bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On‐line logging in of periodicals by CODEN using interactive query report processor
Authors: Allen Albert H. , Beirne Eugene F.
Published: June 2007

Journal Log In is a computer on‐line system for checking in periodicals. Input is fast and several options are offered for output. Used in conjunction with an IBM system called IQRP (Interactive Query Report Processing), it permits a serials librarian to use shortened commands coupled with a CODEN for ease in logging in periodicals.

The greatest benefit of this system has been its ability to perform an on‐line search for delinquent journals. The result is a claims list that can be sent immediately to a subscription agency or a publisher. Other reports that are generated are a daily status report of all the periodicals for the current year, annual bindery lists, order lists for the subscription agency, and a CODEN list with matching titles.
Machine indexing: Linguistic and semiotic implications
Authors: Artandi Susan
Published: June 2007

The implications of some major linguistic and semiotic concepts for the machine manipulation of natural language text are examined. It is proposed that the study of meaning should contribute to the development of sophisticated algorithms for machine indexing.
Classification from PRECIS: Some possibilities
Authors: Richmond Phyllis A.
Published: June 2007

The PREserved Context Index System (PRECIS) developed for subject indexing for the British National Bibliography is discussed as a basis for various studies relating to classification which could be made from its initial phrases, strings, entries and back‐up structure. Specific possibilities include use of methodologies such as Goffman's “indirect method,” Fox's “characterization” of rules, derivation of empirical hyperbolic distributions, and lognormal distributions. The relationship of existing methods of subject analysis to each other through PRECIS is explored. Brief samples are included.
Availability analysis
Authors: Kantor Paul B.
Published: June 2007

A recently proposed technique for determining the availability of items in a circulating collection is expanded and applied. We present a discussion of the theoretical justification and a careful analysis of the sources of error and the reliability of the results. We report the results of a new longitudinal study using this technique and apply it retrospectively to a number of previous studies to which it is applicable. The resulting data indicate certain striking regularities in the performance of large university libraries, as well as significant differences.

The implications of this tool, both for management and for the scientific analysis of various aspects of library performance, are discussed.
An n‐dimensional retrieval model
Authors: Cleveland Donald B.
Published: June 2007

This paper reports a technique which expands W. Goffman's Indirect Method search strategy by using means other than index terms to reflect document content. The four basic measures of document relatedness were: (1) Index terms, (2) Journals in which the documents appeared, (3) Closeness of the authors of the documents and (4) Closeness of citations. In the experiment a distance function between documents is defined, based on the properties of the documents themselves. The proximity between pairs of documents is then determined by calculating the Euclidean distance.

Based on the results of this experiment, authors or authors with journals are the best measures of document relatedness. This aspect should be explored further.
A national standard for bibliographic references
Authors: Mount Ellis
Published: June 2007

Bibliographic references to a wide variety of informational materials can be prepared by using the examples presented in this abbreviated version of the forthcoming American National Standard for Bibliographic References. Types of materials described are journals, monographs, patents, conference proceedings, reports, legal materials, newspapers, trade catalogs, letters, manuscripts, dissertations, maps, music (printed), sound recordings, motion pictures, audiovisual materials, video‐recordings, art works, computer programs, and data files.
Nephis: A nested‐phrase indexing system
Authors: Craven Timothy C.
Published: June 2007

NEPHIS is a system of computer‐aided permuted subject indexing designed to be an easy as possible for the indexer, for the programmer, and for the user of the index. The indexer needs to learn only four commands in order to be able to construct any input string. Yet the permutations produced are elegant and browsable, while providing a complete description of even quite complicated subjects. The program is cheap to run, requiring only an input file and an output file and 1K of core.
Factors affecting subject catalog search success
Authors: Bates Marcia J.
Published: June 2007

The study examined the effects of two variables on success in searching an academic library subject catalog that uses Library of Congress subject headings. The vari‐ables were “subject familiarity,” and “catalog familiar‐ity,” representing patron knowledge of a subject field and of the principles of the subject heading system, re‐spectively. Testing was done in a laboratory setting which reproduced a real search situation. The n varied with the particular test, but about 20 university students in each of the following majors participated: psychology, economics, librarianship. Success was measured as degree of match between search term and term used by the library for desired books on the subject. Catalog familiarity was found to have a very signifi‐cant beneficial effect on search matching success, and subject familiarity a slight, but not significant, detri‐mental effect. An interview substudy of subject experts suggested causes for the failure of subject expertise to help in catalog search term formulation.

Surprising results were that overall matching success was strikingly low. Since the methodology used enabled a more precise determination of match success than has been typical of catalog use studies, it appears that people may be less successful than we have thought in using subject catalogs.
Future library network automation
Authors: Cooke Michael
Published: June 2007

This article suggests possible new directions towards solving some of the problems which detract from the current computerized cooperative library networks. The author deals with three main problems: varying levels of bibliographic needs; lack of integration of all library technical processing in automated systems; existing computer network architecture bottlenecks and costs. The ideas presented use distributed data and distributed computing to support the network and introduce a tiered system of bibliographic activity to optimize the benefits of cooperation.
Single‐pass method for determining the semantic relationships between terms
Authors: Yu Clement T. , Raghavan Vijay V.
Published: June 2007

A fast single‐pass method for the automatic determination of the semantic relationships between terms is presented. The computing time required for the method is small enough for it to be feasible in a practical environment. The experimental results obtained indicate that the method is effective in the assessment of the relationships between terms. The improvement achieved in retrieval performance over simple keyword matching is quite significant.
Catalog information and text as indicators of relevance
Authors: Marcus Richard S. , Kugel Peter , Benenfeld Alan R.
Published: June 2007

The indicativity of a type of catalog information (or catalog field) is intended as a measure of how well the information in the field conveys the contents of the document it represents. In the experiments reported here, indicativity is measured for several catalog fields by comparing users' evaluations of the relevance of documents on the basis of the information in a given field with their judgments on the basis of full text. A small but statistically significant increase in indicativity is found as the length of a catalog field (as measured by the number of different content‐word stems) is increased. The title field is found to have an indicativity of 0.64; matching subjects, 0.67; subjects, 0.70; abstract, 0.73. Despite the relatively small gain in indicativity for the longer fields, users value the longer fields highly for determining relevance if one judges by the amount of time they spend on them. Support for the hypothesis that the indicativity measure does not fully reflect the value of the fields is developed. Thus, the question of the cost effectiveness of the longer fields is unresolved. Other aspects of catalog field utility studied under the Project Intrex equipments are also reported.
Evaluation of information retrieval systems: A decision theory approach
Authors: Kraft Donald H. , Bookstein Abraham
Published: June 2007

The Swets model of information retrieval, based on a decision theory approach, is discussed, with the overall performance measure being the crucial element reexamined in this paper. The Neyman‐Pearson criterion from statistical decision theory, and based on likelihood ratios, is used to determine an optimal range of Z, the variable assigned to each document by the retrieval system in an attempt to discriminate between relevant and nonrelevant documents. This criterion is shown to be directly related to both precision and recall, and is equivalent to the maximization of the expected value of the retrieval decision for a specific query and a given document under certain conditions. Thus, a compromise can be reached between those who advocate precision as a measure, due partially to its ability to be easily measurable empirically, and those who advocate consideration of recall. Several cases of the normal and Poisson distributions for the variable Z are discussed in terms of their implications for the Neyman‐Pearson decision rule. It is seen that when the variances are unequal, the Swets rule of retrieving a document if its Z value is large enough is not optimal. Finally, the situation of precision and recall not being inversely related is shown to be possible under certain conditions. Thus, this paper attempts to extend the understanding of the theoretical foundations of the decision theory approach to information retrieval.
Evaluating scientific journals with Journal Citation Reports — a case study in acoustics
Authors: Cawkell A. E.
Published: June 2007

The new edition of Journal Citation Reports (JCR), based on a complete year of 1974 data, extends the scope of the preliminary edition which was based on one quarter year of 1969 data. It is published as a bound companion volume to the 1975 Science Citation Index (SCI) and lists 1974 citing journals and the earlier journals cited by them. Some 2,400 1974 citing journals are covered and these journals contained about 4.2 million references to earlier journal items. For each journal JCR shows the total number of citations received by 1972 and 1973 volumes, and by all years. It also shows the number of articles published in the cited journal in 1972 and 1973‐that is the articles available for citing in those years. From this data the impact factor is calculated—the average number of 1972/1973 citations received by each 1972/1973 article. This discounts the effect of size (larger journals receive more citations). JCR also shows the number of articles published in each cited journal during 1974, and the number of 1974 citations to them from all other journals. The immediacy index is the average number of times each 1974 article was cited in 1974. Finally JCR shows, for each journal, the journals which cite it most heavily, and the journals which it cites most heavily.
Bradford's distribution: A new formulation
Authors: Praunlich Peter , Kroll Michael
Published: June 2007

Recent mathematical descriptions of Bradford's distribution are examined and a new formulation presented that provides a more accurate estimation of the total number of papers and sources on a given scientific subject. The deviation from linearity at the end of the distribution is shown to be an instrinsic feature.
Cost‐effectiveness comparison of manual and on‐line retrospective bibliographic searching
Authors: Elchesen Dennis R.
Published: June 2007

A study to compare the cost effectiveness of retrospective manual and on‐line bibliographic searching is described. Forty search queries were processed against seven abstracting‐indexing publications and the corresponding SDC/ORBIT data bases. Equivalent periods of coverage and searcher skill levels were used for both search modes. Separate task times were measured for question analysis, searching, photocopying, shelving, and output distribution. Component costs were calculated for labor, information, reproduction, equipment, physical space, and telecommunications. Results indicate that on‐line searching is generally faster, less costly, and more effective than manual searching. However, for certain query/information‐source combinations, manual searching may offer some advantages in precision and turn‐around time. The results of a number of related studies are reviewed.
Automatic indexing of pathology data
Authors: Dunham George S. , Pacak Milos G. , Pratt Arnold W.
Published: June 2007

A procedure for automated indexing of pathology diagnostic reports at the National Institutes of Health is described. Diagnostic statements in medical English are encoded by computer into the Systematized Nomenclature of Pathology (SNOP). SNOP is a structured indexing language constructed by pathologists for manual indexing. It is of interest that effective automatic encoding can be based upon an existing vocabulary and code designed for manual methods. Morphosyntactic analysis, a simple syntax analysis, matching of dictionary entries consisting of several words, and synonym substitutions are techniques utilized.
Ad hoc and selective translations of scientific and technical journal articles: Their characteristics and possible predictability
Authors: Anderson James D.
Published: June 2007

Translation is identified as the most widely used method for overcoming the foreign language barrier. After defining the varieties of translation, a study of ad hoc and selective translations of scientific and technical journal articles is described. On the basis of two random samples, one of translated and one of untranslated foreign language articles, the differences between translated and untranslated articles, with respect to original language, subject, number of references, number of authors, and frequency with which their authors are cited in other works, are presented and discussed. Finally, the possibility of using the differences between translated and untranslated articles for predicting the future need for ad hoc or selective translations is explored.
Variation of the nature of citation measures with journals and scientific specialties
Authors: Murugesan Poovanalingam , Moravcsik Michael J.
Published: June 2007

The classification of scientific citations according to their quality and function, established in a previous paper, is strengthened by tests of its reproducibility and universality. The method is then applied to articles in various specialties of theoretical physics published in various journals, and conclusions are drawn about differences by specialty and by geographical areas. Specifically, it is shown for the sample investigated (a) that the number of papers referred to per article is much lower for Soviet journals than for European, US, or Japanese journals; (b) that this number is much lower for solid state physics than for high energy or nuclear physics; (c) that US journals have a higher percentage of conceptual citations, and a much higher percentage of organic citations than Soviet journals; (d) that the Soviet Journal of Nuclear Physics has citation patterns markedly different than the other two Soviet journals investigated and is rather similar to that of the US journals; (e) that high energy physics shows a significantly higher percentage of organic citations and a somewhat higher percentage of evolutionary citations than either nuclear physics or solid state physics. Some speculations are presented to “explain” these effects.
Discipline impact factors: A method for determining core journal lists
Authors: Hirst Graeme
Published: June 2007

A method of determining core journals for a discipline, using data from the Journal Citation Reports to generate discipline impact factors, is described.
Redesigning library jobs
Authors: Shaughnessy Thomas W.
Published: June 2007

Rapid technological change is examined from the viewpoint of its impact on library jobs. The article explains from an historical perspective how new technologies have, in many cases, absorbed routine work, and have the potential to make jobs much more challenging. Management must respond to these changes, however, by redesigning jobs to accommodate both technological innovation and human values. Specific steps in the job redesign process are described.
OR NOT: The unused operator
Authors: Martiner Clara , Zarember Irving
Published: June 2007

The rarely used combination of Boolean operators OR NOT can improve computer search strategies. It can increase retrieval with relatively little increase in noise.
Opinion paper: Science, shcharansky, and the soviets
Authors: Minker Jack
Published: June 2007

It is argued that scientists and scientific organizations have an obligation to speak out in defense of human rights of scientists. The sentencing of Anatoly Shcharansky by the Soviet Union to thirteen years imprisonment is cited as a case in point. Because it is questionable that the Soviet Union upholds international scientific standards it is urged that either scientific conferences not be held in the Soviet Union, or that the organizing committee and attendees be vigilant in assuring free and open conferences. Finally, it is questioned as to whether or not it is advisable to cooperate in official scientific exchanges with the Soviet Union in view of their repressive acts against scientists.
The application of multiple‐criteria utility theory to the evaluation of information systems
Authors: Herner Saul , Snapper Kurt J.
Published: June 2007

The use of multiple‐criteria theory, a means of measuring degree of satisfaction of predetermined evaluative criteria, quantifying their relative importance, identifying trade offs among them, and determining the best tradeoffs, is proposed for the evaluation of information systems. Use of the proposed method is demonstrated via the evaluation of a hypothetical selective dissemination of information (SDI) system. The illustrative evaluation involves (1) selection of two sets of typically antithetic criteria: efficiency (the inner workings of the system) and effectiveness (its impact on its users); (2) ranking and scoring each criterion in the two sets; (3) selection of alternative configurations of the system under study; (4) scoring the specimen and the alternative systems in terms of the rated efficiency and effectiveness criteria; and (5) identifying the system that scores the highest. The comparative scores for the systems are determined by Ui = [(W′) (Si′) + (W″) (S″i)], where S″i and S′i denote the efficiency and effectiveness scores of the ith alternative, and W′ and W′ are weighting constants that reflect the computed relative importance of efficiency and effectiveness.
Designing a multilingual terminology bank for united states translators
Authors: Morton Sara E.
Published: June 2007

A multilingual terminology bank consists of a data base of multilingual terminology and various programs to access it. The bank acts as a computerized dictionary, accessible to translators either on‐line or through hard‐copy printouts. Retrieved information consists of a record containing a term, its equivalents in other languages, and descriptive information which includes usage samples, synonyms, definitions, and grammatical information. Banks currently operate in Canada and Europe where they have proved extremely useful to translators. A terminology bank for the United States is being designed at Carnegie‐Mellon University, in a project undertaken jointly by the Translation Center and the Department of Computer Science. Surveys, interviews, and reviews of the literature have been used to design a bank suitable for a small, relatively impoverished sponsoring institution. The bank is to serve technical translators either on‐line or off‐line, with a data base consisting of records of English, German, French, Spanish, or Russian terms used in business or engineering. The bank will begin operation with procedures only to enter and retrieve terms; later, more complex facilities will be added.
Can retrieval of information from citation indexes be simplified? Multiple mention of a reference as a characteristic of the link between cited and citing article
Authors: Herlach Gertrud
Published: June 2007

The hypothesis is tested and accepted that the mechanistically identifiable citation link characteristic, mention of a given reference more than once within the same research paper, indicates a close and useful relationship of a citing to a given cited paper. Closeness and usefulness of the relationship between papers linked by citation were determined by means of users' judgments. It is shown that as a selection criterion for document retrieval, multiple mention of a reference would yield good precision but low recall, since a considerable number of papers with corresponding single mention were judged closely related to the given cited paper. Frequency counts showed that approximately one‐third of all bibliographic references in the research papers checked are mentioned in the text more than once.
Academic librarians' jobtype and contact with information sources
Authors: McClure Charles R.
Published: June 2007

The jobtype of an academic librarian appears to be an important determinant as to his/her corresponding contacts with various types of information sources. Administrators contact substantially more information sources than do public service librarians, who, in turn, contact more information sources than technical service librarians. Contacts with information sources may be a useful means to describe the nature of an employee's position not only in terms of routineness, but other organizational characteristics as well.
Simulating circulation‐use characteristic curves using circulation data
Authors: Trueswell Richard W. , Turner Stephen J.
Published: June 2007

The statistics of time since the last due date for books in a library collection can be analyzed using the last‐circulation method. The method works toward identifying those books in a library's stack collection that determine any given percentage of the current circulation. The application of the method traditionally requires a random sample from the stack collection but this requirement can be eliminated whenever records on circulation volume are available. The effectiveness of the method is improved significantly by consideration of the number of books in the stacks that have been acquired but not circulated. A theoretical foundation is provided showing the basic components and requirements, of the more efficient technique. This theory is then applied in an example that manipulates data collected from a university library.
Assessing the effect of computer augmentation on staff productivity
Authors: Bamford Harold E.
Published: June 2007

Computers are being used increasingly to augment the information processing abilities of staff. Yet evidence of resulting increases in staff productivity has been lacking. An operational trial of computer augmentation by a National Science Foundation program office provided an assessment opportunity. For repeated work samples, participating staff members estimated the times they spent at various activities, the times they would have had to spend to produce equivalent output without augmentation, and the times they would not have spent had augmentation not been provided. On the basis of the resulting data it could be concluded that if augmentation had not been provided during the assessment periods approximately 19% of the program officers' output and 25% of the secretary's output would have been lost. Augmentation had resulted in productivity increases of 22% for the program officers and 33% for the secretary. Generalization of these results is limited by the work sampling and measurement procedures of the study. An experimental design by which the limitations can be overcome is suggested.
The library of congress: A proposed role in a national information and referral network
Authors: Donohue Joseph C.
Published: June 2007

Information and referral (I&R) services provide needed communication between citizens and agencies that serve them. There is need for coordination of general and specialized I&R services into a national network to improve effectiveness and economy, as recommended by a recent report of the U.S. Comptroller General. The Library of Congress should coordinate the federal resources being spent for I&R, in much the same way as it does library services to the physically handicapped. Placement of this function in the legislative branch could assure greater continuity of support and responsiveness to the citizen and in turn could provide a stronger bond between legislators and their constituencies.
Depth of indexing
Authors: Maron M. E.
Published: June 2007

For many years it has been believed that in order to design optimal document retrieval systems one must assign index terms to documents at their optimal depth; therefore, it was of primary importance to answer the following question: “What is the optimal depth of indexing?” This article offers an analysis and answer to this question. We show that the issue of depth of indexing is, in fact, not a central issue in the design of effective document retrieval systems. It turns out that the answer to the question about optimal depth is a logical consequence of answers (which this article provides) to more fundamental questions about indexing and retrieval.
A test of significance for the whitworth distribution
Authors: Geller Nancy L.
Published: June 2007

A hypothesis test of whether a sample follows the Whit‐worth distribution is described and applied to an example. Its advantages and limitations are also discussed.
Utilizing library constituents' perceived needs in allocating journal costs
Authors: Warner Edward S. , Anker Anita L.
Published: June 2007

The utilization of constituents' perceived needs for titles as a means of ascribing scholarly journal collection support and costs to academic programs is advocated as more meaningful than the tradition of utilizing the classification of titles.
Deficiencies of scientific information access and output in less developed countries
Authors: Gordon Michael D.
Published: June 2007

The problems of scientists working in “less developed countries” (LDCs) have recently attracted considerable attention, as has their low level of scientific output This article presents an examination of the editorial evaluation of papers which LDC authors are able to produce, in an attempt to illuminate their problems through analysis of their output. LDC authors are shown to experience far higher rejection rates than authors in developed countries (57% vs. 17%) and to be faulted on specific points which tend to indicate that their major problems are those of maintaining current awareness. It is thus indicated that the problems LDC researchers experience in accessing scientific information are a major factor in inhibiting the quality and quantity of their own scientific information output.
To protest or to ignore? a scientist's alternatives in reacting to the persecution of his colleagues
Authors: Lerner Alexander
Published: June 2007

The important issues raised in Professor Minker's [1] article are about participation by scientists in the fight for human rights (in particular the rights of their colleagues in the Soviet Union), the relation between science and politics, solidarity between scientists, and how they can affect the fate of scientists subjected to unjust reprisals. We know for sure that the facts presented in Minker's article are true, that the mechanism of enslaving scientists that he describes actually operates in the USSR, and that in several cases foreign scientists have helped win concessions from the authorities in the sphere of honoring the rights of scientists. In response to Editor Charles Meadow's appeal, I have decided to voice my ideas on the issues raised in Minker's article, since it seems to me that along with opinions from the outside, a look from the inside at the system in which enslaving scientists and the misuse of science have become the law can also be of interest. I feel it is timely and of vital importance for scientists to discuss these questions on the pages of a scientific journal.
A reply to robertson's diatribe on the nature of Fuzz
Authors: Cerny Barbara A.
Published: June 2007

A reply is addressed to Robertson's article “On the Nature of Fuzz: A Diatribe.” The purpose is not to take issue with Robertson's conclusions on the role of fuzzy set theory (FST) with regard to information science at this time, but rather to clarify and enlarge upon some basic aspects of FST itself. In particular, his discussions of uncertainty, min/max connectives, and relevance are considered in the light of recent work.
On the economics and timing of data evaluation and estimation in an industrial setting
Authors: Bondi A. A.
Published: June 2007

A composite picture of the role of data evaluation and estimation in the course of industrial chemical development, from exploratory chemistry to plant startup, shows that the effective cost of ignorance rises steeply throughout this period. Yet, uncertainty regarding the actual need for information or data, quite rationally, postpones any allocation of scarce and expansive manpower resources for its generation until the penalty of a gaping knowledge hole is clarly visible. This is but one of many examples of the inherent unanswerability of the quest for a single‐valued benefit/cost ratio for information in an industrial setting. In fact, in industry the real need is generally less for “information” than for the availability of the talented technical professional who has the combination of engineering judgment and basic scientific knowledge to be able to generate required but specific information at the right time. The anchor role provided by the existence of critically evaluated data and estimation methods in the overall innovation cycle is emphasized.
Some statistical aspects of JASIS publications
Authors: Meadow Charles T. , Zaborowski Mary Ann
Published: June 2007

Statistics on the nationality, society memberships, and citation patterns of JASIS and other information science journal authors are presented, together with data concerning elapsed time between initial receipt of a manuscript and its publication.
Automatic detection and correction of spelling errors in a large data base
Authors: Zamora Antonio
Published: June 2007

On‐line bibliographic search systems tend to increase the visibility of spelling errors through the use of indexes of unique terms; even low error rates in a data base can result in large numbers of misspelled terms in these indexes. This article describes the techniques used to detect and correct spelling errors in the data base of Chemical Abstracts Service. A computer program for spelling error detection achieves a high level of performance using hashing techniques for dictionary look‐up and compression. Heuristic procedures extend the dictionary and increase the proportion of misspelled words in the words flagged. Automatic correction procedures are applied only to words which are known to be misspelled; other corrections are performed manually during the normal editorial cycle. The constraints imposed on the selection of a spelling error detection technique by a complex data base, human factors, and high‐volume production are discussed.
The implementation of SCATT
Authors: Davis Peter , Sachs Wladimir
Published: June 2007

A brief description of the current field of Science and Technology Information Transfer clearly indicates that it suffers from a number of problems which cannot be solved unless a whole‐system perspective is adopted. A planning methodology is needed which would allow us to organize a cooperative effort of different stakeholders to design an image of the desired system. Idealized planning is such a methodology. It was applied in a large participative planning effort aimed at an idealized design of a Scientific Communication and Technology Transfer System. This design is briefly described. Various alternative strategies for implementing change in the field of science and technology information transfer are reviewed. Difficulties arising from incrementalist and rational‐comprehensive approaches are contrasted. The role of a planner in implementing change is also discussed. Finally, the experience generated with the idealized planning approach is used in order to build a typology of stakeholders in the field. They are categorized by personal traits and by institutional characteristics.
Informatics and transborder data flow: The question of social impact
Authors: Veith Richard H.
Published: June 2007

During the 1970s, computerized information‐processing networks have been established on a large scale linking much of the world. It has generally been accepted that the massive transborder data flows involved will have serious social, political, and economic consequences. Since 1973, a growing number of nations has enacted legislation attempting to forestall any adverse social effects of the transborder digital traffic. During the next few years, several world bodies will finalize policies on transborder data flow, and international laws or treaties may be called for. Unfortunately, the analysis of the extent of transborder data traffic, as well as of attendant social effects, is merely beginning. This article attempts to summarize what has been suggested so far as a move toward focusing the question of social effects.
On‐line systems: History, technology, and economics
Authors: Bourne Charles P.
Published: June 2007

The development of on‐line systems in science and technology, beginning with the first demonstrations of batch searching through the development of multinational on‐line services, is outlined. The key technological components are described: computers that operate in a time‐shared mode and an efficient, low‐cost telecommunications system. Insight is provided on how on‐line systems are put together and made accessible to users. Finally, on the economics of on‐line systems, the great effort and expenditures underlying the production of services are examined.
Characterizing the industrial special library universe
Authors: Jackson Eugene B. , Jackson Ruth L.
Published: June 2007

The industrial groups included in FORTUNE 500 listings had previously been shown to be valid aggregates for comparing the quality of industrial special library support. Business Week's 600 tabulations were explored as a means of comparing quantity of support and/or superiority of subject classification. Other than showing that firms with libraries spend five times as much on R∧D than those without, the resulting tables yielded disappointing results. Future comparative work should be focused on the FORTUNE 500 groups. An estimate is made that 1% or less of industrial private R&D funds goes to support special library materials and services.
Journal of the ASIS vs. Nachrichten für Dokumentation: A Comparative Analysis of Citations
Authors: Wellisch Hans
Published: June 2007

An article with this title appeared in the April 1979 issue of Nachrichten für Dokumentation (NfD) [1]. It is a revised and condensed version of the equivalent of a Master's thesis, written by Otto‐Hermann Eisenhardt at the Lehrinstitut für Dokumentation in Frankfurt am Main. For the benefit of readers of this journal not fluent in German, it was thought useful to provide a summary of the findings and to evaluate them. A related article was recently published in JASIS [2].
Answer‐passage retrieval by text searching
Authors: O'Connor John
Published: June 2007

Passage retrieval (already operational for lawyers) has advantages in output form over reference retrieval and is economically feasible. Previous experiments in passage retrieval for scientists have demonstrated recall and false retrieval rates as good or better than those of present reference retrieval services. The present experiment involved a greater variety of forms of retrieval question. In addition, search words were selected independently by two different people for each retrieval question. The search words selected, in combination with the computer procedures used for passage retrieval, produced average recall ratios of 72 and 67%, respectively, for the two selectors. The false retrieval rates were (except for one predictably difficult question) respectively 13 and 10 falsely retrieved sentences per answer‐paper retrieved.
Fuzzy requests: An approach to weighted boolean searches
Authors: Bookstein Abraham
Published: June 2007

This article concerns the problem of how to permit a patron to represent the relative importance of various index terms in a Boolean request while retaining the desirable properties of a Boolean system. The character of classical Boolean systems is reviewed and related to the notion of fuzzy sets. The fuzzy set concept then forms the basis of the concept of a fuzzy request in which weights are assigned to index terms. The properties of such a system are discussed, and it is shown that such systems retain the manipulability of traditional Boolean requests.
Approaches to forecasting demands for library network services
Authors: Kang Jong H. , Rouse William B.
Published: June 2007

The problem of forecasting monthly demands for library network services is considered, especially in terms of using forecasts as inputs to policy analysis models and in terms of the use of forecasts as an aid to budgeting and staffing decisions. Forecasting methods considered include Box‐Jenkins time‐series methodology, adaptive filtering, and linear regression. Using demand data from the Illinois Library and Information Network for 1971–1978, it is shown that fading‐memory regression is the most appropriate method, in terms of both accuracy and ease of use.
The combined use of bibliographic coupling and cocitation for document retrieval
Authors: Bichteler Julie , Eaton Edward A.
Published: June 2007

A linkage similarity measure which takes into account both the bibliographic coupling of documents and their cocitations (both cited and citing papers) produced improved document retrieval over a measure based only on bibliographic coupling. The test collection consisted of 1712 papers whose relevance to specific queries had been judged by users. To evaluate the effect of using cocitation data, we calculated for each query two measures of similarity between each relevant paper and every other paper retrieved. Papers were then sorted by the similarity measures, producing two ordered lists. We then compared the resulting predictions of relevance, partial relevance, and non‐relevance to the user's evaluations of the same papers. Over‐all, the change from the bibliographic coupling measure to the linkage similarity measure, representing the introduction of cocitation data, resulted in better retrieval performance.
The cultural appraisal of efforts to alleviate information inequity
Authors: Cochrane Glynn , Atherton Pauline
Published: June 2007

This article suggests that action to alleviate information inequity should be guided by the principles of contextualism, incrementalism, motivation of information users, and more knowledge of the absorptive process that is unique to each cultural group. To do this, information services should recognize cultural pluralism and the need to eliminate information poverty as viewed by the members of the groups being served. For some it may mean provision of information services to help in their assimilation into the mainstream, while for others it may mean provision of information services for greater cultural cohesion. Instead of the term “minority” or “disadvantaged,” the idea of a “cultural community” is advanced as the proper unit of analysis to identify significant numbers of potential users who may have distinct values, beliefs, and attitudes toward external information services. To grasp effectively the behavioral and cultural dimensions of information inequity, a national inventory of “cultural communities” is suggested using social mapping. This technique would include: a delineation of cultural groups, a description of the indigenous social/information organization, a plotted pattern of the movement of information within the group, the information values of the group, and an analytical description of the information poor within each group. These groups can then be visualized as a series of different information constituencies, with different information needs and different capacities for absorbing information.
The evolution of the international information system on research in documentation (ISORID)
Authors: Hales Celia
Published: June 2007

A reading of the available documents on the International Information System on Research in Documentation (ISORID), a joint UNESCO‐FID operation, reveals that the system has met as yet unresolved stresses that hinder the effective contribution to the world community that this system was envisioned to make. The apparent importance of ISORID to support other endeavors of UNESCO, particularly UNISIST, suggests one internally satisfied need that justifies existence to a degree. A quantitative comparision with the U.S.‐based Library and Information Services Today (LIST) is not kind to ISORID and reflects the degree of difficulty that ISORID has with its essentially cooperative basis for gathering data. The theoretical basis for an international register appears sound, but practicalities are hindering its effectiveness to the fields of documentation, information science, and librarianship.
Feature comparison of an in‐house information retrieval system with a commercial search service
Authors: Boyle Stephen O. , Miller A. Patricia
Published: June 2007

A commercially available online search service was used as a standard for comparative searching and evaluation of an in‐house information system based on automatic indexing. System features were identified and evaluated on the basis of their usefulness in various kinds of searching, their ease in implementation, and how they are influenced by differences in user type or specific applications. Some common features of the commercial system, such as online instruction, user‐specified print formats, dictionary display, and truncation, are seen to be unnecessary or impractical for the in‐house system. In designing the in‐house system, therefore, detailed consideration must be given to the applications, operating environment, and real user needs. While a commercial system can serve as a useful standard for comparative evaluation, one must be careful not to attempt to duplicate it blindly in‐house.
Toward usable user studies
Authors: Mick Colin K. , Lindsey Georg N. , Callahan Daniel
Published: June 2007

A management‐oriented model for describing and studying information behavior is proposed. The model focuses on variables which can be manipulated by managers—primarily environmental and situational variables—rather than on variables describing individual attributes. Several hypotheses derived from the model are tested using a database describing the information‐related attitudes and behaviors of some 560 scientists and engineers working in a variety of settings and roles. All but one of the hypotheses were confirmed, adding support to the model. The results of these tests suggest that environmental and situational constraints play a major part in determining information behavior. They suggest that interventions aimed at improving information flow within organizations must be carefully tailored to the specific situation if they are to have maximum impact.
Serial acquisition as a capital budgeting problem
Authors: Hentschke Guilbert C. , Kehoe Ellen
Published: June 2007

This study examines the costs and benefits of purchasing periodicals on a one‐year versus a three‐year subscription basis. The decision problem is viewed as a capital budgeting problem where the objective is cost minimization over a six‐year time span. The variables considered critical to the decision include cost of capital, subscription reorder cost facing the library, annual rate of change of subscription rates, and ratio of three‐year to one‐year subscription costs. The model was developed and applied with the assistance of library managers at the University of Rochester. Results of the study indicate that, even under those conditions most favorable to maintaining a one‐year subscription policy, substantial savings can accrue by shifting to a three‐year subscription policy. The Serials and Binding Department at the University has, as a consequence, shifted to a three‐year purchasing policy for periodicals. Although the model was developed for a specific library system, it is sufficiently general and is simple enough to be applied in other settings without difficulty.
Applying game theory to library networks
Authors: Cohen Jacob , Vijverberg Wim
Published: June 2007

The application of game theory to library networks consists of four basic subjects: the development of a systematic way to study individual coalitions, the calculation of the costs of a network, the calculation of the gross benefits for the whole network, the stability of the network. This article concentrates on the first and last of these subjects. Coalitions are compared in a systematic way by first defining coalitions and introducing the concept of a division. The latter is defined as a unique combination of coalitions such that every participating library is a member of one and only one coalition and the division exhausts all “n” libraries. The definition of division stability depends on the payoff vector being in the “core.” This happens when members of the coalitions in the division have more to distribute among themselves than they would in any other division. When a division is stable, any variation in the coalition structure will reduce total net benefits to coalition members. In practice, the choices open to the individual library may not be as plentiful as the theoretical analysis suggests. Thinking of networks performing a single function, most members will belong to a single coalition with remaining coalitions in the optimal division having zero members.
The use of titles for automatic document classification
Authors: Hamill Karen A. , Zamora Antonio
Published: June 2007

An experimental computer program has been developed to classify documents according to the 80 sections and five major section groupings of Chemical Abstracts (CA). The program uses pattern recognition techniques supplemented by heuristics. During the “training” phase, words from pre‐classified documents are selected, and the probability of occurrence of each word in each section of CA is computed and stored in a reference dictionary. The “classification” phase matches each word of a document title against the dictionary and assigns a section number to the document using weights derived from the probabilities in the dictionary. Heuristic techniques are used to normalize word variants such as plurals, past tenses, and gerunds in both the training phase and the classification phase. The dictionary lookup technique is supplemented by the analysis of chemical nomenclature terms into their component word roots to influence the section to which the documents are assigned. Program performance and human consistency have been evaluated by comparing the program results against the published sections of CA and by conducting an experiment with people experienced in the assignment of documents to CA sections. The program assigned approximately 78% of the documents to the correct major section groupings of CA and 67% of the correct sections or cross‐references at a rate of 100 documents per second.