New Products & Services ΠNorthern Light
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into initials, while Compendex copies terms. Frustration and an error-pro- Reader Opinion the author’s name exactly as it appears cessing message accompany any at- For updated information see: in the original article. Neither the au- tempts to use controlled indexing http://www.charlestonco.com New Products & Services thor examples on the search page, nor phrases containing parenthetical the help screens, indicate that this is a terms. The Clipboard and its two over- Contact Information Northern Light possibility. If you search for John, A M, lapping functions only heighten the Europe & Rest of World you will not retrieve any publications confusion. The system will use the Customer Services Department by John, Asha M. correct syntax when you select a term Institute of Physics Publishing by George Machovec (Managing Editor, The Charleston Advisor) displayed within a full record. This inability of the system to recog- Dirac House and Katina Strauch (College of Charleston) nize first names also creates other When you do get a controlled index- Temple Back problems. There is no way in any ing term to execute successfully, the Bristol mode to specify that a surname which number of records includes all sub- BS1 6BE UK This summer, Hewlett-Packard Company tween these sites, but there is a dif- users access from the desktop and the is also a first name is a surname, un- divisions of the controlled term. The Tel: +44(0)117 929 7481 and Reuters Group PLC made a $35 mil- ference in how we make the content Web. Librarians answer direct ques- less you know and include the com- index indicates there are 226 records Fax: +44(0)117 929 4318 lion equity investment in Northern Light. accessible — in the user interface, the tions and package information plete first name. If you look for an for ADA (programming language), but Email: [email protected] And this was just the beginning. Other features and the function sets. sources and market those sources. We author named A. John, you will pull you will retrieve 404 records when USA, Canada & Mexico equity investors include Len Riggio of work with libraries as our way to the up all cites with John as the first name you figure out how to run the search. IoP Publishing Inc. Barnes & Noble, Times Mirror, and TMP In talking about our target market, end users. as well as surname. In the Expert Mode, The Public Ledger Building Worldwide. This fall, according to Susan we came up with the concept of “John, A”
18 The Charleston Advisor / October 1999 www.charlestonco.com The Charleston Advisor / October 1999 www.charlestonco.com 39 Advisor Watch Advisor Reviews summary format, which shows author, ally, the system would allow the searcher define one username and password and are adding an increasing number of A: Northern Light has several differ- Clearly, the type of account an orga- title, and source information. Unfortu- to indicate at least one key concept which require all sessions to go through the proxy publishers. We have an agreement ent options for Enterprise Account nization selects will depend on their nately, the display does not include the has to be present in any record in order server for those terminals. with Engineering News Record customers. We do offer subscription needs and anticipated use. Northern source material’s issue number. Users to be retrieved. (McGraw-Hill) where users can have options for certain publications for Light will set-up trials if a library may view a full record at any time. In Specific Problems with Compendex The system retrieves up to 250 records access to the archive and search back certain types of enterprise clients. 1) would like to test the service and get full record display, all fields are dis- 1. Translated Titles for Foreign Language for review and at the user’s direction, issues. We are also the host for the A standard “billing” plan is available an indication of which type of con- played. You may use the enhanced tools Resources Fortune.com search engine. where a corporate customer (or li- tract might serve them best. to create new display options to include saves selected or ranges of records maxing out at 200 complete records at Compendex provides the title in its brary) could be billed at the end of or exclude fields. These enhanced tools, original language with the translation a time. You may print results page by TCA: NL recently canceled out of each month for the actual number of TCA: What should we look forward however, are not available in the stan- in English. Axiom fails to take this into ICOLC. Why? Aren’t you interested documents viewed at face value. 2) to from NL in the future? dard mode unless the searcher enters page by using your browser’s print button, but to print a large result set account. The summary default lists the in Consortial business in libraries? A “discount” plan whereby if the li- a username and password. Few stu- foreign language title instead of the A: Our NL search alert service is our through one print command, you first brary or enterprise guarantees up- dents will personalize the interface in translation. The translation is not in- A: This was in no way meant to send front an annual document purchase newest feature and is in beta test right this manner when they approach a pub- need to save the set. It appears that to a message to the library market. We now. It’s like a clipping or SDI ser- save more than 200 records, you need cluded in the title index search, but in amount, Northern Light will provide lic terminal. And there is no conve- Expert mode a translated title can be simply did not have the appropriate vice and is very flexible. Users can to go to that page and save each page. a discount on purchases. So, for ex- nient way to alter the displays or other retrieved by not specifying an index. senior management person to send to ample, if a library guarantees $24,000 search a specific collection, the en- search settings for public workstations. If you elect to redisplay your result set this meeting. We would hope to be tire Web, or new information only. for printing, the system gives no choices Other systems display the English title dollars for the year, a discount would You can locate journal articles identi- and label the foreign language title invited back again. There is no cost for the alert and us- as to the fields displayed. You must take allow the library to actually purchase fied by volume and year alone, but it “original title.” The Enhanced tools do documents valued at more than the ers can have any number of alerts. may take more time. Interlibrary loans, the full record. The plain text printing TCA: Now a nitty-gritty question. For output is double-spaced, not exactly a not allow you to create a summary dis- enterprise account customers, roll- $24,000 payment, resulting in a dis- We are financially solvent and have for instance, are processed much more play that would include the translated count over the year for the institu- great format for libraries trying to con- ing forward deposits into new con- no immediate plans for an IPO. quickly with this information. title instead of the original foreign lan- tion. 3) NL also offers an unlimited trol printing costs. There are no options tract years can be important. In the You may browse through large result to change the fields included in the out- guage title, because the translated title pat. NL hasn’t been able to support use option where the payment would is not listed as one of the fields which be made depending on the number sets by selecting from the list of page put for email or printing. The only choice this. Do you have any plans to sup- can be included in a custom display. of users. This would need to be specifi- numbers that traverse the bottom of is to go with the full record display. port this in the future? the screen. To return to the summary cally quoted on a case-by-case basis. Public Workstations. Axiom presents many 2. Spelled-out First Names and the Au- display after reviewing a full record, the thor Search features for personalizing the interface and user must click on Search n, where n is In searching for authors, the examples the number of the search. Most sys- display options. Unfortunately, these are not available to libraries trying to configure provide useful directions for novices. tems use something like Results list or Unfortunately, the suggestions given on public workstations for optimal use. Indi- other more descriptive terminology. the Axiom screens only apply to the viduals must sign up with a username and Although Axiom sorts by author, date, password to use these enhanced tools. The INSPEC database. INSPEC converts Order Yours Today! any spelled-out first and middle name The Charleston and relevance, it does not sort by only way to configure public terminals is to source. Sorting by source helps locate Libraries Pay Less than many articles in libraries’ print journal $6.00 per review collections. Searches cannot be limited ADVISOR to English in Quick Search. A CLEAR Judy Siebert Pallardy With Publishers at Less than button would be useful to erase the 00 Judy Siebert Pallardy, M.L.S., is Head of the Science Branch Libraries and Critical Reviews of Web Products for Information Professionals $10. per review contents of the search box. It’s not clear Engineering Librarian at the University of Missouri-Columbia Libraries. what the RESET button resets. She received her M.L.S. at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of ✓ Library and Informational Sciences in 1980. Yes ENTER MY SUBSCRIPTION FOR ONE YEAR HOW MUCH The Find more like this option is some- what useful, but can take you far afield. Ms. Pallardy is a member of ASEE, ALA, LITA and ACRL. She currently It works best with the OR search in Name ______ARE YOU serves on the LITA Leadership Development Committee and has served the advanced mode. Relevancy twice on the ACRL Science and Technology Section Conference Planning Title ______SPENDING? rankings for these searches do not nec- Committees in the 1980’s. She served as President of the Missouri Library essarily relate to the initial search which Organization ______Association in 1996, and then in 1998 as Chair of MLA’s Ad Hoc Review Web Database and can confuse the patron. For example, I Committee. Ms. Pallardy is currently a member of the ET@MO Council at Address ______Quarterly Print are now looked for information on the “nonde- MU (Educational Technologies). From 1996 through 1998, she chaired structive evaluation of bridges.” The the MERLIN Reference Services Committee, a committee representing ______available at the low initial search (AND) retrieved 93 hits the four campuses of the University of Missouri and St. Louis University, and the Find more like this button on as well as its predecessor, the Information Access Committee. City/State/Zip ______Introductory Price of the citation with the highest relevancy Phone ______Fax ______Email ______00 ranking pulled up an additional 300,675 Ms. Pallardy chaired the Libraries’ Electronic Resources Committee which $295. for Libraries hits. In the first 10 records, only two looked at ways of making electronic journals more accessible to users. She Signature ______00 for all others additional records warranted some atten- serves on Library Council, an advisory committee for the Library Director. $495. tion. Combining the words (bridge or She has designed the Libraries’ Distance Learning Web pages as well as I am Interested in being a Reviewer. Yes overpass) with the classification code for Web pages for the Engineering Library, the MU Libraries Staff Develop- 618 S. Monroe Way, Denver, CO 80209 Ph: 303-282-9706 Fax: 303-282-9743 http://www.charlestonco.com bridges (401*) and the Find more like this, ment Committee, and the MLA Ad Hoc Review Committee. I retrieved 1070 records. Over 299,000 records are not relevant to the topic. Ide-
40 The Charleston Advisor / October 1999 www.charlestonco.com The Charleston Advisor / October 1999 www.charlestonco.com 17