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Discussions relating to the identification of courses and the development of curricula for the information- science field cannot yield meaningful results unless the conceptual framework of the field is first delimited and its basic segments defined. Starting with the current ASIS definition of information science, an analysis is made of the rationale of current thinking relevant to the conceptual boundaries and intellectual content of the field. Information science is analyzed to be comprised of the segments of: (1) Conceptualization, (2) Storage/Transmission, and (3) Utilization. Two of the segments are shown to be based on subjective notions, which can be investigated, for the most part, through the employment of statistical and normative survey methodology. One of the segments is shown to be susceptible of the application of more rigorous research methodology capable of yielding empirical proof. Since all three segments form integral parts of the field, they need to be fully represented in the information science curriculum. The technologist as well as the humanist can make significant contributions to the growth and development of the information-science field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Systematic reviews are considered the highest level of evidence that can help guide evidence‐informed decisions in nursing practice, education, and even health policy. Systematic review publications have increased from a sporadic few in 1980s to more than 10,000 systematic reviews published every year and around 30,000 registered in prospective registries. Methods: A cross‐sectional design and a variety of data sources were triangulated to identify the journals from which systematic reviews would be evaluated for adherence to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 reporting guidelines and scope. Specifically, this study used the PRISMA 2020 reporting guidelines to assess the reporting of the introduction, methods, information sources and search strategy, study selection process, quality/bias assessments, and results and discussion aspects of the included systematic reviews. Results: Upon review of the 215 systematic reviews published in 10 top‐tier journals in the field of nursing in 2019 and 2020, this study identified several opportunities to improve the reporting of systematic reviews in the context of the 2020 PRISMA statement. Areas of priority for reporting include the following key areas: (1) information sources, (2) search strategies, (3) study selection process, (4) bias reporting, (5) explicit discussion of the implications to policy, and lastly, the need for (6) prospective protocol registration. Discussion: The use of the PRISMA 2020 guidelines by authors, peer reviewers, and editors can help to ensure the transparent and detailed reporting of systematic reviews published in the nursing literature. Clinical Relevance: Systematic reviews are considered strong research evidence that can guide evidence‐based practice and even clinical decision‐making. This paper addresses some common methodological and process issues among systematic reviews that can guide clinicians and practitioners to be more critical in appraising research evidence that can shape nursing practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on Charles Bishop's recently proposed use of "coden" in documentation to identify uniquely and briefly each paper published in scientific periodicals. This coden would consist of a four-letter abbreviation to identify the journal, followed by the volume number, followed by the number of the page on which the paper commences. Some journals that publish more than one volume a year start numbering the volumes afresh at the beginning of each year. If two or more papers commence on the same page. they must be distinguished. The coden proposed by Bishop does not specify the date. The main question for debate is whether knowledge of the year is worth the price of one extra digit.

This article presents information on research on the possibilities of mechanizing indexing. However, simple investigations can be made, requiring no machines, which should also produce some useful results concerning the possibilities of mechanized indexing. This brief paper describes some simple explorations of this character, and makes a few comments on their possible outcome. For several reasons, this paper suggests the trying out of relatively simple possible rules for mechanized indexing. The only virtue of an existing indexing vocabulary in a retrieval system is that it works well.

It is the purpose of this paper to explore the use of extracts by reporting the results of a survey of the current acceptability and use of extracts, by a literature review and by suggesting guidelines for selecting extract material. The survey shows that extracts are currently being used in information services, especially for current awareness. Most consider extracting a time-saver. The methods for selecting material from a document are not well defined. A search of the literature produced only thirteen documents which deal with manually produced extracts. As reported in the literature, materials extracted include the author summaries, first and/or last paragraphs, selected sentences, the first page, and material selected by subject specialists from the entire text. The value of extracts as measured by whether they lead the user to relevant documents was experimentally demonstrated. The purpose of the guidelines is to help the librarian and information specialist produce an informative extract. There was no substantial evidence that extracting is less costly than abstracting. The main criteria considers whether to spend the money to resay what the author has said or get a better understanding of the paper and use the author's words to describe it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article a set of requirements for the design of a personal document management system is presented, based on the results of three research studies (Bondarenko, 2006; Bondarenko & Janssen, 2005; Bondarenko & Janssen, 2009). We propose a framework, based on layers of task decomposition, that helps to understand the needs of information workers with regard to personal document and task management. Relevant user processes are described and requirements for a document-management system are derived for each layer. The derived requirements are compared to related studies, and implications for system design are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objective of this paper is to examine the concept of about as it is used in its information retrieval sense when, for example, an indexer judges that a document is (or is not) about some given subject. The problem with about is that it is a very complex notion and we are unable to say precisely what it is we do when we make judgment of aboutness. Since about is at the heart of indexing, how are we to formulate any proper theory of indexing if we cannot explicate precisely the key concept of about? In this paper we look at this concept of about and offer a solution to the problem mentioned; it consists of an operational definition of about which interprets about in terms of search behavior. A second objective of this paper is to show that about is, in fact, not the central concept in a theory of document retrieval. A document retrieval system ought to provide a ranked output (in response to a search query) not according to the degree that they are about the topic sought by the inquiring patron, but rather according to the probability that they will satisfy that person's information need. This paper shows how aboutness is related to probability of satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a list of research papers on subject and linguistic analysis in information science. In the paper "Study of Theories and Models of Information Storage and Retrieval: Report No. 7: Graphs and Algorithms for Term Relations," an algorithm is presented for grouping the terms of a document corpus into genera, and it is shown that the different genera of the graph G = (T, M), where T is the set of index terms and M the reflexive, symmetrical relation of matching, constitute a partition of T. In "All Evaluation of Links and Roles Used in Information Retrieval," links and roles are techniques for modifying a basic coordinate indexing method.

ABSTRACT Background Health care associated infections are a major contributor to avoidable harm experienced by patients in modern health care settings. Recent reports suggest that electronic checklists for the documentation of a central line bundle may significantly enhance documented process compliance and help to reduce catheter-related bloodstream infection rates. Aims This paper describes the use of our electronic tool to monitor and feedback process compliance in conjunction of introducing bespoke central line insertion packs to tackle catheter-related bloodstream infections in our intensive care unit in a medium-sized district general hospital. Design and methods Continuous quality improvement programme with 'Plan-Do-Study-Act' cycles was implemented. The central venous catheter insertion and maintenance bundle was rolled out in 2007. To monitor compliance with the bundle elements, an electronic tool was designed as part of our bedside Clinical Information System. From 2009, regular quarterly feedback was provided on the number of central venous catheter lines inserted, compliance with the insertion and maintenance bundle and catheter-related bloodstream infection rate using the data collected through the Clinical Information System. We have also introduced dedicated line insertion trolleys and factory-prepared insertion packs. We used segmented regression analysis to assess the changes in the catheter-related bloodstream infection rate before and after implementation of the central venous catheter bundle. Results Bundle compliance increased during the implementation period and reached over 95% within 6 months. We observed a significant reduction in the catheter-related bloodstream infection rate from 15·6/1000 days to 0·4/1000 days. Regression analysis showed that only the compliance had significant effect on the number and prevalence of catheter-related bloodstream infections. Conclusion/Implications Implementation of evidence-based care bundles reinforced by real-time feedback on the performance of caregivers can significantly reduce the rate of catheter-related bloodstream infection in the intensive care unit. Ensuring that change processes are seamlessly integrated in the workflow with minimal administrative burden is crucial to the quality improvement process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both the users and processers of information-- particularly in the realm of science and technology--have long been aware of the fact that the information in a patent, paper or similar document will be characterized by a variety of features, such as various entities (substances, devices, apparatus, etc.), their attributes, one or more processes or interactions, attendant circumstances and the results of interaction. The multidimensional nature of information has been the basis for successful application of sorting devices permitting information to be selected on the basis of any one feature or combination of features. (1) Experiments with newly developed IBM equipment, (2) have demonstrated that grouping concepts into arrays sometimes called abstraction ladders is a convenient method for making generic terminology available as a basis for conducting searches. The present paper outlines a punching system which would permit abstraction ladders to be coded for handsorted punched cards. The punching system is undergoing test at the present time. The results of these tests will be reported subsequently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is pointed out that if information science is to be considered a "true" science similar to physics or chemistry then it must have a set of concepts and analytical expressions which apply to the flow of information in a general way. Such expressions should be relatively independent of the particular context or application under consideration. Definitions of a rigorous nature for the fundamental quantities involved must be established. These must have general applicability and must be related to other known and measurable quantities. It is desirable also that they be capable of quantification. In several previous papers, the author and a colleague have described a model of a generalized information system which has wide, and perhaps universal applicability. This paper elaborates on this model and indicates the range of its applicability. Several fundamental quantities are defined specifically in a way which allows for quantification. It is pointed out in this paper that this model can be the basis for the development of a "true" science of information with all of the necessary requirements for a science. By the use of this model and the definition of a "true" science, the goals and requirements for a curriculum in information science are thus established. Various applications of information science must then exist in much the same way that many applications of physics exist. In the latter case, the applications usually give rise to various branches of engineering. In the case of information science, one of the applications is librarianship-although many others exist as well. Some of these are referred to in the paper. In particular, science information as a subset of information science is discussed. Within this context, information is defined as data of value in decision making. Quantitative measures of information can be obtained by relating information to specific observable actions which can be measured physically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Montgomery-Swanson study of Index Medicus heading-title correlations is discussed. Some presently unanswered questions relevant to practical use of their automatic indexing technique are indicated. Contrasted with the 86% heading-title correlation figure which they found for Index Medicus are the following ranges (based on small samples); Index-Handbook of Cardiovascular Agents: 19-45%. Merck Sharp and Dohme Retrieval System: 40-68%; NIH Research Grants Index: 13-39 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on information related to international conference on scientific information. The National Science Foundation, the American Documentation Institute, and the National Academy of Sciences. National Research Council are sponsoring an International Conference on Scientific Information to be held in Washington, D.C., early in November of 1958. There has been a great deal of comment about the increasing difficulties in scientific communication arising from the increasing tempo of research activity and the resulting flood of scientific publications.

This article reviews the extant accounting information systems (AIS) literature by conducting an analysis of AIS articles published in 18 leading accounting, management information systems, and computer science journals from 1999 to 2009 with a view to identifying whether or not the focus of AIS research has changed, and if so how it has changed, since the review of AIS research from 1982 to 1998. We also report our insights into where AIS research is likely to be heading in the future. We analyse each of the 395 articles identified as reporting AIS research to identify their underlying theory, research method and research topic. Our results confirm the continuing decline in analytical and model-building research in AIS-related research and this decline is associated with a similar decline in the use of computer science theory to motivate this research. We also find that two theoretical platforms, in particular, now account for almost half (48 per cent) of all AIS research: cognitive psychology and economics. Experimental research methods and archival studies continue to grow as the preferred methods for testing the AIS-related theories derived from these theory domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines exploratory research undertaken by the “A New Sense of Place?” Project in Bristol, UK, into the potential new, location sensitive, computing technologies may have for enhancing urban children's socio-spatial practices. The paper describes a series of workshops held with children in which mapping activities and use of the technologies are supported by the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS). The paper suggests that sound-enabled GIS could play a major role in the management of such technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Publications based on large healthcare databases that contain data pertaining to wound-related outcomes are starting to appear more frequently. However, concern exists in regard to study design adequacy, the methodology used to minimize misclassifications, bias, and confounding, and lack of full reporting. The STROBE guidelines were published to encourage fuller reporting of observational studies and have now been extended using the RECORD statement to better document routinely collected healthcare data. In this paper, elements of the RECORD statement have been used to create guidelines for study design, cohort matching, reporting criteria, and analysis frameworks in regard to analyses of populations involving comparative effectiveness research. It is recommended that researchers present full data analysis with minimal inclusion and exclusion criteria and preplanned subgroups analyses rather than attempt to emulate randomized controlled trials, as patterns of product administration are likely to be vastly different to those using controlled trials; moreover, missing data are very common. Suggestions for creating better matched cohorts, classification of wound- and patient-related variables, and a rationale for reporting at a minimum a particular set of benchmarks to better characterize wound care populations is also presented. Adherence to these guidelines would improve the credibility of studies and make comparisons between studies much easier. Finally, an adaptation of the Cochrane risk of bias tool is presented in connection with the proposed guidelines for systematic reviewers to assess these kinds of retrospective studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this systematic review is to identify current computer-assisted technologies used for managing patients with a need to re-establish craniofacial appearance, subjective discomfort and stomatognathic function, and the extent of their clinical documentation. Electronic search strategies were used for locating clinical studies in MEDLINE through PubMed and in the Cochrane library, and in the grey literature through searches on Google Scholar. The searches for commercial digital products for use in oral rehabilitation resulted in identifying 225 products per November 2016, used for patient diagnostics, communication and therapy purposes, and for other computer-assisted applications in context with oral rehabilitation. About one-third of these products were described in about 350 papers reporting from clinical human studies. The great majority of digital products for use in oral rehabilitation has no clinical documentation at all, while the products from a distinct minority of manufacturers have frequently appeared in more or less scientific reports. Moore's law apply also to digital dentistry, which predicts that the capacity of microprocessors will continue to become faster and with lower cost per performance unit, and innovative software programs will harness these improvements in performance. The net effect is the noticeable short product life cycle of digital products developed for use in oral rehabilitation and often lack of supportive clinical documentation. Nonetheless, clinicians must request clinically meaningful information about new digital products to assess net benefits for the patients or the dental professionals and not accept only technological verbiage as a basis for product purchases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to a rapid expansion of most domains in recent times, there is a constant growing need for information. Together with this phenomenon, there has been an explosive growth of the amount of data needed and the corresponding means of data storage. In order to handle these large amounts of data and to realize a fast processing of the information asked for, more and more institutions and organizations have set up automized information processing and have built up their database. Appearing in all kinds of applications such as economical, social, political, medical, and governmental fields, databases have already proven their ability to reduce time and space with respect to the retrieval as well as to the storage of data and information. In many situations we have to deal with data which are given in imprecise form or which are only partially known or even totally unknown. We may expect that the construction of databases which can represent and manipulate fuzzy data will increase the application areas of database systems and improve the interface between men and machines. In this paper we have made a brief survey of the numerous applications of fuzzy set theory on data representation and information retrieval. The importance of fuzzy set theory with respect to information systems is illustrated by means of an already extensive bibliography containing more than 80 papers describing data systems that are somehow "fuzzy." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers conceptual and methodological components of information science evaluation studies. The paper discusses the judgmental process of evaluation and the scientific nature of evaluation study in the context of purpose statements; criteria; the selection of variables and data collection and analysis techniques; and requirements of validity, reproducibility and reliability. Industrial value analysis/engineering methodology is described and related to assessments of information products and services. The state-of-the-art of evaluation study in information science is analyzed with respect to 1. the scope of evaluation studies; 2. the use of laboratory-type environments; 3. the use of surrogate judges; 4. selection of variables; 5. frequency of study; and 6. comparability of study results. Evaluation study is seen as essential to the management of information centers and systems and as having appreciable growth potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing realization of the importance of information concepts in the development of information science. Although some research in this field has been carried out in English-speaking countries, a much larger body of work has developed in the USSR, most of which is unknown to information scientists in the non-socialist countries. The present paper discusses some basic aspects of this research, reviews some significant new approaches to determination of information concepts, and appends a selected bibliography to serve as a guide to the Soviet literature of information for information science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The various operational characteristics defined in this paper provide a basis for quantitative evaluation of the performance of an information retrieval system. Such evaluation is essential in guiding the design of a documentation system so that it may achieve an optimum margin of benefits provided over costs incurred. Insight gained by consideration of operational characteristics is particularly helpful in making decisions with regard to a wide range of technical questions that are encountered in designing documentation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(I) Better understanding of subject document retrieval might result if different functions of subject document retrieval systems are studied separately. This paper is concerned with retrieval of documents, in response to a question, from which answers to that question can be inferred ("answer-providing documents"). "Answer can be inferred from document" has many possible meanings, one of which must be selected (an "inference specification"). Inasmuch as scientists in a field sometimes disagree about the correctness of inferences, have somewhat different background knowledge, etc., any inference specification can only approximate scientific inference practices. Two sources of systematic knowledge of document-statement inference practices in a scientific field are described. (II) If a content word occurs in a question, then it occurs in any answer to that question (with some apparently tractable exceptions). An indexing procedure based on that fact is described which would permit retrieval of all answer-providing documents for a question. However, because the indexing is "nonrelational," it could cause false retrievals as well. Various ways of dealing with such false retrievals are briefly indicated, and a study is sketched that would provide data for helping selection among them. Two special points concerning indexing for retrieval of answer-providing documents are discussed separately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous applications of simulation to information storage and retrieval systems (ISRS) have been overly restrictive in their scope and have failed to consider the environment within which such systems operate. This paper considers the ISRS as a subsystem within a larger system which includes the users and the funders ot the retrieval system. The three components form a closed-loop information feedback system in which user response influences both the funding and operation of the ISRS as it attempts to satisfy user needs within a finite budget allocation. Reward-cost theory provides the bask for describing user behavior. An industrial dynamics model has been developed to simulate ISRS/user/funder behavior where a university departmental library is the ISRS component. The results which such an analysis can produce are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scale of activity in Information Science and Retrieval, unique in the twentieth century, is plotted by surveying three areas of impingement between professional people and information systems. The first testimony cites the momentum in a major scientific society with respect to the reorganization and automation of publication and retrieval. The second projects the state of the art in the time-sharing of computer programs and files to the degree that the exchange of information is becoming a completely economic and critical tool for education, with man-machine interfaces provided for students and professors alike. The third deals with the rapid progress in the realization of man-interface conversation in nearly natural English format, made possible by sophisticated programs and hardware. The prognostication of the impact of these increasing capabilities on the deepest concerns and activities of mankind is sketched. The immediate availability throughout the world of all information files will engender continual review and evaluation in the scientific spirit that welcomes reexamination of any data without fear. In liberal education, there must be a responsibility to prepare minds for this regimen in the world of scholarship of the 1970's, but there must be a concomitant exhilaration of the young human spirit in the seeking of the total view and of a value system for the individuality in the universe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization was developed as a common framework to understand health and to describe the impact of health condition on functioning. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the literature on the use of the ICF in physical therapy practice and research. Methods We performed a scoping-narrative review and searched for relevant English language articles from 2001 to 2012 in multiple databases that included MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed and Physiotherapy Evidence Database. Our keywords for the search consisted of ['physical therapy' OR 'physiotherapy'] AND ['ICF']. All types of articles were considered. Results We found 268 articles; out of which, 79 were reviewed. The years with most publications were 2011 ( n = 16), 2008 ( n = 15) and 2010 and 2012 (both with n = 13). Publications mostly came from the United States with 27% of the articles. The journal Physical Therapy leads with almost a third of ICF-related physical therapy publications. The ICF has been mostly used in studies of musculoskeletal and neuromuscular conditions. We found a wide array of application of the ICF in research, clinical practice and teaching (classroom and clinical education). Emerging topics included using the ICF in resource allocation and prevention and wellness. Conclusion The use of the ICF in physical therapy practice and research is promising and continues to evolve. With recent developments in ICF-based measurement and integration in assessment tools for use in the clinics, research and teaching, the need to show the added value of using the ICF in practice and research remains. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a list of research papers on some proposed facilities other information centers related to information science. "A Retrieval System for Searching Defense Documentation Center Magnetic Tape Files," states that a document retrieval system was developed with the cooperation of the Defense Documentation Center. This report describes the logic of the computer program developed, and provides instructions for use of the program. "USAF Mechanical Properties Data Center," cover the continued operation of the U.S.A.F. Mechanical Properties Data Center, including the expansion of data files, capabilities, and data output.

This empirical research examines the effects of the COVID‐19 pandemic on information management (IM) in remote or hybrid work. We present an in‐depth statistical analysis of 716 responses to questionnaires received from employees and managers of four Israeli government ministries. The participants were asked to report characteristics such as accessibility, retrieval speed, ease of locating, and relevance of information, in order to assess the quality of organizational IM before and during COVID‐19. The findings reveal that IM quality was maintained even when organizations were forced to quickly adapt to working remotely during the pandemic. Regardless of work location, differences in perception of IM were found among organizations of different sizes: large, medium, and small. The majority of respondents who reported not using IM systems (IMS) before COVID‐19 also stated that even after the pandemic's onset, they still did not use them. A lower frequency of IMS use has been associated with a decline in IM quality. Given the far‐reaching changes in IM induced by the pandemic, many of which have the potential to be long‐lasting, these findings serve as an opening for valuable future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Persons with intellectual disabilities may present with multiple and complex needs including communication difficulties which may contribute to their challenging behaviors. Having a holistic account of each individual in terms of his or her needs, likes, and dislikes and behavioral issues may help to prevent communication breakdown between the persons with intellectual disabilities and caregivers which may in turn improve their quality of life and reduce their challenging behaviors. Communication passport is a practical and person‐centered document providing a special and efficient way of sorting and presenting important and complex information about the person into an accessible manner. We describe the development and introduction of communication passports in an acute inpatient unit for adults with intellectual disabilities at the Institute of Mental Health, a tertiary psychiatric hospital in Singapore. The study team developed a communication passport through literature review, focus group discussions and liaison with caregivers and patients with intellectual disabilities. After an initial pilot for 6 months, improvements were made in the content and presentation. It was designed in such a way that useful information about the patient's personal and communication needs as well as behavioral problems and interventions were easily passed on to the community caregivers at the point of patient's discharge from the hospital. The final format of the communication passport consisted of a 12‐page document encompassing multiple aspects including communication and behavioral profile. Our work may provide the necessary framework and directions in developing communication passports for services providers caring for people with intellectual disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of the design requirements for transparent information retrieval. The term "transparent information retrieval" implies that the user sees through the complexity of the sequence of retrieval activities. In a transparent system the user would supply to a retrieval system a query or problem for which the answer resides in stored information/data, he would then retrieve the information/data that contains the answer-or upon which the answer is based-without seeing the complexity of the intervening transactions that take place between the posing of the query and the provision of the final results. While the likelihood of developing a total transparent system for world knowledge is extremely remote, many partial solutions can be, and are being, developed under the names of front ends, interfaces, intermediaries, and gateways. These are aids that partially meet the need for transparent systems. This article discusses the need for transparent information retrieval systems and the history of research that has been directed toward meeting the need. As the term information is used in this paper it refers to information in all forms-numeric data, pictorial information, as well as textual or word-oriented information. A taxonomy of the functions involved in information retrieval is provided, together with an indication of what needs to be automated and how it can be, has been, or is being done. The functions are classified into four major groups-automated converters, routers, selectors, and evaluators!analyzers. Also discussed are issues that have an impact on the development and implementation of automated retrieval functions: transparency aids, centralization vs. decentralization, privacy and need to know, the position of players in the database-use chain and the implications for control, and vertical and horizontal gateways. The final section treats new technologies, such as CD-ROM, and the possible effect they may have on transparency aids such as gateways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was argued in Part I (see JASIS, March-April 1973 p. 87) that the best way to evaluate a retrieval system is, in principle at least, to elicit subjective estimates of the system's utility to its users, quantified in terms of the numbers of utiles (e.g. dollars) they would have been willing to give up in exchange for the privilege of using the system; and a naive methodology was outlined for evaluating retrieval systems on this basis. But the impracticality of the naive evaluation procedure as It stands raises the questions: How can one decide which practical measure is likely to yield results most closely resembling those of the naive methodology? And how can one tell whether the resemblance is close enough to make applying the measure worth while? In the present paper two kinds of solution to these problems are taken up. The first answers the questions in terms of the reasonableness of the simplifying assumptions needed to get from the naive measure to the proposed substitute. The second answers it by experimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequently it is useful to abbreviate or otherwise transform keys used for the retrieval of information. These transformations include the compression of long keys into a fixed field length by operations on characters or groups of characters, hash or random transformations in order to obtain a direct address, or phonetic coding to order to group together keys that are in some way similar. The various transformations have differing effects on file retrieval schemes. Given a transformation algorithm and data to be transformed, it is possible to characterize certain qualities of the algorithm that re late to retrieval problems. This paper is concerned with some measures of effectiveness of such transformation algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an annotated collection of bibliographical notes on and abstracts of books and articles pertaining to the various aspects of the organization of information, which is the eighth installment of the bibliography compiled cooperatively by the Committee on Organization of Information of the American Documentation Institute. The "American Printer," published in December 1951, reportedly, covers printer's buying guide and directory issue. Documentalists are advised to scrutinize this issue of American Printer. The "Inquiry Concerning the Professional Education of Librarians and Documentalists" is a final report to the Joint Committee on Professional Training of the International Federation of Library Associations and of the International Federation for Documentation on an inquiry conducted with UNESCO's support. It, reportedly, discusses the state of professional training for librarians and information officers and their status in many different countries and also the varying qualifications and means of selection for the profession and current curricula and textbooks.

The article reports that an associative searching technique has been developed for the automatic storage and retrieval of natural language message information. A user may employ his own vocabulary in formulating a typewritten request and the technique allows the machine to find relevant information even when there is no direct matching of vocabulary items. The method thus lends itself to ready interaction between computer and user. Answers are based on the network of associations implicit in the stored message data, and items are outputted in order of decreasing relevance to the question.

For more than two years the Center for Documentation and Communication Research of Western Reserve University has been actively engaged in operating the American Society for Metals Documentation Service. Since this has been a new venture in information retrieval, it is thought to be of sufficient interest to others to justify a report on our cost and operational experiences thus far. Five previous reports prepared under grant number G-10338 for the National Science Foundation have been concerned primarily with the `input' portion of an information retrieval system. Although this is the sixth in the series, it is the first to report specifically on the `output,' i.e., the provision of answers to questions by means of machine searching. It discusses in detail the procedures and costs of conducting searches, and it exposes several of the important but not easily predicted variables which affect the entire cost structure. Unlike Report No. IV, which analyzed the `input' costs of the Service and formulated a final figure of $6303 per abstract, Report No. VI presents ranges of costs which are applicable only to given situations. Future papers will expand on the phases of `output' which are mentioned only briefly here and will report on the progress made in improving and refining procedures and in establishing a more compact cost structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While inverted indexing systems have provided new capabilities in information searching and retrieval, the use of nonsignificant or accession index notation and document storage has also imposed various fundamental restraints on the basic user-collection relationship. The purpose of this paper is to outline an indexing notation approach which can modify these constraints and still retain the search simplicity and effectiveness of inverted indexing. This concept has been designated as Maxterm-Miniterm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persons performing research in the field of information retrieval need to be concerned with likenesses as well as differences in various automated systems. This paper uses the same computer routines to com- pare two dictionaries of different sizes, having some similar features and some different features it compares the use of the dictionaries in building their input file, and discusses the frequency of occurrence of descriptors and their combining power, with an analysis of the data generated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the organization of a file and a retrieval system developed for use on a large-scale engineering project. The work on the file system was motivated by a respect and appreciation for the importance of a good retrieval system--not only in terms of the cost and efficiency of a research project, but also for its success as well. The principles developed and utilized in creating this system should be useful to technical and research management and to others concerned with projects that can be structuralized.

The article focuses on the information retrieval system. Retrieval is often carried out by superimposing punched cards or metal plates representing the terms or descriptors, in which the holes represent the documents to which the terms apply. The principal difference among the various systems is in the nature of the terms used to index the documents. These vary from several thousand in the Uniterm system, to a few hundred, or even less than a hundred, descriptors in the Zatocoding system. In Zatocoding, a set of random numbers is assigned to each descriptor to be encoded, and each number corresponds to a hole to be punched in a given field on cards representing the documents.

The article presents a list of research papers on information systems. In the report "The Utilization of Information Sources During R & D Proposal Preparation," twenty-two proposal competitions for government R & D contract, involving 156 proposal teams, are examined to determine the relative use of three sources of technical information. The paper "Environmental Information Needs of an Army RDT&E Laboratory," outlines the needs of the designer, the reliability engineer, the product improvement redesign engineer, the quality control engineer, the specification writer, and the environmental test engineer.

The article presents a dictionary of terms related to documentation as of December 3, 1962. Some of the terms are classification, a system of arranging similar things into a unique order, a self-evident impossibility; computer, an enormously overgrown on-off machine; document, any conceivable scrap of paper with marks on it; documentalist, a harmless paper-shuffler; and index, a system of analyzing information in which the method used to choose categories is carefully hidden from the ultimate user.

The article provides information on a series of papers on various aspects of the work of the Fédération Internationale de Documentation (FID). Linguistics is the study of language. Documentation is the process of selection of documents, its result, and the study of both. Since most documents are expressed in language, it is obvious that linguistics has implications for information science. The FID Committee on Linguistics in Documentation (FID/LD) sees as its responsibility to explore whatever interrelations there may be between the two fields and to contribute in any way possible to encouraging more. One contribution is by publication, another by sponsoring meetings. As to publication, since its reorganization in 1967 the Committee has initiated two projects: first, a specialized abstract bulletin, "Linguistics in Documentation/Current Abstracts"; and second, the preparation of a book length report on the present state of knowledge concerning linguistics in information science. The principal topic on the agenda for the Committee meeting at Buenos Aires was discussion of the Report.

The basic opinion voiced in this paper is that an information scientist, in the all-round sense of the word, is an individual who is capable of dealing with information problems wherever they occur. Libraries make up only one of hundreds of environments in which an information scientist should be able to work intelligently on problems, and library science is only one part of the much broader field of information science. In the University, the logical organization for training information scientists would be in a Department of Information Science which would grant a degree in information science. It would also grant a degree in library science as a highly specialized degree within the information science field. The total number of courses to prepare a student for work in all fields of information science is too large to be incorporated into the one-year-plus-one-summer period which is presently allotted to earning a master's degree in library science. The information science sequence should start in the freshman year and result in the traditional bachelor's (after 4 years), master's (after 1 or 2 additional years) and doctor's (after at least 3 years beyond the master's) degree. As the student progresses through the various degrees, increasing specialization takes place, and increasing emphasis would be placed on research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a list of research papers on specific classification and indexing systems used in information technology. In the paper "Practical Aspects Concerning the Development and Use of ASTIA's Thesaurus in Information Retrieval," a detailed description on the nature of ATIA's report literature control problem and the evaluation of a mechanized system for storage and retrieval of document references pertaining to science, technology, and medicine. In the paper "An IGY/IGC Data Publication with a Built-in Retrieval System," a classification and coding system is described which was incorporated into the publication of IGY and IGC meteorological data on microcards.

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The article focuses on the difference between coden and sigils system of documentation. The original intention for developing the coden was to supply a unique, concise designation for each journal article. prototype. Two advantages of this arrangement were the ability to search the card file chronologically by journal and the ease of maintaining a reprint file by coden because of the uniformity of format within any journal. A much more important difference between coden and sigils is the latter's use of the year of publication as a filing device. Regardless of differences in form, both the coden and the sigils have one purpose, to uniquely, and concisely identify a journal article. Neither forms will have universal significance until a suitable list of journal abbreviations becomes available.

The article presents a list of research papers on some proposed facilities other information centers related to information science. In "An Automated Sea Surveillance System," the organization and maintenance are presented of an automated sea surveillance file for merchant ships. The solution of this problem must be based on a description and definition of the file itself and flow-charts describing the updating processes. In "The Medium-Sized Information Service: Its Automation for Retrieval," a theoretical discussion of the basic elements influencing the organization and operation of a documentation office is followed by a case study.

Background Identifying the information needs of Emergency Department ( ED) staff and sources of information that they use can help to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the ED. As Emergency Medicine has unique characteristics, information needs of the Emergency Department ( ED) staff might be different from other settings. However, few studies have investigated the information needs of ED staff and the sources of information that they use. Objectives We aimed to investigate the information needs of ED staff and the sources of information that they used in their practice. Methods It was a qualitative study, in which data were collected using semi-structured interviews and 34 ED staff were interviewed in total. To analyse data, the method of framework analysis was used. Results Different types of information needs and sources of information were found in the ED. Patient information was considered the most important type of information, and verbal communication was the most frequently used source of information. Conclusion The variety of information used in the ED shows task complexity in this department which might not be simply addressed by technology. Further research is needed to identify how computerised information systems can be improved to meet users' information needs in the ED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim This research aimed to evaluate an online electronic record prototype incorporating the Nutrition Care Process and International Dietetics and Nutrition Terminology. Methods Concept design and programming were conducted to create a prototype from an existing online records program. Twelve dietitians from Perth and surrounds trialled the prototype. Online anonymous questionnaires assessed attitudes and confidence around using the Nutrition Care Process and standardised terminology, current practices and opinions on the prototype. A focus group further investigated topics in more detail. Results Part implementation of the Nutrition Care Process (e.g. nutrition diagnosis only) was reported by 42% of dietitians; the remainder planned to implement in the future. Developing new record systems was identified as the most costly area of implementation, followed by dietitian training. After trialling the prototype, dietitians reported an increase of confidence of 17% in using the terminology if they had access to an electronic system. Focus group discussions indicated dietitians felt the prototype was easy to use, acted as a guide to documenting using the care process and terminology, and would be useful in national e-health records. They expressed interest in using an electronic system for research purposes including quality control, investigating intervention effectiveness and justifying the role of dietitians on a productivity basis. Conclusions Results of this pilot study support the concept that an electronic system using standardised terminology is likely to be well accepted by dietitians, and suggests further development of the prototype into a fully functioning system with scope for national electronic health record interoperability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]