ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 10 / C&RL News hand, and study them as efficiently as possible in th e most co m fo rtab le su rro u n d in g s, w ith the fewest interruptions, and the least “red tap e.” The librarian of the future will be using new equipment and amazing computer linkages of data manage­ m ent systems b u t will still have the same mission as in the past: to collect, organize, and make avail­ able the information needed by researchers; to pro­ vide appropriate equipment to access, service, and update th at information; and to train patrons to use information sources efficiently and effectively. ■ ■ By Lori E. Buchanan User Education Librarian Austin Peay State University Anne May Berwind Head, Inform ation Services D epartm ent Austin Peay State University and Don Carlin Information Services Librarian Austin Peay State University Local library coverage and success rate as criteria fo r selecting an index. Faced with a growing number of choices and limited budgets, academic libraries must carefully consider the goals they wish to achieve w ith optical disk-based periodical indexes. The initial invest­ m ent is especially im portant for two reasons. First, the product chosen introduces the campus commu­ nity to the technology. Second, it sets the stage for future optical disk acquisitions. The goals for each library are different. In one library, optical disks are seen as an alternative to online database search­ ing. In another library, they are viewed as an excit­ ing, new way to introduce lower-division under­ graduates to the research process. Once a library sets its goals, the optical disk products likely to meet these goals are selected for evaluation. Several re­ cent articles which outline the evaluation or selec­ tion of optical disk products are found in the library l i t e r a t u r e .1 These articles provide good back­ ground information for libraries considering the purchase of an optical disk-based periodical index. However, they do not document an evaluation pro- 1Notable examples are: David C. Miller, “Evalu­ ating CD-ROMS: To Buy or W hat to Buy?” Data­ base, June 1987, pp. 36-42; Gail T. Graves, L aura G. H arper, and Beth F. King, “Planning for CD- ROM in the Reference D epartm ent,” College and Research Libraries News, July/August 1987, pp. 393-400; L inda Stew art, “Evaluation C riteria: Picking CD-ROMS for Public Use,” American L i­ braries, October 1987, pp. 738-40. O ptical disk-based p erio d ica l in d exes for u n d ergrad u ates January 1989 / 11 cess that a medium-sized academic library may use to determine which product is the best initial in­ vestment for its undergraduate population. In the spring of 1988, such a process was formulated and executed at Austin Peay State University’s Wood­ ward Library. Background Austin Peay State University (APSU) is desig­ nated as the liberal arts institution of the Tennessee State Board of Regents public institutions. Wood­ ward Library provides services for approximately 4,200 FTE students, roughly 4,000 of whom are undergraduates. Of these 4,000 undergraduates, nearly 1,450 are entering freshm an. A pproxi­ mately $71,500 of the Library’s $214,431 materials budget is spent on 1,186 periodical subscriptions. Woodward Library recently completed a three- month trial period during w hich InfoTrac (the 12- inch laser disk version known as InfoTrac I)2 was used by APSU students. Like the students described in other articles, APSU students were very enthusi­ astic about InfoTrac. At the same time, APSU stu­ dents also expressed frustration because the Li­ brary did not subscribe to most of the periodicals indexed by InfoTrac. Indeed, during the Library’s three-month trial period of InfoTrac, nearly 30% of the articles requested on interlibrary loan were for items identified on InfoTrac. In addition to stu­ dent frustration, the question of w hether Wilson- disc, a similar product, might not be a more suit­ able choice fo r W o o d w a rd L ib ra r y ’s predominantly undergraduate population, was raised. Because of these questions, the Information Services Departm ent elected to conduct a study. The goal of the study was to determine which optical disk-based product or combination of prod­ ucts was the best initial investment in this new technology for W oodw ard L ibrary’s undergradu­ ate users. In order to achieve this goal, criteria were formulated for use in the review in which In ­ foTrac and Wilsondisc were compared to one an­ other and against W oodw ard L ibrary’s current pe­ riodicals subscription list. In order to make the comparisons, it was neces­ sary to compile lists of titles from each index and to indicate which titles were current subscriptions in the periodicals collection. Dbase II and an IBM PC were used to create and merge databases corres­ ponding to the products’ indexed titles. 2In June 1988, Information Access Corporation (IAC) modified the laser disk product InfoTrac I into two products. They are InfoTrac-General Pe­ riodicals In d e x -A c a d e m ic Version an d In fo ­ Trac-General Periodicals Index-Public Library Version. By December 1988, IAC plans to migrate its InfoTrac products from laser disk to CD-ROM. NOTE: For the purposes of this article, “InfoTrac” will refer to the original laser disk product Info- T r a d . Criteria The three criteria used to evaluate the various optical disk-based periodical indexes are listed be­ low. 1) Coverage of general and multi-disciplinary subjects appropriate to undergraduate research. 2) The highest “success rate,” which is the num ­ ber of periodicals locally available taken as a per­ centage of the total num ber indexed. 3) Coverage of the greatest number of the Li­ brary’s current subscriptions. The im portance of including the first criterion was based on the commitment to finding an index product or combination of products which fulfilled two requirements. First, coverage of the general interest periodicals w ith which students making the transition to college are already fam iliar was sought. Second, a sampling of most disciplines’ m a­ jor journals, which students use as they progress through their undergraduate education, was re­ quired. Such a choice was most suitable for an un­ dergraduate’s initial step in research, thus enabling him /her to make a smooth transition from one level of college to the next. Inclusion of the second two criteria was viewed as a way to attem pt to alleviate some of the frustrations in using the library. The results of a user survey had indicated th at the pres­ ence of this new technology actually motivated APSU students to do research. Also, there was a strong desire on the parts of the librarians to capi­ talize on this opportunity to show undergraduate students th at the L ibrary’s periodicals collection did support their lower-division assignments. Once the criteria were formulated, the next step in the evaluation process was to select the appropriate op­ tical disk-based products to be examined in the study. Products The first criterion above was the basis for the se­ lection of seven index databases produced by the Inform ation Access Company (IAC) and the H. W. Wilson Company as the subjects of the study. At the time the study was conducted, IAC marketed tw o fam ilies of products—laser disk and CD- ROM. InfoTrac, a multi-disciplinary index w ith a heavy emphasis on business periodicals, was IAC’s first laser disk product. The second product was a CD-ROM based system which offered two index databases, namely, Magazine Plus and Academic Index. The rem aining four indexes are marketed by Wilson as Wilsondisc, and correspond to the print Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, H u­ manities Index, Social Sciences Index, and Business Periodicals Index. The advantages associated w ith each product’s features were taken into consideration. The advan­ tages of Wilsondisc included lower cost, multiple levels of searching (novice through expert), a greater number of databases, more years of cover­ January 1989 / 13 age, more sophisticated search techniques (Bool­ ean operators), and th e lin k w ith th e online Wilsonline which provides more up-to-date cover­ age (twice a week). In fo T rac’s advantages in ­ cluded use of co n tro lled subject term s and a merged database for “one stop shopping.” Al­ though these features were considered in the evalu­ ation process, they play a secondary role in the de­ cision rendered. Outcome At first glance, InfoTrac appeared to edge out its competition. It covered the largest number of gen­ eral and multi-disciplinary titles (criterion one) and provided coverage of the greatest number of Woodward Library’s current subscriptions, nearly 338 of its 1,186 titles (criterion three). However, Woodward Library users had only a 29 % chance of identifying a periodical which was available in the Library. Compared to the other products stud­ ied, InfoTrac had the second lowest success rate (criterion two). Finally, the fact th a t approxi­ mately 25% of InfoTrac’s titles were very special­ ized trade publications or local business periodi­ cals, a limitation mentioned in other articles, was disturbing because of their very specialized n a­ tu r e .3 As a result, InfoTrac was not the recom­ mended product for purchase. With the removal of InfoTrac from the set of databases under review, it was anticipated th at the four Wilsondisc databases w ould be the obvious combination of products to recommend for pur­ chase. However, it was surprising to find th at the local success rate of these four databases (36 %) was only slightly higher th an th at of InfoTrac. In addi­ tion, the fact th a t the Wilson indexes were not merged like InfoTrac was seen as a serious disad­ vantage. Each user would have to search his/her topic in each of the four Wilson products sepa­ rately, and each product could only accommodate a single user at a time. Evaluation was continued w ith a review of Aca­ demic Index and Magazine Plus. At the end of the evaluation process, IAC’s Academic Index came closest to meeting all three criteria. First, its index­ ing of the L ibrary’s current subscriptions (criterion three) was second only to InfoTrac’s at 20% . Sec­ ond, the success rate (criterion two) for a user of Academic Index in W oodward Library was 63 %: 220 of the 375 titles indexed by Academic Index were in the periodicals collection. Third, it covered both general interest periodicals and a sampling of 3Barbara Pease and William Post, “InfoTrac: A Review of an Optical Disc Based Public Index,” Se­ rials Review, W inter 1985, p. 60; Ann Bristow Be­ ltran, “InfoTrac at Indiana University: A Second L ook/’ Database, February 1987, p. 48; Cynthia Hall, H arriett Talan, and B arbara Pease, “Info­ Trac in Academic Libraries: W hat’s Missing in the New Technology?” Database, February 1987, p. 53. the major journals in most disciplines (criterion one) and did not include inappropriately special­ ized titles. Therefore, Academ ic Index was the product recommended for purchase. Academic Index was the product recommended fo r purchase. Further Thoughts Besides enabling the Information Services De­ partm ent to make its recommendation, this study provided the participants w ith the opportunity to explore ideas about the role of this new technology in libraries. The study team members were moti­ vated to further analyze W oodw ard Library’s peri­ odicals holdings and make a related recommenda­ tion concerning the expansion of the L ibrary’s current periodicals collection. The expansion rec­ ommended was subscription to a majority of the 140 Academic Index titles not currently received by the Library. Related to this was the conclusion that the Library needed to continue to provide multiple avenues of access to its periodicals collection. Stated another way, Academic Index was not to be viewed as a replacement of Wilson or other in­ dexes, but as a supplement to them. The fact that 106 of the 140 Academic Index titles not held by W oodw ard Library, were indexed by at least one of the Wilson indexes, supported the contention th a t these titles should probably be added to the collection. Finally, Academic Index was viewed as the index which best enabled lower division under­ g rad u ate students to m ake th e transition from Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature to the first level of discipline-specific indexes such as H um ani­ ties Index and Social Science Index. Students could use Academic Index to find articles in some of the basic scholarly journals, which would fulfill their instructors’ requirem ent. However, they w ould not be overwhelmed by a large num ber of exclu­ sively scholarly or technical journal articles found in a more comprehensive index such as Psychologi­ cal Abstracts. Conclusions W oodward Library’s evaluation of optical disk- based periodical indexes resulted in the recommen­ dation th at a subscription to IAC’s Academic Index 14 / C&RL News was the best initial investment in optical disk-based periodical indexes for W oodw ard L ibrary. The evaluation process utilized by W oodward Library differs from other processes th at have been con­ ducted. The criteria used went beyond comparing the features of the products evaluated. Further­ m ore, as stated by C arol Reese, “ ...th e m ajor method of evaluation employed to date has been through the use of user surveys....”4 An exception to this method is described in the Reese article, and 4C a ro l Reese, ‘M an u al Indexes Versus Computer-Aided Indexes: Comparing the Read­ ers’ Guide to Periodical Literature to InfoTrac II ,” R Q , Spring 1988, p. 384. ’ Reese, pp. 384-89; Christine H. Guyonneau, “Magazine Index Plus or Academic Index?” Col­ lege and Research Libraries News, July/August 1988, pp. 430-33. also in a more recent article by Christine Guyon­ neau.5 Both of these articles describe the process in which selected periodical indexes are compared through analyses of selected topics’ coverage in the indexes. A third process is now suggested. Com put­ erized periodical index products w ith comparable subject scopes are compared based on their individ­ ual coverage of a local library’s periodicals collec­ tion, and the rate of success which users have in finding the indexed articles within that library, once the articles are identified. Beyond the decision of w hat product or combi­ nation of products to buy is the need to clarify this new technology’s role in libraries. Will it replace, supplement, or simply coexist w ith other library tools? Once the role is clarified, then the technol­ ogy can be used to its fullest potential in each li­ brary setting. ■ ■ U sers’ reaction s to In foT rac in an u n d ergrad u ate library by Ellen P. Flynn Reference Librarian Pennsylvania State University, Ogontz Campus Library Further data on a popular optical disk index. T he Pennsylvania S tate U niversity’s O gontz Campus Library is currently using the Information Access Company’s Academic Index on InfoTrac II on a trial basis. The Library administered a ques­ tionnaire to the users of InfoTrac between March 17 and May 1, 1988, to gauge the users’ reactions and examine the suitability of continuing the sys­ tem on a perm anent basis. The Ogontz Campus is one of twenty branch campuses of the Pennsylvania State University. Students may enroll in a two-year associate degree program or begin the first two years of a baccalau­ reate program. More than 120 Penn State bacca­ laureate majors are available at the Ogontz Cam-