Manual of Online Search Strategies

Overview

One of the most dramatic changes which have occurred since the first edition appeared in 1988 is the emergence of CD-ROM as a major publishing medium for databases. Therefore, due attention is now paid to the problems of searching databases on CD-ROM as well as online. Other changes have inevitably affected some chapters of the book more than others. In a few instances, indeed, they have prompted structural changes in the new edition. Two chapters found in the first edition are no longer included in this volume. Full-text journals are now encountered in growing numbers in many subject fields and are best dealt with in subject-based chapters rather than separately as in the first edition. At the same time, interactive electronic journals such as BLEND have not yet emerged from the research environment into the commercial world. Likewise, a special chapter on office and home use now seems superfluous with growing end-user searching in many fields. An appendix of databases and the hosts on which they could be found has been scrapped for the more useful tables covering the same information within individual chapters. Overlap between the biological sciences and health sciences prompted a merger of these two fields in the second edition under the title 'The biosciences'. Like the first, this second edition is not intended as an introductory textbook to command-driven, Boolean searching. It is targeted at online searchers who already have some knowledge of command languages and may be proficient searchers on databases in one or two subject areas, but when required to venture into new and less familiar territory still need guidance. It is also offered to end users who possess the subject expertise but lack information retrieval know-how. The Manual is offered as a guide to database selection and a navigational aid through the twists and turns of the retrieval maze; at least some of the dead ends and backtracking may thereby be avoided. This volume, written by experts i

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