CDL Database Transitions
a. RILM Changes (Michael Colby, Resource Liaison for RILM)
On August 15, RILM transitioned from the OCLC interface accessible via the CDL-hosted databases interface, to the native interface offered by NISC. UC access to RILM can now be found at [http://biblioline.nisc.com/scripts/login.dll?BiblioLine”]. At first we will be losing some of the features that had been available through the CDL Z39.30 implementation of RILM, such as links to holdings and hyperlinked headings. Some of these features will be returning with NISC in the near future, however. There are also some new features available with this interface: three searching modes, proximity searching and access to an online thesaurus. And it provides automatic searching of international variant spellings, compound words and singular-plural forms of words.
RILM (Rëpertoire International de Littërature Musicale, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature) (1969-present) is the world’s largest, continuously updated bibliography of music literature providing broad international coverage including records in over 100 languages from 3,700 journals. RILM indexes books, conference proceedings, Festschrifts and well as periodical literature. Coverage includes the world of music, from Western and Eastern classical to pop, folk, and jazz.
With NISC, UC will have more access to RILM. While our OCLC contract was for five simultaneous users UC-wide, our NISC contract allows five simultaneous users for each campus (except UCSF, which has a single user limit).
As the UC Resource Liaison for RILM, I would appreciate receiving feedback on RILM issues at mdcolby@ucdavis.edu.
[Note: Below is detailed information on specific features and functionality of RILM from NISC]
Search Options
NISC offers three search interfaces: Quick Search, Advanced Search and Expert Search. Quick Search provides a simplified user interface, utilizing only the most commonly used search and display features; searching is similar to that found in many web search engines. Advanced Search is a full-featured fill-in-the-blank search, offering all available search fields and the use of Boolean operators (and, or, not). Expert Search is a sophisticated interface for the experienced searcher. It offers the use of command language as well as allowing one to borrow or reuse portions of previous searches in order to construct new searches
Display Options
There are two display modes available for viewing records: Summary Record Display Mode and the Full Record Display Mode
Sorting
An added feature of the NISC interface is the ability to sort display results. Results can be sorted by title, author, journal, source, language or year of publication.
Save Options
Print/Save commands are found at the bottom of the screen. One can select marked citations only, marked full records only, marked titles only, all citations, or all full records.
Coming Features
Some new developments to the interface are expected in the fall of 2001. These will include hooks to holdings and support for bibliographic software.
Help
Context-sensitive help is provided through the use of pop-up windows on any screen.
b. ABI/Inform Changes (Michael Oppenheim, Resource Liaison for ABI/Inform)
If you’ve checked out ABI/Inform any time since August 15th, you already know there’s something new: on that day, the CDL brought up Bell & Howell’s “ProQuest” edition of ABI/Inform Global, the considerably enhanced version of this incomparable, first-stop business information database.
What’s new and vastly improved? The ABI/Inform thesaurus is now online, a click away within the database. Proximity searching that’s as sophisticated as any database offers is finally available, as well as a search limit for “peer-reviewed” articles. Arguably the most eagerly anticipated and welcome enhancement of all is article graphics and page images. With ProQuest, not only do we get article text for all the titles that we’ve known in CDL ABI/Inform (and even more), we also get the viewing options of Text + Graphics, or page images in PDF format-often all three options are available simultaneously.
ABI/INFORM Global contains records for articles in more than 1,000 scholarly journals, magazines, and “high-profile” trade and industry titles in business, management, finance, and economics. Not just for “pure” business information seekers only, the database has high value for the “business” side of the physical sciences, engineering, and medicine, as well. Publication year coverage begins with 1971. All citations include abstracts. Full text coverage began in 1991 with 100 titles, and has since grown to more than 600.
As the UC Resource Liaison for ABI/Inform Global, I’m anxious to receive any and all feedback about the database. Please contact me at moppenhe@library.ucla.edu.
[Note: Below is detailed information on specific features and functionality of ProQuest’s ABI/Inform]
What’s Changed for UC Users
here are some tradeoffs: certain functions that are available in CDL ABI/Inform are not available at this time with the ProQuest version. These include the integration of library holdings with database citations; saving items between search sessions, and saving personal information as a Profile; different display options (i.e., short or long, with or without abstracts and or text); customizable printing or e-mailing options; and being able to search the entire database at once (Bell & Howell does plan to add this functionality next year).
Why the hit counts may differ using ProQuest
ABI/INFORM Global does have significantly more content than the CDL version, so the user may retrieve more items. In the CDL interface, a Keyword search looks at the Title, Subject terms and words from the abstract. In the ProQuest interface, a basic search covers these fields plus all other fields (including author) except for the actual text of the item. Multiple word searches are treated differently by CDL and by ProQuest interfaces. The ProQuest interface treats two words as a phrase unless the user inserts an “and” between the terms. If more than two terms are entered, they are searched as though the user added “and” between the words. The CDL interface treats all multiple word searches as though there was an “and” between the words.
What UC Users Have Gained
In addition to the searching and display enhancements already noted above, ProQuest ABI/Inform Global is updated continuously (as opposed to CDL ABI/Inform’s weekly updates); search terms are highlighted in results; and full article text is searchable (as opposed to CDL ABI/Inform’s citation and abstract searching only). Significant examples of content enhancement include the full text for such titles as Advertising Age, Business Week, and the Far Eastern Economic Review. None of these has text in CDL ABI/Inform, and in ProQuest, Advertising Age and the Far Eastern Economic Review even come with text + graphics and full page images! ProQuest’s “Durable Link” feature allows users to click an icon to create a copyright-cleared link to an article that’s good for 30 days. Links appear as citations that users can e-mail to themselves or drop into a bibliography.
Search Options
ProQuest ABI/Inform offers five search options, each of which is illuminated by context-sensitive help. “Basic” is the default search–no “search type” need be selected, but the user may want to change the date range (“Current,” which is 1999 to present, is the default), and may want to pick the “full text” search option, rather than the default “citations and abstracts.”
The difference between “Basic” and “Advanced” mode is that the latter provides immediate access, on the lower part of the screen, to concise but information-packed “help.” The user can instantly consult the ABI/Inform Subject Classification Code, or double check all the valid ways to type in a search using particular field labels (i.e., ab, sub, geographic name, etc.).
“Guided” should look a little familiar to users of CDL’s “Power Mode” interface. It guides the searcher step-by-step in using search fields, Boolean operators (and, or, and not, within 3, pre/1), specific date ranges, and article types (only one at a time of the latter may be selected, though).
“Publication” allows the user to browse a favorite magazine or journal, and then link to all the articles in a given issue. The user may search for an exact publication title, or by key words in the title
“Natural Language,” which looks just like “Basic,” allows the user to search for articles using questions and phrases just as they would be expressed in ordinary conversation–no knowledge of subject terms, or special search symbols, is needed.
Pre-Set Indexes
Under the “Browse Lists” icon, four authoritative, pre-set indexes are available for verifying terms used in the database. These include Personal Names, Locations and Places, Companies, and Subjects (the afore-mentioned online thesaurus of official ABI/Inform “concept” terms–missing in action from CDL ABI/Inform for as long as its Web version has been available). Each item in these indexes appears as a link click on a link to execute a search on it automatically.
You Want a Taxonomy?
If you’re having trouble thinking of concepts or keywords, another unique ProQuest feature, “Topic Finder,” allows you to “walk through” six pre-defined conceptual hierarchies, proceeding from the broadest down to the narrowest expressions of a topic. The hierarchies available under the “Topic Finder” icon are Business & Industry, Computers & Internet, Economics & Trade, Environment, Government & Law, and Social Issues & Policy. When the terms in a hierarchy cease to be links, you’ve reached the level of subject indexing terms. Click on the red “go” next to a term to execute a search.
Display Options
The default display option is full indexing plus abstract. A text icon alone means full indexing, abstract, and text. A camera icon superimposed on a text icon means all of the preceding, plus graphics. A camera icon alone means full page image, in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. An imaged article may be viewed (and downloaded or printed) in its entirety, or by individual page.
Sorting
When searching by publication, results may be sorted, issue-by-issue, either alphabetically by article title, or in page-number order within the issue.
Working with Results, and Output Options
Within a results list, click the box to the left of the citation-“mark” it–to create a list for subsequent e-mailing, printing, or saving. If you want to save any “Durable Links,” click on the green “Save Link” icon in the upper left-hand corner. Citations only–no full text–will be included when printing items from a marked list, or saving them to a disk.
Every checked citation in a marked list may be e-mailed with a single command–the articles will be delivered, however, one e-mail message at a time, in plain text format. To save, print, or e-mail articles in either text + graphics or full image formats, you must display the individual article, and then follow the e-mailing, printing, or saving instructions which are available only from the display screen.
Help
Context-sensitive, highly detailed and indexed help is always as close as a click on the blue “?Help” in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Under Help is the “Search Guide”-the same handy “cheat-sheet-like” overview that appears in “Advanced” search mode.
Coming Features
Remedies are on the horizon for some of the tradeoffs mentioned above. Bell & Howell’s technical capabilities, to be fully developed in the coming months, include linking to library holdings, thanks to compliance with the Open URL standard; bibliographic software support (filters are available, and use of Z39.80 will be considered); authentication using certificates (IP filtering is currently used); and searching of ProQuest ABI/Inform via SearchLight.
c. Updated Web Pages
A&I Libstaff Page
The main A&I libstaff page has been revamped and streamlined to focus more on the implementation phase, with the evaluation phase materials moved off the first page or removed if no longer applicable. [http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/sharedcoll/a-i-trans/] Detailed descriptions of the new vendor database services are available in RTF ersion from the Staff Briefing Kit web page [http://www.cdlib.org/inside/projects/a-i-trans/] so that you can cut and paste for publicity and informational purposes.
CDL Public News Pages
A timeline on which you can see milestones of both transitions together is now available [http://www.cdlib.org/news/transitiontimeline.html]. In addition, there is now a table on both public and staff pages that lists the CDL-hosted A&I databases that are transitioning to new databases [http://www.cdlib.org/news/databasestatus.html]. The chart includes information about each database (e.g, date no longer available via the CDL, services available in the new versions). This page will be updated as changes occur.
Outreach and Instruction Materials
Adaptable Outreach and Instructional Materials page has been restructured and updated so that the transitioning databases are at the top of the page [http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/comm/outreach/]. The Resource Liaisons have begun sending links to instructional materials to make available for database users. These include materials created by the vendors and by campus staff. Some examples of excellent materials are those produced by the PubMed Team for the PubMed transition, and a guide on using Alert in GeoRef via CSA, created at UCSD. (Note that this guide can also be used with any CSA database.) Many of these materials are in RTF versions, so campuses may adapt these for their users.
Thanks to the many people who worked on these pages, both at CDL and the campuses. These pages are intended to keep library staff and patrons Informed. If there are ways we can make them more useful to you, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
d. Status of Vendor Negotiations
Just a reminder that negotiations are still in progress for the remaining databases including Current Contents, BIOSIS Previews, INSPEC, PsycINFO, and MLA Bibliography. The CDL is investigating the Transition Steering Committee’s first and second choice vendors.
The TSC will also make recommendations for Compendex at its August 27 meeting after reviewing analysis provided by Resource Liaison Michelle Potter, UCR.
The goal is to settle on vendor(s) by early fall so that preliminary work and testing can begin during the fall term, so that the new versions can be available by winter term.
CDL-hosted databases will remain until December 2002 unless circumstances require retiring them earlier. The TSC has developed principles to guide these decisions and will make recommendations on a case by case basis [see http://www.cdlib.org/inside/projects/a-i-trans/principles.html] Exceptions are CDL-hosted versions of MEDLINE/HealthSTAR [see v4, n7, MEDLINE Timeline <http://www.cdlib.org/news/cdlinfo/cdlinfo042601.html>] and WorldCat, PapersFirst and ProceedingsFirst [see v4, n11, Access to OCLC Databases Changing Soon <http://www.cdlib.org/news/cdlinfo/cdlinfo062801.html>] which will retire in December 2001.