Search results

Information supermarket in Oslo. An information supermarket has been established in Oslo in the new building of the Norwegian Society of Professional Engineers (NIS).

In a paper which he gave to the Institute of Information Scientists Annual Conference in Harrogate in 1989, Phil Holmes spoke of his concern that the searching systems now used are little more than tidied‐up and sophisticated versions of what was available 25 years ago. What, he wondered, were the new approaches to interrogating bodies of data, and who was investigating them? As a result of this paper, Phil was asked to expand on these ideas at one of the regular IIS Southern Branch meetings.

Blackwell's PERLINE has been established as one of a new breed of library systems and a leader for automation of serials control. Alongside it is BOOKLINE, which together with PERLINE provides a fully comprehensive, integrated suite of programs covering all aspects of book and journal selection, check‐in, circulation or routing, claiming, accessioning and binding, and fund accounting. A recent article in VINE explains the system. This paper discusses microcomputer applications of PERLINE.

To make it easier for searchers to determine which databases contain citations on a specific question, BRS has developed an automatic cross‐database search capability named CROSS. This new feature enables users to ‘browse’ various files and identify which of them contain records of potential interest. Using CROSS the searcher can specify which databases he wishes the system to search. As a convenience, the system has grouped certain files, such as life sciences databases or business databases, so that, if desired, the user may simply enter a single digit to specify which files should be searched. Once the specified files have been identified, a ‘postings’ list appears, telling the user how many appropriate citations are present in each of the files. Once the user determines which databases will yield the desired results, however, it is still necessary to change over to the individual databases to enter the strategy and retrieve the actual items. Nevertheless, this facility should prove very valuable to searchers with cross‐disciplinary queries.

This series was first started in the June 78 issue of Online Review. Here we focus on BLAISE, the service operated by the British Library.

VINE is produced at least four times a year with the object of providing up‐to‐date news of work being done in the automation of library housekeeping processes, principally in the UK. It is edited and substantially written by Tony McSean, Information Officer for Library Automation based in Southampton University Library and supported by a grant from the British Library Research and Development Department. Copyright for VINE articles rests with the British Library Board, but opinions expressed in VINE do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the British Library. The subscription to VINE is £10 per year and the subscription period runs from January to December.

A range of library and information retrieval services are provided by the British Library under the house name BLAISE — British Library Automated Information Services. The author describes the very full range of services now established by the Library concentrating on those concerned with library processing. BLAISE is an example of a fully integrated system with online information retrieval from MARC records (and MEDLARS), online cataloguing, together with output options including full document delivery from the British Library Lending Division (BLLD), COM catalogue production via LOCAS, and, experimentally, book ordering. BLAISE is now available for U.S. users and will shortly be connected to EURONET for cheaper access by European users.