Compares and evaluates the databases covering the literature of sports and recreation. Discusses information scatter in the discipline, exhaustivity of coverage within particular databases, and search strategies, vocabulary control, and database overlap. Included are nine data tables and four appendices illustrating search results. (JL)

An on-line bibliographic search on evaluating computerized bibliographic data bases and systems, which was performed in the ERIC data base, led the authors to recommend several aspects of online searching for more relevant search results in library and information science literature. (Author/JD)

Examines and compares multimedia Web searching by Excite and FAST search engine users in 2001. Highlights include audio and video queries; time spent on searches; terms per query; ranking of the most frequently used terms; and differences in Web search behaviors of U.S. and European Web users. (Author/LRW)

Describes and compares several general interest periodical indexes available on CD-ROM. Features described include target audience, coverage, updates, subscription prices, licensing, the availability of turnkey systems, search features and interfaces, screen displays, full-text support, and installation and support. The addresses of the companies…

Discussion of online public access catalogs focuses on a study that evaluated 3 different systems in Great Britain. Comparative evaluations were made using structured exercises to determine searching techniques and transaction logs to investigate user behavior. Comments on future research are also given. (12 references) (LRW)

Describes a study that analyzed search results in the medical behavioral sciences to compare the overall performance of descriptor and citation search strategies in identifying relevant and novel documents. The findings are presented in terms of retrieval overlap and novelty percentages, and factors affecting retrieval performance are discussed.…

Evaluates the use of business indexes to access journal literature for science and technology information. Compares the science and technology journal holdings of four business indexes, and finds that searchers can benefit from using them. A table of the indexes' holdings for 280 science and technology journals is appended. (JMV)

Describes a study of professional searchers that investigated their decisions about using search terms. The use of descriptors from a controlled vocabulary versus the use of textwords for free-text searching is examined, searching styles and differences in subject areas are discussed, and the quality of thesauri and indexing is considered. (six…

Discusses databases available for online searching in the humanities fields and describes searches that investigated scatter (i.e., the spread of subject terms across the databases), overlap among online files in terms of retrieved records, and the comparative effectiveness of natural language versus controlled vocabulary for information…

Presents a comparison of collocation-based similarity measures for the proper selection of additional search terms in query expansion. Highlights include evaluating retrieval effectiveness in a vector space model, thesauri, document ranking, and experiments on two Korean test collections. (Author/LRW)

Explains desktop metasearch engines, which search the databases of several search engines simultaneously. Reviews two particular versions, the Copernic 2001 Pro and the BullsEye Pro 3, comparing costs, subject categories, display capabilities, and layout for presenting results. (LRW)

Presents a chart comparing Web search engines. Discusses features covered in the chart: size; Boolean Operators and Parentheses; phrase searching; proximity; truncation; title, date and URL fields; links to a URL; language; media searching; name; case sensitivity; searches all common words; directory attached; gives count for answer; gives term…

Examines four tools that provide access to federal government information: FedWorld, Usgovsearch.com, Google/Unclesam, and GovBot. Compares search features, size of collection, ease of use, and cost or subscription requirements. (LRW)

This study looks at the issue of using alternative databases to support research on historical topics. The literature on online searching in history is not as well developed, nor as extensive, as literature about online searching in other subject areas. In addition, there are only two major databases that are history-specific in terms of subject…

Despite the growth in number of online bibliographic databases available to assist scholars seeking information in the humanities, it remains a matter of concern to librarians and information professionals that these research tools are not as widely used as they might be. This report surveys a selected group of online databases (i.e.,…