Automated assistance in the formulation of search statements for bibliographic databases

We report on the design and construction of features of an automated query system which will assist pharmacologists who are not information specialists to access the Derwent Drug File (DDF) pharmacological database. Our approach was to first elucidate those search skills of the search intermediary which might prove tractable to automation. Modules were then produced which assist in the three important subtasks of search statement generation, namely vocabulary selection, the choice of context indicators and query reformulation. Vocabulary selection is facilitated by approximate string matching, morphological analysis, browsing and menu searching. The context of the study, such as treatment or metabolism, is determined using a system of advisory menus. The task of query reformulation is performed using user feedback on retrieved documents, thesaurus relations between document index terms and term postings data. Use is made of diverse information sources, including electronic forms of printed search aids, a thesaurus and a medical dictionary. The system will be of use both to semicasual users and experienced intermediaries. Many of the ideas developed should prove transportable to domains other than pharmacology: the techniques for thesaurus manipulation are designed for use with any hierarchical thesaurus.     

First person: The Persian Gulf War

This article presents the experiences and views of four journalists assigned to the Persian Gulf War.     

Amalgamations and the Changing Costs of Victorian Colleges of Advanced Education during the 1970s and 1980s

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the change in average costs per student and student/staff ratios of a selection of Victorian Colleges of Advanced Education that were involved in the 1981/82 round of amalgamations. The results are compared to the average costs of some colleges that were not involved in amalgamations at this time in order to determine if there is any evidence from this limited data that the mergers achieved economies of size and scope.     

Patterns of change in U.K. graduate unemployment, 1962–87

This paper is concerned with the changing pattern over time of unemployment among U.K. graduates at the outset and during the early stages of their careers. It is argued that, although the topic is highly relevant to a wide range of policy issues it has, as yet, received only limited attention from researchers. In the paper, unemployment trends in aggregate, by faculty and by subject are examined, using data from the annual First Destination Return, first compiled for the 1961/2 university graduates, and the 1970 and 1980 Graduate cohort surveys. In addition, differences related to gender and also to type of institution of study are identified, and the relationship between new graduate unemployment and unemployment in the U.K. economy as a whole is investigated. It is demonstrated that the basic trend of new graduate unemployment follows closely that of economy-wide unemployment, but that, within the graduate labour market, there is substantial, and persisting, variation across faculties and subjects. Possible explanations of this variation, arising from differing strengths of demand and supply, are suggested and the paper concludes that there is therefore scope for influence on the graduate labour market to bring about a closer correspondence of demand and supply.     

Authors Index Volume 28 2000

Authors Index

Authors Index Volume 28 2000