Search results

The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:

This review reports on the current state and the potential of tools and systems designed to aid online searching, referred to here as online searching aids. Intermediary mechanisms are examined in terms of the two stage model, i.e. end‐user, intermediary, ‘raw database’, and different forms of user — system interaction are discussed. The evolution of the terminology of online searching aids is presented with special emphasis on the expert/non‐expert division. Terms defined include gateways, front‐end systems, intermediary systems and post‐processing. The alternative configurations that such systems can have and the approaches to the design of the user interface are discussed. The review then analyses the functions of online searching aids, i.e. logon procedures, access to hosts, help features, search formulation, query reformulation, database selection, uploading, downloading and post‐processing. Costs are then briefly examined. The review concludes by looking at future trends following recent developments in computer science and elsewhere. Distributed expert based information systems (debis), the standard generalised mark‐up language (SGML), the client‐server model, object‐orientation and parallel processing are expected to influence, if they have not done so already, the design and implementation of future online searching aids.

There is a huge amount of information and data stored in publicly available online databases that consist of large text files accessed by Boolean search techniques. It is widely held that less use is made of these databases than could or should be the case, and that one reason for this is that potential users find it difficult to identify which databases to search, to use the various command languages of the hosts and to construct the Boolean search statements required. This reasoning has stimulated a considerable amount of exploration and development work on the construction of search interfaces, to aid the inexperienced user to gain effective access to these databases. The aim of our paper is to review aspects of the design of such interfaces: to indicate the requirements that must be met if maximum aid is to be offered to the inexperienced searcher; to spell out the knowledge that must be incorporated in an interface if such aid is to be given; to describe some of the solutions that have been implemented in experimental and operational interfaces; and to discuss some of the problems encountered. The paper closes with an extensive bibliography of references relevant to online search aids, going well beyond the items explicitly mentioned in the text. An index to software appears after the bibliography at the end of the paper.

Some bibliometric characteristics of the literature of online information retrieval have been studied. A total of 1051 references in two recent bibliographies were examined. The literature grew rapidly from one paper in 1964 to 185 papers in 1975. The most rapid growth took place between 1970 and 1975. It appears that the annual growth rate has slowed since 1975. Most of the literature appeared as articles in 138 journals. 19 journals contained five or more papers each and contributed 392 papers (38% of the total). Papers on online information retrieval are dispersed in a wide variety of journals, many of them not devoted to library or information science. An unsuccessful attempt was made to apply Bradford's Law to the literature. A total of 1059 authors are cited in this literature. 22 of them contributed six or more papers each for a total of 206 papers (20% of the total). 369 of them published a paper in 1976 or 1977.

Downloading and uploading offer labour‐saving advantages and are now accepted as useful options in online searching. All aspects are here considered, from recent technical advances, applications and legal attitudes. There is also a review of current software for downloading. Recent developments mean a trend to higher internal memory and storage capacity, and greater transmission speeds. Packages now offer access to more than one host, give maximum assistance to the user without being menu‐driven and incorporate the latest developments in artificial intelligence. Disadvantages are in the length of time involved in the process and the fact that the legal issue of copyright has not yet been finalised. Database producers have turned to licensing under contract law, but there is still need to rely on user ethics, and the need for a standard permissions form is highlighted.

During the 1980s online information retrieval became popular in many countries but its use in China was rare. In recent years, however, China has taken a leap forward in the development of online retrieval services.

Search trees are a set of paths with branches or choices that enable a system to carry out the most sensible search approach at each stage of a search. A new design for subject access to online catalogs enlists search trees to identify the characteristics of end‐user queries for subjects, control system responses, and determine appropriate subject‐searching approaches in response to the subject queries users entered. The purpose of this article is to identify characteristics of the most difficult user queries and recommend enhancements to the new subject‐searching design to enable it to produce useful retrievals in response to the wide variety of queries users pose to online catalogs. Online catalogs governed by search trees are more effective than the users themselves in selecting subject‐searching approaches that would produce useful information for the subjects users seek. The enhanced search trees presented and tested in this article enlist subject‐searching approaches that are not typical of the functionality of operational online catalogs. Design and development is required to upgrade existing online catalogs with search trees and new subject‐searching functionality to be successful in responding with useful retrievals to the most difficult user queries.

A bibliometric study of the online retrieval literature, published in 1978, has been updated. The data are based on a recent bibliography containing 3337 references. The literature continued to grow, reaching a peak annual output of 504 papers in 1981. A plateau, predicted in 1978, was not observed. The conference literature, dispersed at the time of the 1978 bibliometric study, has become centralized in four major proceedings: the annual meetings sponsored by Online, Inc., two conferences sponsored by Learned Information, and the annual meeting of the American Society for Information Science. Online retrieval papers have appeared in 479 journals, 47 of which have published five or more papers on the subject. The distribution of papers follows Bradford's Law if conference publications and journals are considered in the total corpus. Thirty‐one authors have contributed ten or more papers.