Automated persuasion is the Holy Grail of quantitatively biased data base designers. However, data base histories are, at best, probabilistic estimates of customer behavior and do not make use of more sophisticated qualitative motivational profiling tools. While usually absent from web designer thinking, qualitative motivational profiling can be…

The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) is a national network of 16 specialized clearinghouses and several central ERIC service facilities, each of which is charged with enhancing the ERIC database of educational resources by identifying hard-to-find materials including research reports, curriculum guides, conference papers,…

The University Libraries Computer Search Service (State University of New York at Albany, SUNYA) provides access to databases from many vendors including BRS, Dialog, Wilsonline, CA Search, and Westlaw. Members of the Computer Search Service, Collection Development, and Reference Service staffs select vendor services and new databases for their…

As part of a comprehensive review and analysis of research about the division of labor in higher education, a university library computer system was used to search the ERIC Index, Sociological Abstracts, and Psychological Abstracts. The purpose of these experimental searches was to determine whether online access to computer-held social science…

This manual is designed for those researchers using the databank on classroom process surveys for the population of 13-year-olds in the Second International Mathematics Study. The manual opens with overviews of the study and the databank and states the purpose of the training. In the second section on "Interpretation," the codes, layout,…

This example of online searching, employed as a research method rather than as a tool to gather bibliographic information, used Magazine Index to collect data which were manipulated using geographic codes and compared with the buildings of a 1977 study on geographic bias in television news reporting. (EM)

This first article of a three-part series provides an overview of the record format, organization, and coverage of two databanks providing legal information. Tables cover record segments and fields and inclusion of information from federal libraries, state cases, United Kingdom and French law libraries, and additional libraries and services. (EJS)

Discusses the use of computers in two college European history seminars. Students were required to perform online database searches to prepare their bibliographies, and to check their writing mechanics using a mainframe computer software package. Concludes that student-generated data searches should be included in required historical methods…

Maintains that there are two traditional categories of data for scholars: (1) physical objects and nonmaterial objects and (2) processed information. Describes the development and current plans for the Documentation Project, a Norwegian database for language and culture. (CFR)

Examines the use of databases for social studies. Provides a rationale for database use in light of social studies goals, contending that processing large amounts of information is essential for effective citizenship. Offers suggestions for integrating databases into the social studies classroom, and provides substantial lists of readily…

Explores the usefulness of the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN) to humanities scholars. Contends that factors such as inaccessibility of terminals and difficult-to-use interfaces inhibit the utility of the database. Maintains that use of the RLIN should help database managers plan the next generation of information systems. (CFR)

An increased publication rate has given rise to an increased dependence on indexing services for tracking and retrieving relevant literature. Discusses the problems associated with the fact that most computer databases encompass literature from the past 20 to 27 years. (DDR)

This collection lists 630 references sources on American railroads. Included are printed sources, such as bibliographies, indexing and abstracting services, dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, directories, yearbooks, manuals, handbooks, maps, atlases, and statistical sources. Each reference has a full bibliographic citation, and some are…

The purpose of this paper is to present the multiple uses that can be derived from special education student database information and used in the evaluation of special education programs. Within the San Juan (California) Unified School District, many evaluation studies draw directly upon information which is in the computerized record system. This…

Written in Spanish, this booklet explains how to start an ERIC collection in a library or information center. Three levels of collections are described: minimal, intermediate, and complete. A minimal collection is discussed in terms of the necessary materials (Resources in Education--RIE, Current Index to Journals in Education--CIJE, Thesaurus of…