Database News for November - December 2002

ProQuest's Digital Dissertations presents the full Dissertation Abstracts International file + selected full text, including:

• citations of U.S.dissertations from 1861 to the present
• citations of international dissertations from 1980 to the present
• abstracts for all dissertations from 1980 to the present
• citations and abstracts for master's theses from 1988 to the present
• the full text of more then 100,000 disserations from all participating schools 1997 to the present
• full text for an addition 1000 pre-1997 dissertations from the UofA

A designation of "Free Download" indicates that the full text of a dissertation is available to University of Arkansas students, faculty, and staff free of charge. Because dissertation files can be very large and take some time to downlaod, you will be prompted to enter an email address so that you can be notified when your selected files are ready to download.

Other disserations and theses that are not available for free download may be ordered from the Digital Dissertations web site with a personal credit card or requested from another library via InterLibrary Loan.

During November, the University Libraries will be conducting a trial of Polling the Nations. Polling the Nations is the most comprehensive collection of public opinion, with information from not only in the United States but also more than 90 countries around the world. The database includes the full text of the questions and responses covering a broad range of issues.

Polling the Nations includes poll data from Gallup, Roper, Harris and other major news and marketing organizations. It began in 1981 as a database of American public opinion published in a book format (American Public Opinion Index). Over the years the database expanded to include surveys from more than 90 other countries in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Africa, and Asia.

Users can search Polling the Nations by six search fields - topic, question text, universe (area surveyed), date, polling organization, and response categories.

The new release of Chemical Abstracts' SciFinder Scholar software offers these features:

• Stereo analysis in Subsctructure Searching
• Link from structure searching to research topics
• Increased precision in Explore by Research Topic
• Extended reaction coverage back to 1907
• Experimental physical properties for more than 825,000 substances

Read more about new Scifinder features on the SciFinder Scholar web site.

Instructions for downloading and installing the new SciFinder Scholar software are available on the University Libraries' web site.

During November, the University Libraries will be participating in statewide trials of the popular CINAHL: Current Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature database. ARKLink, a consortium of 40+ academic libraries in Arkansas, has arranged trials of CINAHL on both SilverPlatter and Ebsco platforms. Look for more information on our current Trials Page.

Beginning in November, the WebSpirs / SilverPlatter version of the education database, ERIC, will no longer be available. ERIC is now offered on the popular FirstSearch platform, as well as directly from the AskERIC web site.

The MLA International Bibliography of Literature now offers thesaurus to aid in searching. The Thesaurus includes topical terms and subjects, geographical names, and coporate names, assisting users in broadening or narrowing their searches. Look for the "Subjects" icon at the top of the MLA search screens on FirstSearch to browse or search for thesaurus terms.

PUBScience, a web-based tool publicly available to access articles published in peer-reviewed journals, has been discontinued by the U.S. Department of Energy. When it was inaugurated in October 1999, R.L. Scott, OSTI Associate Manager for Initiatives, Planning and Development, described the service as a "unique partnership between the Federal government and the public/private journal publishers; a partnership focused on enabling good science by providing access to peer-reviewed scientific and technical literature." Although praised by librarians and researchers, PUBScience was protested by commerical publishers who claimed that PUBScience was in direct competition with their fee-based services.

The American Library Association has issued a statement inviting supporters to contact their congressional representatives and senators about the future of PUBScience. More information about PUBScience is available on the web site of the American Library Association Washington Office.