NCJ Number
51058
Date Published
1978
Length
3 pages
Annotation
AN OVERVIEW OF THE COMPUTERIZED DATA BASE AND INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SERVICE ESTABLISHED BY THE AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF CRIMINOLOGY IS PRESENTED.
Abstract
THE INSTITUTE EMPLOYS RESEARCHERS TO SEARCH AND RECORD ALL CITATIONS RELATING TO CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN AUSTRALIA. USING SPECIAL FORMS, THE RESEARCHERS HAVE EXTRACTED MORE THAN 4,000 CITATIONS FROM 250 JOURNALS, PLUS 1,000 MONOGRAPH CITATIONS. LIBRARY PERSONNEL ASSIGN SUBJECT HEADINGS TO EACH CITATION. (THE SUBJECT HEADINGS ARE BASED IN PART ON THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBJECT HEADINGS AND ON THE NATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFERENCE SERVICE THESAURUS.) A DATA MANAGEMENT AND ENTRY SYSTEM WAS DEVISED TO ENABLE COMPUTER STORAGE OF CINCH CITATIONS THROUGH APPLICATION OF AN INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SOFTWARE PACKAGE CALLED INFOL. BIBLIOGRAPHIES CAN BE EXTRACTED FROM THE DATA BASE BY SUBJECT, AUTHOR, JOURNAL, DATE, OR CITATION CATEGORY (OR BY ANY COMBINATION OF THESE). THE SEARCH PROCEDURE INVOLVES THREE STAGES: LIBRARY ASSESSMENT OF THE REQUESTED SEARCH, COMPUTER RUN, AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKLET. THERE ARE PLANS TO PUBLISH A USER'S MANUAL CONTAINING INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING SEARCH REQUEST FORMS, AND TO UPDATE CINCH SERVICES ON THE BASIS OF USER FEEDBACK. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT 100 CINCH BIBLIOGRAPHIES CAN BE PRODUCED EACH WEEK. THE F0UR PHASES OF THE CINCH DATA MANAGEMENT/ENTRY SYSTEM ARE DESCRIBED BRIEFLY. (LKM)