History and Civilizations, with two indexing elements (keyword and concept), a laboratory experiment was generated on its first ten items of the rank. Throughout an experimental research design, the relevance status value formula was used to measure system-computed rank and compare it with mean average precision.

The results showed that the average status value of Index Islamicus’s ranking on relevance criterion was 18 per cent effective in terms of retrieving precise documents. Despite the main focus of this study being only on one subject domain and the items calculated were only 1,000, this small percentage of its ranking mechanism proved that semantic correlations between queries with subject domain did not achieve the satisfactory level.

Implication of this study could be a guideline for further research on ranking mechanism of other search engines because the limitation of this study was Index Islamicus being the only database, which was the focus of this study.

Throughout this study, Index Islamicus would be benefited knowing the status of its ranking mechanism as well as other databases can make further research on their own ranking method following this study.

Researchers and vendors of online databases can ensure their users a true platform of search engine with a proper ranking list.

Relevance status value model for Index Islamicus on Islamic History and Civilization that allows the system to rank documents according to the match between document and query and gives the idea of a better index. The model improves the system’s ranking mechanism, and promotes the use of semantic relationships. This research promotes the computation of relevance status value by domain for capturing subject-specific relevance criteria and semantic relationships.

Euro CD‐Book. Purchasers and other business professionals can see what manufacturers across thirteen European countries have to offer thanks to Euro CD‐Book, launched in the UK in May. The CD‐ROM is a comprehensive guide to 150,000 suppliers for purchasing and business professionals, produced by a joint venture between Miller Freeman Information Services (MFIS), the UK business division of Miller Freeman, and German business information provider Wer Liefert Was? (WLW). The user‐friendly indexing system, which categorizes suppliers by specific product and service headings makes it easy to spot businesses across the 13 countries listed — from France and Germany to Croatia and the Czech Republic.

When I began as column editor for “Reference Serials” I experienced an immediate need for a cumulative index to titles reviewed in this column over the years. An expeditious solution to the question of whether a particular title had been reviewed previously in RSR was a search of Book Review Index on DIALOG. In the process of this searching, I discovered that BRI's indexing of RSR was more complete than RSR's self indexing and, of course, BRI's indexing online is cumulative while RSR has no cumulative indexes. Both index options had an additional problem: each included references to all the titles mentioned in the various columns of RSR regardless of whether the reference was actually to an extensive review or simply to an unannotated listing of the title.

This is the twelfth article on social science, humanities, news, and general databases in a continuing series of articles summarizing and commenting on new database products. Two companion articles, one covering science, technology, and, medicine (STM) appeared in Online & CD‐ROM Review vol. 22, no. 4 and the other covering business and law (BSL) will appear in Online & CD‐ROM Review vol. 22, no. 6. The articles are based on the newly appearing database products in the Gale Directory of Dafabases. The Gale Directory of Databases (GDD) was created in January 1993 by merging Computer‐Readable Databases: A Directory and Data Sourcebook (CRD) together with the Directory of Online Databases (DOD) and the Directory of Portable Databases (DPD).

The purpose of this paper is to give a starting point to non‐specialists to understand Sufism by introducing the essential works about this broad subject.

The paper identifies and lists bibliographies, indexes, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks about Sufism.

Interest in Sufism is growing, and references to books, articles, essays, and even theses and dissertations under the subject headings Sufism and Sufis are now considerable. Resources are scattered, posing challenges to students and scholars, as well as librarians. Additionally, there is a deficiency of specialized databases, bibliographies, and indexes related to Sufism.

To date, this is the only guide of this kind.