Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

New Web Services That Help Authors Choose Journals, Amy Louise Forrester, Bo-Christer Björk, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

The motivations for an author to choose a journal to submit to are complex and include factors relating to impact and prestige, service quality, and publication costs and policies. Authors require information about multiple characteristics of journals that may be difficult to obtain. This article compares and contrasts the new author-oriented journal comparison tools and services that have emerged to assist researchers in this important step of the scholarly publishing process. Many of these tools combine factors to provide full web-based manuscript submission decision tools, however all have limitations that reduce their usefulness.

Swan Song And Issues Unresolved., Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Back To The Scriptorium: Amid Budget Woes, Vendors And Librarians Find A Common Purpose, Carol Tenopir, Gayle Baker, Jill E. Grogg

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Picture medieval monks hunched over their desks in the scriptorium as they labor to copy manuscripts. A 21st-century version of this activity is being repeated daily in the world's libraries and publishing houses as major digitization projects seek to preserve millions of printed books and documents. The work of medieval scribes ensured that the classics were available when the invention of movable type and the printing press made books accessible to the masses, transforming the world. Today's laborers are hunched over digitization equipment, but their goal is the same: copying and preserving resources so they are available now and into …

Information With A Twist: Vendors Keep The Party Going With Web 2.0, Carol Tenopir, Gayle Baker, Jill E. Grogg

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Social networking and other Web 2.0 technologies led the social whirl of the information industry. Publishers and librarians tried to keep their products and services relevant by mixing authoritative content with user involvement, but that wasn't enough. Enhancing interfaces, adding new forms of content, and making strategic acquisitions--all are necessary to ensure that the information industry party continues.

Thinking About Linking, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

LINKING TO FULL TEXT THROUGH link resolver technology and the OpenURL standard has made electronic journals a cornerstone of library collections. Users expect that full text will always be a click or two away and it brings the library catalog, indexing and abstracting databases, and full text into an integrated system. The impact is great as major and smaller players embrace linking to all types of digital materials.

Moving History Forward, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

CURRENT EVENTS, CURRENT awareness, and faster news mean the immediate present often dominates our worldview. But for many researchers, history informs the latest hot topic.

Visualizing Search, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

EXPECT MORE SEARCH SYSTEMS to incorporate visualization and other sophisticated search and display techniques. They not only give a system a distinctive look, they also help users get deeper into results and stimulate thinking about search strategies. Instruction librarians can use these tools to move students and researchers beyond just plain search and retrieval.

Some traditional systems are now adopting new search tools that go beyond text results. They incorporate clustering and visualization into search display that sidesteps long lists of document titles and the tendency of users to select just from the first ten results and stop there. These …

Building Bridges, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

MY CAREER AS A LIBRARIAN, LJ columnist, researcher, and teacher has been about building bridges--bridges between librarians and publishers, students and knowledge, and research and practice--which is probably why I was selected to deliver the NFAIS (National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services) Miles Conrad Memorial Lecture. Established in 1965, the lecture commemorates NFAIS founder G. Miles Conrad and honors people who have made significant contributions to information science (www.nfais.org). It isn't often that a librarian gets such acknowledgment from the information industry.

The work of librarians and information industry professionals is about connecting users to the information they need. …

The Value Of The Container, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

WHY ALL THE FUSS ABOUT ELECtronic journals? That was the question raised by Michael Gorman, the outspoken president of the American Library Association (ALA), at a session on "Future of Libraries" at the recent Online Information Meeting in London. "What we want is articles," said Gorman, calling the idea of putting them together in things called journals "irrelevant."

"We don't need e-journals," said the controversial Gorman. Articles should be put together by "our interests, not the editor's." The real problem, according to Gorman, is that there is no viable economic model. "Buying all articles [including those no one reads] is …

Books Are Back!, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

MORE THAN 1000 LIBRARIANS, publishers, and vendors jammed into the 25th annual Charleston Conference in South Carolina, November 2-5. Created by College of Charleston librarian Katina Strauch, the meeting brings together everyone in serials and acquisitions.

This year several speakers focused on book collections--print-on-paper books housed in bricks and mortar. Add in the discussions on ebooks and you could feel the back-to-book backlash.

Complex Syntax Lives On, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

ALL THE TALK OF SIMPLISTIC TEXTBOX interfaces as the goal leaves the impression that there is no need to know how to use special characters or syntax, that all systems are being dumbed down. Even library school students groan when they are first told to learn the complex commands of an "old-fashioned" power system like Dialog. They expect systems where the complexity is behind the scenes and everything is done for them. Despite these new attitudes, commands and complex syntax are still needed in online searching, even on the web.

Vendors And Search Engines, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

AT FIRST IT SEEMED INEVITABLE that free search engines would compete with fee-based online services. Now they work together.

Eric’S Extreme Makeover, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

ERIC, ONE OF THE VERY FIRST online bibliographic databases, was started in 1966---when subject-themed clearinghouses were established to gather, index, and input bibliographic information and make available journal articles and gray literature. The ERIC database has been a favorite resource ever since and, with over a million records, is the largest education database.

But like many baby boomers, ERIC is now undergoing a dramatic facelift. The new ERIC (which now stands for Education Resources Information Center, instead of educational) is being unveiled this month.

Searching Through Embedded Databases, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

THE DAY OF THE standalone database may be numbered. Database searching is now embedded in the latest version of Microsoft Office software, so the process of looking for information is interwoven into writing a report or creating a presentation. Some corporate librarians wonder how this will affect their role.

The Art Of Conjuring E-Content: Content Disappears, Companies Solidify Their Primary Businesses, Technology Connects And Expands Databases. (Database Marketplace 2003), Carol Tenopir, Gayle Baker, William Robinson

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

ANY MAGICIAN WOULD be proud of the database industry. Disappearing acts, metamorphoses, and even a bit of pure trickery characterized this "magical" year. The dirtiest trick award goes to the divine/RoweCom/Faxon debacle. This show unfolded over several months and continues, as both RoweCom and parent company divine have filed for bankruptcy. EBSCO having recently acquired what's left of RoweCom's subscription businesses worldwide and is working with publishers to strike a deal that will help libraries pull their undelivered serials out of the bankruptcy hat. But divine is also the parent company of NorthernLight. This highly touted web search engine …

Reflections On Two Decades, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

In 1983, the hottest issue was the entry of the end user. Throughout the previous decade, expert searchers were the only ones with their hands on the keyboard. The widespread acceptance of the personal computer in the early 1980s spurred new expectations. End user versions of major intermediary systems heralded the beginning of the end user revolution. By 1993, end users were accomplished searchers but most likely on CD-ROM versions of databases.

The Database Marketplace 2002: The Database Universe, Carol Tenopir, Gayle Baker, William Robinson

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

After acquiring the UnCover document delivery service in 2000, Ingenta developed a new Library Gateway service for document delivery. Users search one of two databases. One contains online full-text articles from 5400+ titles. The other database, for traditional document delivery, has citations from 20,000+ periodical titles, with articles supplied by the British Library Document Supply Centre and the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information.

The Database Marketplace 2001: Racing At Full Speed, Carol Tenopir, Gayle Baker, William Robinson

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

In both car racing and in the information industry, large multinational companies are major players. Though we don't yet wear the names of information companies like Thomson and Reed Elsevier on our T-shirts, their brands are on many of our products. In the last seven years, Thomson purchased Findlaw, Dialog, and Information Access Company, to add to holdings that already included Gale Group, ISI, and Westlaw.

Why I Still Teach Dialog, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

A GROUP OF SPECIAL librarians who run information services for multinational corporations recently told me what they looked for in new MLS graduates. They want people who feel comfortable learning and searching multiple online systems, teaching end users, and choosing the best resources.

Several in the group complained that, although their new hires were excellent web searchers and web page designers, they did not have enough experience with fee-based online services. One manager said she looks to MLS graduates for less common attributes; she wants people who understand how information systems are structured, can search fee-based systems with confidence, and …

Time To Redefine Database, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

IT USED TO BE EASY to define a database. It was "a continuously updated computer file of related information, abstracts, or references on a particular subject, arranged for ease and speed of search and retrieval" (ODLIS: Online Dictionary of Library and Information Science, www.wcsu.ctstateu.edu/library/ odlis.html). A database publisher such as Psychological Abstracts or Engineering Information was responsible for creating the content (and perhaps distributing the printed indexes), but the vendor, such as Dialog or SilverPlatter, transformed the content to make it searchable and then provided access.

The Database Marketplace 2000: Are Online Companies Dinosaurs?, Carol Tenopir, Jeff Barry

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

No player in the fee-based information industry can ignore the Internet, but many see it as an opportunity to expand services to their library customers rather than as a threat. Some companies that started in the CD-ROM business have adapted by offering web versions as well and are seeing much more growth in their web-based services. Gale Group is one that has successfully shifted its emphasis from CD-ROM to web versions. Gale's Beth Dempsey says, "The web has been a boon for Gale.

Patterns Of Database Use In Academic Libraries., Carol Tenopir, Eleanor Read

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Database usage data from a random sample of academic libraries in the United States and Canada reveal patterns of use in selected types of libraries. Library users tend to use commercial online databases most frequently early in the week, at midday, and at times that correspond to the academic calendar (November in this six-month sample). On average, relatively low numbers of users are simultaneously logged on to research databases at any size of library. A questionnaire sent to these same libraries identified many other factors that might influence database use, including level of instruction, availability of remote log-in, and placement …

Patterns Of Use And Usage Factors For Online Databases In Academic And Public Libraries, Carol Tenopir, Danielle Green

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Database usage data from a random sample of academic and public libraries in the U.S. and Canada reveals patterns of use in selected types of libraries. Library users in both public and academic libraries tend to use commercial online databases most frequently early in the week, mid-day, and at times that correspond to the academic calendar (November in this sex-month sample.) The mean number of simultaneous users is correlated with the size of the population served and the number o workstations available, but relatively low numbers of users are simultaneously logged on to research databases at all sizes of libraries. …

New Versions Of Old Favorites, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Many electronic database systems popular with libraries have migrated to a Web-based interface. Dow Jones Interactive, DialogWeb, LEXIS-NEXIS, and STN have all recently come out with Web databases or new versions of existing Web products. Brief evaluations of each are presented.

Recapturing The Past Online, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Libraries across the US are seeing an increased amount of automated information coming through to their schools. Some of these systems carry historical information which dates back only to the early seventies and maybe a few services offer articles written in the sixties. A move to update these files to include more valuable information to students as well as teachers are being devised by database producers.

Online Meetings Of Minds, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

The two big online conferences in the US are the National Online Meeting (NOM) and Online World. Tenopir discusses highlights of the 1998 NOM and offers information on the upcoming Online World conference.

Pricing Options, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Tenopir discusses database pricing issues in libraries. Pricing for digital products has been found to be much more complex than print pricing. The options that most libraries use fall into the categories of pay-as-you-go pricing, fixed-pricing, and user-based licensing.

The Data Dealers: Database Marketplace’97, Carol Tenopir, Jeff Barry

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

A 1997 alphabetical listing of data base providers is presented. The most significant development in the industry is the ongoing effort of vendors to make use of the World Wide Web in distributing their products. However, online and CD-ROM still remain the basic delivery methods.

Database Producers Go Online, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Relates the expansion by several major producers of general interest databases to becoming online vendors. IAC, EBSCO, and UMI joining Wilson as online purveyors of their own content; Their use of client/server technology, Z39.50 compliance, graphical user interfaces, access over the Internet, and the use of the World Wide Web (WWW) for enhanced document delivery; Detailed description of each vendors' databse.

Moving To The Information Village, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Explains how Engineering Information Inc.'s (EI) Engineering Information Village is a useful tool for librarians to bring order out of the chaotic information environment. Features of the Ei Village; The web as the heart of the Village; Ei Compendex Plus being the cornerstone of the village library; Prices; One of the first commercial integrated information products.