Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Boyce 1986
Boyce 1986
Boyce 1986
Essays of an Information Scientist, Vol. VI. Eugene Garfield. as well as several essays on the winners of specific scientific
Philadelphia, PA: IS1 Press; 1984: xix-673 pp. Price: $25.00 awards. There should also be placed in the latter category Gar-
ISBN 0-89495-032-O. field’s eulogy to his recently deceased friend, the renowned his-
torian of science, Derek J. de Solla Price, to whom this volume
It is with great trepidation that one approaches a collection
is dedicated. As is to be expected, many of the essays are based
of essays by Eugene Garfield, founder and president of the ln-
on citation analysis, and the volume contains numerous lists of
stitute for Scientific Information (ISI). One does not know
most-cited articles. Never one to shun controversy, Garfield has
whether to write a review of a book or a testimonial to an institu-
also included a carefully thought-out piece on how to use cita-
tion. Garfield is perhaps best known for his pioneering work in
tion analysis for faculty evaluations, as well as a discussion of
citation indexing, and through the development of ISI’s Sci-
the potential threat of the electronic information industry to
ewe Citrttion Index (SCI), Social Sciences Citation Index
conventional publishing. Then, too, there are some unclassifi-
(SSCI), and Arts R Humunities Citutiotl Index (A&HCl), he
able essays that outline Garfield’s pet peeves such as “The Tyr-
not only revolutionized information retrieval but also estab-
anny of the Horn-Automobile, That Is” as well as “Striking
lished the empirical basis for new breakthroughs in the history
Back at Graffiti,” and the entrepreneur in Garfield emerges in
and sociology of knowledge as well as library collection develop-
the discussions of IS1 procedures, problems, and new products.
ment. ISI’s citation indexes achieved the status of standard
The material in this volume is arranged chronologically by
tools for academic evaluation when they were adopted as the
publication date, and there is a Cited Author Index as well as a
measure of publication performance by the recent Assessment
Subject Index to provide specific access to the topics under con-
of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States spon-
sideration. Such an arrangement is in accordance with that of
sored by the American Council of Learned Societies, American
the preceding volumes of the Essays and is a natural one, since
Council on Education, National Research Council, and Social
in essence this work is virtually a continuous record of the ideas
Science Research Council [I].
and reflections of a dynamic and innovative individual engaged
The above volume follows the pattern of the previous ones
in the explosive development of a new field of knowledge with
[2] in that its first part cumulates Garfield’s “Current Com-
far-reaching ramifications. When all the volumes are regarded
ments” columns. which have been a weekly feature of Currerzt
together, Essays of an Information Scientist assume the aspect
Contents since 1972. However, whereas the earlier ones covered
of an invaluable assemblage of historical documents on the in-
at least two years, the decision was made with the publication of
formation revolution and one of its dominant participants.
this sixth volume to issue the Essu~~s annually, and therefore the
However, to obtain a more coherent view of Garfield’s thought,
“Current Comments” columns in it are only from the year 1983.
one should consult his book Citation Indexing [4].
In return, the reduced chronological scope has made it possible
to include a large appendix containing a selection of Garfield’s Stephen J. Bensman
papers which have never been published in Current Contents. Social Scierfcrs Bihliogi-trpher
These papers span a period of about twenty-five years, begin- Troy H. Middleton Lihrrrr?,
LotrisitrrtrrStrrtv U~rrivrrsity
ning in the early 195Os, and they show the evolution of auto-
Btrtou Rouge. LA 70803
mated indexing techniques. In conformity with the established
custom, the sixth volume of the Essays is introduced by one of
Garfield’s noted acquaintances, this time by the Soviet statisti-
cian and philosopher of science, Vasilii Nalimov. Committee on an Assessment of Quality-Related Characteristics of
Once called “the mobt heavily cited cab-driver of all time” Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States. An Assrss-
131. Garfield writes in a loquacious style, and his interests are ment q(Resenrch-Doctorate Progrunts irt the United St&es. 5 vols.
wide-ranging. Taking Garfield himself as a model in this matter Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press: 1982. The 5 volumes
(p. xviii), one can classify the potpourri of the “Current Com- have the following subtitles: Biok~~~iculScierlces; Engineering; Hu-
ments” essays in this volume under the following broad subject mortities; Mothenztrticul X Physicul Scierrces; and Social & Behuv-
iorul Sriencrs
headings: “general science, ” including those on third-world sci-
For example, see: Drott, M. C. Review of J2:ssays qTcrrr Infbrmrrtion
entific research, the awards of science, scientific eponyms, sci-
Scientist, Vol. I and II, Eugene Garfield, Jourrrul (u the Anwricur~
entific editors’ associations, and artificial intelligence; “health- Societyfbr Ir!fbrmatiorr Scirrrcr. 28(6):374-375; 1977.
related concerns,” encompassing essays on sleep disorders, Cronin, B. Review of Essa~~sqJ‘rrrrIt$orrmtiorr Scientist. Vol. III,
schizophrenia, prolongevity research, hospital libraries, and Eugene Garfield, Jolrrrrrrl sf‘Iu/ormotiotz Science. 2(6):319; 1980.
child safety; and “personality tributes,” represented by encomi- Garfield, E. Citution Indexirzg: Its Theor?) urzd Applicrrtion irr Sri-
urns to Scott Adams, Sol Spiegelman, and Robert K. Merton, encr. Technology. urzd Humunities. New York: Wiley; 1979.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE. 37(3):169-176, 1986 CCC 0002.8231/86/030169-08$04.00
Online Database Search Directory. First edition. Parts one and
two. John Schmittroth, Jr., and Doris Morris Maxfield, Editors.
Detroit: Gale Research Company; 1983: Price of the set $110.00 Number of % of Total
(ISBN O-8103-1698-6, 1SSN 0741-0077). Organizations Organizations
Rank Name of System Accessing in OLDSS
The organizations in this directory are those that will provide
searching of online databases to the general public, or at least to 1. DIALOG Information
some individuals outside their own organizations, through the Systems 1.01 I 88
2. BRS 597 52
use of publicly available online searching systems.
3. OCLC 490 43
Many agencies will be providing their own searching services 4. SDC 371 32
and may wonder why they might need referal information to 5. MEDLARS 353 31
other organizations in competition with them. The answer lies in h. NEXIS 127 II
the proliferation of vendors of database searching systems in the 7. IS1 Search Network 125 II
8. Dow Jones News/Retrieval 124 II
United States and Canada, the geographical scope of this direc- 9. New York Times 106 9
tory. In fact, pages 191 and 192 of part one list 86 different search- IO. RLIN 84 7
ing systems which have been reported as being searched by listed 1I. Info Globe 67 6
agencies. Part two, issued 11 months later, lists 107. It is unlikely 12. Pergamon lnfoLine 66 6
that most libraries have accounts with this many search services. 13. QL systems 62 5
14. WESTLAW 62 5
The basic record contains sixteen items of descriptive infor- 15. LEXIS 60 5
mation on the services including names, addresses, telephone 16. DOE RECON 59 5
numbers, age, staff size, fee and availability policies, and system 17. CAN/OLE 57 5
accessed. 18. Source T&computing 56 5
19. CAS ONLINE 54 5
The problem, it seems to this reviewer, will be in keeping the 20. NIH-EPA Chemical Infor-
material up to date in a rapidly changing field. People and exper- mation System 39 3
tise at the services listed are certainly subject to change.
107 different online systems were reported as being accessed
Nonetheless, the indices to organizations by database searched by respondents.
and systems accessed should be quite valuable. The geographical
index, by state and subarranged by city, (the Canadian section by
city alone) may well be useful for the “where can I get a search Top 20 Dtrttrhcws Rrported USFreyurrrt!v Setrrchrd’
done while I’m in .” sort of question. The search personnel in-
Number of % of Total
dex provides something of a directory to active searchers, and the Organizations Organizations
organization index is useful if one desires to find the main de- Rank Name of Database Accessing in OLDSS
scription of a service without knowledge of its official name. As
an example, entry under “BLISS”. the acronym used by the Mid- I. ERIC 595 52
2. PsyclNFO 529 46
dleton Library at Louisiana State University, will lead you to the 3. MEDLINE 491 43
complete record. 4. BlOSlS Previews 321 28
I suspect that the index by subject area searched will have the 5. ABl/lNFORM 320 28
least value. There are 23 broad topics that the services were asked h. CA Search 234 20
7 Management Contents 162 14
to check if they considered them a specialization. There are ten
8. COMPENDEX 129 11
and three quarter pages of entries for services specializing in Edu- 9. NTIS 129 11
cation, twelve pages specializing in Medicine and the Biosci- 10. Magazine Index 116 IO
ences, nine and a quarter in Social Sciences, and eight in “any Il. SOClAL SCISEARCH 114 IO
topic”, and eight in Science and Technology (which might not in- 12. Comprehensive Dissertation
Index 108
clude Chemistry, Engineering, Medical, or Materials Science, Health Planning & Admin-
13.
which have separate entries). Patents, the smallest specializa- istration 108 9
tion, has entries covering two pages. Since it seems unlikely that 14. SCISEARCH 80
“any topic” can really be a specialty or that one can specialize in IS. INSPEC 76
lb. AGRICOLA 70 6
Science and Technology but not in Chemistry, Bioscience or En-
17. Sociological Abstracts 69
gineering at the same time, one must believe there was some con- 18. TOXLINE 59 5
fusion in the use of these categories. The only question this re- 19. PAIS 56
viewer can conceive of answering with this index is “What search 20. Predicasts Databases 52
services believe that they specialize in one of these topics?” The 21 I different databases were reported as being frequently searched
person with a subject search will, I suspect, first use the geo- by respondents.
graphical index, and then check the physically close entries to see
if they handle the desired topic. *Information taken from O~r/i/w Dotdxrsr SetrrcA Services Diwc-
r/u~l. First edition (Gale. 1984).
However, the availability of this index in no way detracts from
the usefulness of the tool as a whole. Since the indices in the sec-
ond part accumulate those in the first, those in the first are now of Bert R. Boyce
minimal value, and part one is retained only because of its regis- School of Library and Information Science
ter of the first 634 search service entries. The 510 in part two are in Louisiam Stute University
a separate alphabet, but since the index entries reference an entry Btrtorl Rouge, LA 70803
number, this provides no serious problem.
The following chart provided by Gale, with its publicity re-
lease and derived from the directory, may be of interest to JASIS
readers.