102 GOVERNMENT INFORMATION QUARTERLY Vol. ~/NO. l/1990

Early American Imprints, 16394l9 (New Canaan, CT READEX Microprint Corporation) is a collection on microcard or microfiche that reproduces the works listed in both the Evans and the Saw/Shoemaker Bibliographies. Since many government documents departments also have respon- sibility for microforms, the library might well have its Early American Imprints housed in, or close, to the documents department. It is another access tool to this important collection of early American publishing history.

Having said all this, I am concerned with the thoroughness of Maps Contained. Thinking that it could be the closest thing to a complete record of American map ~blishing between 1639 and 1819, I ran a check of citations found in James Clement Wheat and Christian F. Brun’s Maps and Charts Published in America before 1800: A Cartobibliogmphy (2d ed., revised. London: Holland Press, 1985). Out of 914 map citations provided by this work, Wheat and Brun included Evans numbers (accession nail) for sixty-five. Why so few Evans numbers were referenced in Wheat and Bnm is unknown since the compilers did not explain their use of Evans as a source. Checking these 65 Evans numbers against the Walsh work, I failed to find twenty-eight. Further, I took the twenty-eight to the Evans Bibliography to confirm that they were citations to maps, and indeed they were. Since the Walsh title has over 250 map citations taken from Evans, I easily found 10 more. Citations after 1800 were not checked.

The only explanation that comes to mind for not listing these twenty-eight maps is that they coot be found in the RBADEX microprint or microcard collection, Early American Imprints. On occasion, titles listed in Evans were not available for reproduction and so only a citation to the publi~tion can be found on the microcard or microfiche. If the Walsh work does indeed index only those maps found in the READEX micro collection, the author should have so stated in his introduction, and/or called his cartobibliography an “Index to maps found in Early American Zmprints, 1639-1819”.

There is much to like about tbis book. Its many indexes, its analysis of atlases, its citation format, and its very concept all argue in its favor. But ~s~ting questions as to the completeness of Maps Contained in the publications of the American Etibliogmphy, 16394819 prevents this reviewer from recommending it wholeheartedly to government document libraries.

* Peter L. Stark is Assistant Professor and Head, Map Library, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403.

NTIS (CD-ROM), w13- . Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts: SilverPlatter Information, Inc., 1987. $2250 per year for a quarterly database subsc~ption, excluding hardware?

Reviewed by Candy Schwartz*

In an enjoyable moment of speculation, Royal Purcell envisions a future (the year “199?“) iu which national and in~mation~ g~e~ent aviation (whether bibli~mp~c, statistical, or pictorial) is fully digitized, automatically indexed in depth, and made available to all and sundry at workstations with CD-ROM jukeboxes, laser beam copiers, and telecomunications? However far-fetched or far away this future may be, its beginnings can be seen in the single-user workstations now appearing in the detent publi~ons departments of university libraries.

At the moment, there am several distributors of bibliographic CD-ROM databases vying for the attention of documents librarians. In terms of available government titles, depth of offerings in other academic fields, technological flexibility, and likely continued stability in a volatile market, SilverPlatter Information, Inc. is one of the most important.

THE DATA

SilverPlatter’s version of the National Technical notation Service’s (NTIS) database consists of a two disc set covering over 439,000 reports acquired from 1983 to present, with additional years

Review5 103

to be added in the future. Quarterly updates (shipped in February, May, August, and November) average 16,000 new records. A quick scan of items added in the last quarter of 1988 showed an average time lag of about 6 months to one year from actual report date (most of this time lag can be attributed to NTIS rather than to SilverPlatter).

Records are composed of the following 23 fields, of which most are searchable (S) and some are intended to be used for limiting search results (L):

TI AN AU CS RD PY NT CI

AV

LA Language PR NTIS Price Codes DE Descriptors

Title NTIS Accession Number Personal Author Corporate Source Report Da~/~~nation Publication Year Supplementary Notes Country of Intellectual origin Availability Note

S DEM S ID S IDM S SC

cc sn AB

AG S/L CA

RN CN

S/L UD

S

Major Descriptors Identifiers Major Identifiers Subject Categories Subject Category Codes Abstract Agency Source Code Corporate Author Code Report Numbers Contract and Grant Nlmlbers

Update Code

S S S S SIL S S

S/L

S

S

S

Figure 1 shows a record (occupying several screens) with all fields displayed.

Search Capabilities

SilverPlatter semh software recognized Boolean operators “and”, “or”, and “not”, and proximity operators “with” (in the same field as), “near” (next to) and “near?’ (within - many words of). The “near” operator is not order specific. Phrases entered without proximity operators are searched as if the “near” were present. Search statements may be lengthy and complex, containing nested groups of terms and set numbers, but it is unlikely that most users would be successful in implemen- ting this type of search, should the possibility occur to them. Only unrestricted right-hand truncation (using *) is possible, and there is no “wild card” capability. In files of British and American origin, this makes it necessary to enter statements such as “organization or organ&ion”, “analyse or analyze*‘: and so on. Figure 2 shows a simple SeaFch using truncation and several different operators.

During one user session (i.e., from the first search until a QUIT ~~ is given), retrieved sets are saved and displayed on the search screen. By de%&, a set is created for every search term in a statement (the default may be changed). Up to 99 sets can be stored, and when that nnmber is exceeded, sets are deleted from the earliest forward as needed. It is always possible to use an existing set by calling it up with the - prefix, and sets can be combined with terms or with other sets in new search statements. It is also possible to clear either the entire search history, or part of the sets in a search history.

An unqualified search (that is, no specification as to the field in which one or more terms are to be searched) will retrieve from all searchable fields except several of the “limit” fields. Apart from a 29 item stopword list, all words in searchable fields axe indexed. Figure 3 shows the term “wood” unqualified (set #l), and then restricted to occurrence in the title, author, corporate source, descriptor, identifier, subject category, and abstract fields. A search term cannot be restricted to more than one field at a time. For instance, while “wood in de or wood in id” is certainly possible, “wood in de or id” is not.

104 GOVERNMENT INFORMATION QUARTERLY Vol. ~/NO. l/l990

SilverPlatter ~1.5 NTIS 1985 (#la-26)‘ 1986, 1987, 1988 /~:zz-mm-' ---_----..-._--l_l

#I 1 of 1 TI: Eigenstructure Approach for the Retrieval of Cylindrical Harnonics. AN: ADA1956785XSP

j AU: Teufik-A.H.; Levy-B.C.; Willsky-A.S. 1 CS: Perforner: Nassachusetts Inst. of Tech., Ceabridge.

Funder: Amy Research Office, Research Triangle Park, NC. RD: Sep 87. 2%~. PY: 1987

/ NT: Pub. in Signal Processing, ~13 n2 ~121-139 Sep 87. CI: UNITED-STATES LA: ENGLISH PR: PC A%3/NF A%1

I DE: Coefficients-: Coordinates-: Covariance-: Estimates-; Fourier-analysis; Fourier-series; Functions-; Geophysics-: Hareonics-: High-resolution; Information-retrieval: Isotropism-; Oceans-: Polar-regions: Reprints-: Spectra-: Underwater-acoustics; Weighting-functions.

DE: +Background-noise. ID: Signal-processing.

L SC: Computers-control-and-infornstion-theory (62) -- -II=_-

SHOW Fields: ALL Records: ALL Press CTRL F2 to select terms from record for searching PgDn for sore; FP-Previous: FZ-Find; Fl-Help: ESC-Coeaand New.

SilverPlatter ~1.5 NTIS 1985 (#14-26), 1986, 1987, 1988 ~-._________-_- -~~.---~.---. -__- --_____-_^7

CC: 62 AB: This reprint presents a high resolution spectral estiration method for 2-D leotropic randos fields with covarfance functions equal to weighted sums of cylindrical harmonics. Such fields are often used to sodel solie types of background noises in geophysics and in ocean scoustics. The approach differs fron previous Z-D spectral estiration techniques by the fact that we take naxiral advantage of the syaretriea isplied by both the isotropy and the special covariance structure of these fields. Note that isotropy is the natural generalization to several dinensions of the 1-D notion of stationarity. The approach is similar in spirit to 1-D harmonic retrieval techniques, such as the NUSIC sethod, which rely on an eigenanalysis of the covariance natrix. The 2-D isotropic context, begin8 with a Fourier series representation of an isotropic field with respect to the angle % in a polar coordinate representation of the underlying 2-D space. Then one obtains a spectral estinate by performing an eigenanalysis

.

of the covariance matrix of samples of the zeroth-order Fourier coefficient process in order to extract the cylindrical harronics. The estimation of this covariance aatrix is discussed and examples presented to illustrate the high resolution and robustness properties of our procedure. Keywords:

=z. -.-.-- -___ SHOW Fields: ALL Records: ALL Press CTRL F2 to select term from record for searching PgDn for more: FS-Previous; F2-Find; Fl-Help: ESC-Cornand Nenu.

Figure I. Full record.

Descriptors are entered and indexed as “bound terms”, connected by hyphens. In the record shown in Figure 1, the descriptor “Information-retrieval” is one example. While each descriptor word is indexed and searchable, descriptors are directly and most efficiently retrieved using the hyphenated form. Single word descriptors have a trailing hyphen. Figure 4 illustrates the difference in retrieval

Reviews 105

between a single word anywhere in the descriptor field (“preservation in de”), and a single word descriptor (“preservation- in de”).

SlIverPlatter v1.5 NTIS 1985 (#14-26). 1986, 1987, 1988

I ,r------- 11 No. Request

I/ !j #I: UNDERWATER 1 ix?: OCEAN %3: ACOUSTIC+

, P4: NOISE

I

25: HARMONICS 16: ((UNDERWATER or OCEAN) with (ACOUSTIC* or NOISE)) and

HARMONICS

Record6

1316 7581 >3216

4443 623 8

If

j FIND:

Type e search requeat, then press RETURN. To SHOW records found, preea F4.

figure 2. Simple search statement and search results /Note: l’lae Search was entered in the FlivD line as ’ ‘(dnuater or ocean) with (acoustic+ or noise) and harmonics ’ : Intermediate sets (#l-#5) were created by the system.]

SilverPlatter ~1.5 NTIS 1985 (#14-261, 1986, 1987, 1988 _._-______._-____._____ ,~~~_~~~~~_~._._.__._-___._-_._~._~_._.--_~.__~~~~ :-_z_x-_.-______. II No. Request Records

Ii 1 %l: WOOD 2471 1 ;Y2: I1 in TI 455 1 ry3: I1 in AU 298 24: Wl in CS 58 r5: #1 in DE 1278 X6: tl in ID 77 17: #l in SC 678 #8: #l in AB 1278

L FIND:

Type a search requeat, then preaa RETURN. To SHOW record* found, preaa F4.

Figure 3. E@xt of searching with and wzlhout field quaZiificarionr

106 GOVERNMENT INFORMATION QUARTERLY Vol. ~/NO. l/l990

Silverplstter v1.5 NTIS 1985 fW14-261, 1986. 1987, 1988 ~~~Y-=w:z~,

Records !!

iy1: PRESERVATION #2: PRESERVATION in DE R3: PRESERVATION- 14: PRESERVATION- in DE

/

861 231 192 19%

FIND:

Type a march request, then press RETURN. To SHOW records found, press 14.

SilverPlstter ~1.5 NTIS 1985 (#14-26), 1986, 1987, 1988

1 of 190 TI: Feasibility of Alternative Chemical Preeervativss for Timber in the Rarine Environsent. Technical note Ott 81-Sep 87. AN: ADAl978485XSP CS: Performer: Naval Civil Engineering Lab., Port Huenese, CA. RD: Nay 88. 42~. PR: PC A03/RF A81 DE: Arsenic-compounds; Barriera-: Eiodeterioration-; Chericals-: Cheaietry-; Epoxy-cospounde: Feasibility-studies; Fumigants-; Organosetallic-compounds: Oxides-: Pile-structures; Plastics-; Polysers-; Preservation-: Salts-; Tin-: Tin-corpounda; Trees-: Zinc-: Creosote-. DE: +Ocean-environsenta; *Preservativea-; l Uood-. RN: NCELTN1784

SHOW Fields: citn,de Records: 1 Press CTRL F2 to select terns from record for searching End of display. FS-Previous Record: FZ-Find: Fl-Help: ESC-Coarand Renu.

Figure 4. Searching singie words in the descriptor field.

Descriptms are d~s~~sh~ as either “major” or “minor” for a given record. In displayed records major descriptors appear in a separate “de” field, and are each preceded by an asterisk (see for instance “*Background-noise” in Figure 1). In search statements, the use of “in dem” restricts retrieval to those records in which the descriptor has been designated as major (Figure 5). This distinction can

Reviews 107

be used to advantage for precise retrieval. The average depth of indexing is 12 descriptors per record, of which 3 or 4 are major)? Identifiers, which are typically topical terms and proper names of pro- ducts, substances, people, corporate entities, or places, are treated similarly to descriptors with n~pect to searching and indexing (including the major/minor distinction).

Silver-Platter v1.5 NTIS 1985 (#14-261, 1986, 1987, 1988 ~~-- NO. Request

Iy1: GOVERNHENT w2: PUBLICATIONS #3: GOVERNNENT PUBLICATIONS L14: GOVERNnENT-PUBLICATIONS #5: GOVERNMENT-PUBLICATIONS in DE X6: GOVERNnENT-PUBLICATIONS #7: GOVERNNENT-PUBLICATIONS in DEN

Records

11674 3162 89 88 76 88 51

- ..__._ -_- .-.-- FIND:

Type a search request, then press RETURN. To SHOW records found, pres6 F4.

SllverPlatter ~1.5 NTIS 1985 (#14-26), 1986, 1987, 1988

1 of 51 TI: Government Docurents for the Health Sciences Librarian. AU: Clark-S.M. DE: *Governsent-publications; *Health-materials: *Library-acquisition: *Library-aaterials; *Medical-libraries: *Medicine-.

II.__-.._--- 1 SHOW Fields: HITS, AU, TI Records: 1 Press CTRL F2 to select term fror record for searching End of display. F9-Previous Record; FZ-Find: Fl-Help: ESC-Coeeand flenu.

108 GOVERNMENT INFORMATION QUARTERLY Vol. ~/NO. VI990

Numeric or coded fields (accession numbers, reports numbers, category cedes, and so on) are searchable directly with numbers or codes. Numeric fields may also be searched using the expected numeric operators (=, It, r, and combiitions). The “limit” fields (country of origin, publication year, language, category code, and corporate author code), are used to narrow the results of a search. A typical limit might be publication date, and an example using several limits may be seen in Figure 6.

SilverPlatter ~1.5 NTIS 1985 (#14-26)‘ 1986, 1987, 1988

NO.

cl: %2: f3: 14: Ys: 116: iy7: #8:

Request

FLOOD* TORNADO+ HURRICANE* WILDFIRE+ (FLOOD+ or TORNADO+ or HURRICANE+ or WILDFIRE*) in DE YS and PY>1987 66 and CI-CANADA #6 and CI=UNITED-STATES

Records

>902 >79 >138 >I9 1225 69 8 65

_--. _-- ------zF~~~--“....- _I__==

FIND:

Type s search request, then press RETURN. To SHOW records found, press F4.

Figure 4 Using the 1imit~eld.s.

The help screens and the documentation strongly suggest that the best way to proceed is to select search terms from the browsable index or from retrieved records. A function key may be used to call up the index, and selection and retrieval of one or more terms from the list is very straight- forward (Figure 7). It is also possible and relatively simple to select and search terms directly from almost any field in displayed records. SilverPlatter calls this “lateral search”, and reminds the user of its use at the bottom of every screen showing retrieved records (as, for instance, in Figure 1).

The index presents occurrences and postings for all terms in all searchable fields, but does not indicate in which field or fields a term occurs. The postings for the single term “wood” at the top of the screen in Figure 7 may represent its Occurrence in any of the searchable text fields (including personal author). Unruly, it is also not possible to examine indexes for selected fields. Although Silverflatter is developing online thesaurus capabilities, it is unlikely that these will be available in NTIS, since the descriptors are assigned from a number of different and conflicting thesauri.

Display and Data Capture Capabilities

There are three display options: SHOW (on screen), PRINT, and T~SFER (to a file). The default settings (usually to show full records and the entire retrieved set) are displayed when one of these options is chosen, and it is a simple matter to change either setting. Users may choose to use the CITN format (Figure 8), or HITS (showing fields in which the search terms occur), or may enter individual field labels alone or in combination with HITS and CITN (notice the “SHOW Fields:”

Reviews 109

setting in Figures 4 and 5). The order in which labels are entered has no impact on the order in which they are presented. Records are sorted in reverse c~nolo~c~ order (most recent first) and the order is not alterable. Only the most recent set can be displayed, and so earlier sets must be re-executed if they are to be examined. Search histories may optionally be captured in PRINT or TRANSFER. In 1990 SilverPlatter plans to add capabilities for flagging records during SHOW for subsequent printing or downloading.

SilverPlatter v1.5 NTIS 1995 (#14-26), 1386, 1987, 1988

Word Occurrences Records

WOOD 5756 2471 WOOD- 588 585 WOOD-A 2 2 WOOD-AD 1 1 WOOD-AEJ 1 1 WOOD-AB 1 1 WOOD-AND 1 1 WOOD-AW 1 1 WOOD-B 3 3 WOOD-BASE 1 1 WOOD-BASED 37 28 WOOD-BB 1 1 WDDD-BD 8 8 WOOD-BE 3 3 WOOD-BEARS 1 1 WOOD-BJ 7 7

:NU: SELECT TERBS FIND CLEAR TERBS DISPLAY TERMS HELP Use arrow keys to cove cursor, RETURN to select: TAB for another menu option Press PgDn / PgUp to scroll; FS to look up another word; Fl for HELP.

Figure Z Index display.

Search terms am highlighted in the SHOW environment (and also in PRINT if the user’s technology supports it). By choosing OPTIONS from the main command menu, users may change various display

. . &am&m&s f inchrding indentation, ~~, the length or presence of field labels, characteristics of paper sire for PRINT, and the file mode in TRANSFER (which can be set to either append or overwrite). Auy changes are stored until reboot, which might be problematic in unsupervised worksta- tion settings.

TRANSFER downloads records to an unformatted ASCII tile named “transfer.doc”, which is located by default on one of the floppy drives unless the user specifies otherwise. SilverPlatter has recently jounce that Reference lotion Systems, Inc. and Personal Bibliog~~c Software, Inc. are developing interfaces which will allow for easy uploading of SilverPlatter records into Reference Manager and Pro-Cite files respectively. It is likely that similar arrangements with other producers of file and database management software will follow.

Ease of Use

The NTIS staftup package includes 2 CD-ROM discs, setup and database diskettes, a looseleaf binder containing the two manuals Getting Started (the user manual) and SilverPlatter Installation Guide, a fuuction key template, and two stand-up quick reference cards to place at the workstation. The user manual is not specific to any database, nor are the quick reference aids. This is probably

110 ~~ERNMENT INFORMATION QUARTERLY Vol. ~/NO. l/1990

wise, in anticipation of the multiple database workstation. However, a one-page insert on each SilverPlatter file would not be amiss. The manual does include a copy of all the system help screens.

m: NT: m: RN: CM:

sep 87. 20~. Pub. in Signal processing, ~13 n2 pl21-139 Sep 87. PC ABB/HF A01 ARO2098029XA Contracts: DAAG29S4K0005, DAAL0386K0171

=ll

SilverPlatter v1.S NTIS 1985 (ti4-26), 1986, 1987, 1988

TI: Eigenstructura Approach for the Retrieval of Cylindrical Harsonics.

CS: Perforser: Rasaachusetta. Inst. of Tech., Carbridge. Funder: Aray Research Office, Research Triangle Park, NC.

2.i ,I

SHOW Fielda: citn Records: ALL press CTRL F2 to aelect term from record for seerching End of display. F9-Previous Record; FZ-Find; Fl-Help: ESC-Command flenu.

icgure 8 cm fo??na.

Installation is not complicated. In addition to the usual procedures defining characteristics of the microcomputer, monitor, CD drive and printer, the installation procedure also provides for the set- ting of some defaults. These include whether a message will display when a user asks to change discs, whether the use of the QUIT command will result in an exit to DOS, whether to change the ALL default setting for number of records printed, how many minutes to wait before an automatic restart is performed, and whether to allow access to the tutorials which ate available with some databases (of which NTIS is not one). All these choices are clearly explained and easily handled.

The screen interaction is initially somewhat contusing, largely as a result of the wide variety of commands and options. There is no browse mode per se. The user must either type search statements or choose search terms from the index or from retrieved records. Cog d or function choices always appear at the bottom of the screen, and file identi~~~on at the top. Much of the interaction relies on the use of the tab, enter and arrow keys, and some irritation may be experienced until one develops a feeliig for which keys are used in which circumstances. Keyboard controls do not allow for up and down movement in multi-line menu bars, a minor but annoying feature. Transfer to a second disc is accomplished through the XCHANGE command. The current search history is re- tained and displayed if the new disc is part of the same database, and sets can easily be t-e-executed.

On screen help is very detailed and extremely informative. Figure 9 shows the first of 18 screens on the FIND command. The menu bar lists the broad headings under which other topics may be accessed. The GUIDE option calls up a detailed database description not found in print. GUIDE is divided into sections covering records and fields, terminology, stopwords, and search examples (Figure 10). While all of this information is rich and well-organized, it is easy to lose track of the initial point which prompted the use of HELP Information from the help and database files wouid be much more ef5xtive if presented in windows occupying only a portion of the current screen, and indeed SilverPlatter is scheduling a windowed help easement in 1990.

Reviews

SilverPlatter v1.5 NTIS 1985 (914-261, 1986, 1987, 1988

1

-_-p FIND 1 of 19

The FIND cornand (F2) searches a database for references to tara

I

that you specify, and reports the nuaber of records in which they Occur. you can then SHOW (F4) or PRINT (F6) all or part of the

/I

references. The next 18 screens cover the following topics: Screen Screen

1; Starting a Search 2 Broadening the Search: I, II

Stopping a Search 3 Or 13

II What is a Search Request? 4-5 Roots, * 14

//

Narrowing the Search: 6 Searching from SHOW 15 INDEX 7 Reusing a terr 16 and 8

jj

Clearing search history 17 with, near 9 Limit Fields 18

/I

not 10 Coeplex Searches: in 11 Parentheses 19

j;

Hyphenation 12

Press PgDn for aore inforaatfon; type i for Introduction. ;I=----- Help Choicea: RESURE INTRODUCTION CORRANDS SETTINGS DATABASES GUIDE

TECHNOLOGY KEY BOARD Press PgDn for nore; the first letter of a choice: or r to reeuae your work.

ETgure 9. On screen help for the FIND command

SilverPlatter vl.5 NTIS 1985 (114-261, 1986, 1987, 1988 r- --

GUIDE INTRODUCTION 1 of 16

NTIS Bibliographic Database

The National Technical Xnforaatfon Service (NTIS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Correrce, ia the central source for the public sale of U.S. Governaent-apon8ored research, developrent. and engineering reporta. The NTIS Bibliographic Databaae contains bibliographic citation8 and eunaariea of information products, including technical reports, software packages, and data files.

For HELP: preas Fl To FIND (search): press F2 For search exaeples: press e For record and field descriptions: press f For an explanation of NTIS terrs: press t

Press PgDn for report ordering and price inforration.

Guide Choices: RESUnE INTRODUCTION FIELDS TERMINOLOGY STOPWORDS EXAnPLES HELP

Press PgDn for rore; the first letter of a choice; or r to resume your work.

@ute 10. First page of the on screen GUIDE

111

Problems in command statements (such as the use of an unrecognized symbol, or truncation which pulls up LOO many variants) result in an error message and a highlight showing the location of the error. Correction is easy, as the most recent search statement is stored in a small buffer, and can

112 GOVERNMENT iNFORMATION QUARTERLY Vol. ~/NO. l/l990

be recalled letter by letter using the right-arrow cursor key. Although very handy, this feature is not clearly stated on screen, and may only discovered by accident.

As with all CD-ROM products, gains in economy (i.e., “fixed cost” searching) are achieved at the cost of response time. The more complex the query and the larger the postings, the slower the search, Processing messages showing percent of search completed do appear at the bottom of the screen, and searches may be interrupted without losing the records retrieved to that point. Apart from actual retrieval, all other functions are rapidly processed.

Hardware Requirement and Costs

In the IBM (or compatible) envi~~ent SilverPlatter products currently require a ~~~ of 64OK RAM (one or two floppy drives) or 512K RAM with a hard drive, and PC DOS or MS DOS 2.1. By 1990,640K and a hard drive will be required for all products. The sofcwafe supports almost all CD players, but MS DOS CD ROM Extensions (MSCDEX) 1.02 or higher is required for many models (and it, in turn, requires a miuimum of DOS 3.1). In late 1989 SilverPlatter’s MacSPIRS software became available for users with an Apple Macintosh Plus, SE or II, with two 8OOK floppy drives or a hard disk, 1 MB RAM (2 MB recommended), and System 6.02 or higher.

The annual subscription rate of $2250 includes quarterly updates. Discs must be returned when superseded (or if a subscription is dropped), and at present it is not possible to purchase the current disc without the archival disc (or vice versa). The fee structure assumes a single workstation and single disc environment. SilverPlatter is negotiating with its information providers to determine licensing Ernest (and hence user fees under the company’s MultiPla~r envim~ent, which supports multi- ple wor~~tions and multiple discs.

S~verPia~r offers a 3O-day trial period for any of its products, and although the company does not provide a list of customers, it should not be too difftcult for any librarian to find local SilverPlat- ter users who would be willing to share their experiences and reactions. The company does provide toll-free customer support, discounts for multiple subscriptions to the same file, and a chance to meet fellow subscribers at annual Users Group Meetings held at ALA, MLA, SLA and the Intema- tional Online Meeting in London. Subscription to one or more databases also includes a subscrip- tion to The SilverPlatter Exchauge, a glossy semi-annual newsletter which serves as a forum for product announcements, but which also contains much else of interest.

CONCLUSIONS

S~verPla~r, like H. W. Wilson and Dialog, presents an entire f%nily of products which use the same search interface. Government info~tion sources in the June 1989 SilverPlatter catalog in- clude NTIS, the GPO Monthly Catalog (1976 to present), and various bibliogmphi~ and numeric files ern~a~g from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the UK Health & Safety Executive, the Department of Education. The complete catalogue (26 current CD-ROM titles and 4 to be added in 1989) shows a strength in health and social sciences, with a recent surge in business-related offerings. This depth in CD-ROM titles appropriate to academic and research libraries could probably only be matched by Dialog Information Services, which has not as yet issued very many optical products.

The Dialog OnDisc version of NTIS is also a two disc set with quarterly updates, but covering 1980 through current at an aunual subscription rate of $3950 for both discs, and $2700 for the cur- rent disc onIy (1984 to present). Record structure and accessible fields are much the same as with SilverPlatter, although the interface and the search and display unctions are very different. One of the principal advantages which Dialog holds is the capability for moving easily from CD-ROM to online search. The online NTIS file in Dialog is updated biweekly, goes back to 1964, and conks

Reviews 113

close to 1 l/2 million records. However, online costs am $81 per commct hour (exclusive of telecom- m~cations) and $0.65 per fuII record displayed or typed online. It is tmIikely, at these rates, that academic libraries wonId make online capabilities freely available to users at unsupervised CD-ROM workstations, and this factor may therefore be unimportant in choosing between SilverPlatter and Dialog.

As a result of forethought and careful planning SilverPlatter has become a leader in the develop- ment of CD-ROM products for libraries. One of the first to enter the bibliographic database market, the comm has shown itself well able to respond to the needs of its users. This is most recently evidenced by the development of the Mu&Platter hardware and software package, and the movement into the Macintosh envimmnent at a time when academic libraries are also moving in the same direction (thanks hugely to the potential of hypermedia for bibliographic instruction and similar tasks). For these reasons, for the depth of their catalog, and for relative ease of use without too much loss of sophistication in retrieval capabilities, the SilverPlatter version of NTIS can be recommended to govem- ment publication departments in academic and research libraries.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1. Discussions of costs, softwsre features, and hardware requirements are based on information available in July 1989, and searching was performed on the disc set issued in the last quarter of 1988. For further details contact SilverPlatter Jnformation, Inc., 37 Walnut Street, Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts 02181.

2. Royal Purcell, “Future Computerized Use of Government Publications,” Library Software Review, 8 (Jam-Feb~ 1989): 16-20.

3. Diio8 Information Services, Inc., Database Descriptions: NTIS, revised December 1987 (Palo Alto, CA, 1987), p. 6-9.

*Candy Schwartz is Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library & Information Science, Simmons Col- lege, Boston MA 02115.

The Serrate 1789-1989; Addresses on the History of the United States Senate. By Robert C. Byrd. Edited by Mary Sharon Hall. Prepared by U. S. Congress. Senate. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Govemment Printing Office, 1988,800 pages, $55.00 (cloth) SuDocs: Yl. 113: 100-20/v. 1. S/N 052-071-00823-3. LC88-24545.

Reviewed by Deborah Mongeau*

This volume, published on the occasion of the U. S. Senate Bicentennial, is a compilation of 42 addresses given by Senator Robert C. Byrd between 1981 and 1987. What began as an impromptu speech on a slow legislative day turned into a hi8hly readable and lively history of the Senate from its inception to its 200th anniversary. Each chapter is well researched and is devoted to a particular era in the Senate’s history. The author has made an effort to maintain a scholar’s objectivity; a problem when the author himself is a major protagonist in such a political ~sti~tion. Different viewpoints are represented, but a respect and affection for the Senate and its members is apparent throughout the volume. A bibliography and index enhance the book’s usefulness, as well as the full-color illustrations, glossy paper stock, and sturdy binding.

*Deborah Mongeeu is Government Publications Librarian, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island 02881.