Data-base and online system usage in a for-profit general research environment*

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Basch, Reva

Affiliations: Information on Demand, P.O. Box 9550, Berkeley, CA 94709, USA

Note: [*] Paper prepared for presentation at the Fall Meeting of the Association of Information and Dissemination Centers (ASIDIC) in Boston on 30 September 1985.

Abstract: Information on Demand differs from most users of commercial data bases in that it accesses an almost unlimited array of subject disciplines and more than a dozen online systems. With a cost-conscious clientele that must sometimes be educated in the application of literature search results, IOD researchers determine data-base usage by such criteria as accuracy and depth of indexing, presence and quality of abstracts, and online availability of full-text records. Online vendors are selected on the basis of familiarity with language and protocol, unique files or system capabilities. cost, and ease of access. Relative strengths and weaknesses of particular systems and data bases are noted. Suggestions for improvement include better documentation and customer service support, improved online accounting functions, consistent labeling conventions, the ability to eliminate duplicate records in cross-database searching, and the development of a common command language or a software package to allow multi-system searching with a single set of commands.

DOI: 10.3233/ISU-1985-5603

Journal: Information Services & Use, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 305-311, 1985