Vol 2.1: Winter 1997
PCI on the Web
Happy Birthday EDINA!
Focus on UKBORDERS™
Developments to EDINA BIOSIS
Monthly usage statistics
New EDINA staff
Frequently Asked Questions
EDINA training workshops
Login statistics for 1996
What is EDINA?
A World Wide Web version of Chadwyck-Healey's Periodicals Contents Index (PCI) will be available from EDINA in the second half of February. EDINA PCI-Web provides information about references to periodical literature in the humanities and social sciences, and contains details from the tables of contents of thousands of English and other European language journals. The database, which covers periodicals from their first date of issue until 1990, is still in the process of being published, and will be updated approximately three times per year while data is being gathered.
The new EDINA PCI-Web interface allows you to search the database by title keyword, author and subject, and to limit your search to specific years and languages of publication. Detailed context-specific help is available from every screen at the click of a button --- even offering advice on how to improve your searching techniques. In order to satisfy users' demands, we have designed PCI-Web to suit users of graphical Web browsers like Netscape® and Internet Explorer®, or any other browser that displays tables and supports on-screen forms. But don't despair if your computer can only handle text: the Telnet interface to EDINA PCI, available since July 1996, will remain in service and will continue to be developed.
EDINA PCI-Web has a number of advantages over the existing Telnet version of EDINA PCI. Aside from the more attractive, easy-to-use point-and-click interface, users can enter all their search terms on a single screen instead of having to visit several screens to specify a search query with limits. PCI-Web provides details about both article citations and journals, and gives users access to the tables of contents of every journal in the database.
EDINA PCI-Web offers a simple, user-friendly interface, making use of software licensed from OCLC SiteSearch. Plans for future additions include: marking individual records and saving the marked list; a means of saving and re-using search queries; and provision for downloading records in a choice of formats so that they can be used with popular desktop database packages.
Staff and students at subscribing higher education institutes can have access to both EDINA PCI-Web and to the Telnet EDINA PCI service using their current user ID and password. To find out if your university or college has subscribed, check the list of registered institutions on the EDINA web pages at http://edina.ac.uk/pci/list.html. If your institution is not yet registered, consult your local Computing Service or Library. Library subscription managers might like to know that EDINA PCI-Web is available at no extra cost to existing subscribers. A new subscription costs £200/year, or £500/year including online access via EDINA to Palmer's Index to The Times and a licence for the English Poetry data on CD.
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Login to EDINA PCI-Web at:
http://edina.ac.uk/pci/pciweb
For information about PCI licensing, contact Eduserv Chest via their web page:
Information about OCLC SiteSearch is available at:
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Initially directed to provide a Telnet interface to its services, EDINA has now begun to offer services that allow interactive searching via desktop Web browsers. During the past year, we have hosted several training courses and attended myriad user meetings and exhibitions, both to learn and to promote our services. Now we are taking stock and planning what new services to offer, and what development projects to get underway, especially with respect to the eLib Programme.
Despite some growing pains during our accelerated adolescence, we remain eager to learn and to please. If you like what we are doing, let us (and others) know. Of course, we also want to hear from you about what we could do better.
In addition, a set of historical boundary data relating to the 19th and early 20th centuries have recently been added to UKBORDERS™. These include Poor Law Unions and Counties, Registration Districts, Administrative Units and Counties, all for England and Wales, and London Registration and Sub Districts. (These data were compiled and supplied by the Historical GIS project at Queen Mary and Westfield College, London.)
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Great Britain -- Population 1991
(Counties, England & Wales; New Council Areas, Scotland) This work is based on data provided with the support of the ESRC and JISC and uses boundary data which is copyright of the Crown, the Post Office and the EDLINE consortium. |
The use of digitised boundary data requires suitable mapping software, or a Geographical Information System (GIS). Software products differ in the digitised boundary data formats that they can handle. Anyone intending to access the digitised boundaries described here ought to investigate, at an early juncture, which mapping software they wish to use within their own computing environment. This decision should be made prior to accessing the data.
UKBORDERS™ provides facilities to convert the digitised boundaries into formats suitable for different mapping and GIS products. The most popular formats currently are Arc/Info (including ArcView) and MapInfo.
Please note that, because a number of agencies and firms own the copyright on the DBD, users are required to complete both the licence for Scottish DBD and that for England and Wales (and, when it becomes available, that for Northern Ireland) before they are granted access to the data. Each licence must also be witnessed. (Students must in addition get their supervisor to sign the licence form.) Information on which institutions are currently registered and who the `site reps' are can also be found on the EDINA Web server.
| i | Further information about UKBORDERS™ is available from EDINA (edina@ed.ac.uk). |
To try out a test release: at the main EDINA menu, instead of entering 1, 2 or 3 to select BIOSIS, Palmer's Index or PCI respectively, enter 1test, 2test, or 3test.
Improved navigation: Changes intended to improve user navigation through the interface have been made:
When you are specifying a main search from the Search Menu, or setting a Limit, you can browse through the values indexed in the relevant field of the database records. Browsing is invoked by use of the @ symbol. For example, if you are defining an author search, specifying koh@ would result in a screen giving you an alphabetically ordered list of names in the author field starting with `koh'. You can then scan adjacent values, or give another browse stem to look elsewhere in the complete list of names, before choosing a name you would like to use in your search or Limit. If you give a @ symbol on its own (i.e. without any word stem), the list of values displayed is from the start of the indexed values for the author field.
Note that only one database year is examined by the browsing facility --- the latest database currently in use.
Additional search syntax: When you are specifying a text string to be used in a search or as part of a Limit, you can now enclose it in square brackets, e.g. [brain research]. This implies that the string (in this case, a journal title) is intended to match a complete field value, i.e. the complete title of the journal being sought is Brain Research. The form "brain research" would merely match text within the field, and thus would also find references to Brain Research Bulletin, Experimental Brain Research, etc.
You cannot use `*' with [...], but if you know exactly what value you are looking for then you should use this new form, since searches are normally much faster. The [...] form is used automatically when multi-word values are selected via browsing (see above).
Searching on limits: A new search option has been added to the Search Menu, allowing you to search the whole database using only the Limits which are currently switched `on'.
Other changes:
Each site will receive a monthly report with statistics relating to their institution. In the first instance, the reports will break usage figures down by dataset, department and number of sessions. In time, we also hope to add figures for both login time and CPU usage: the latter ignores 'idle' time, i.e. time during which a user is logged on but is not carrying out a search, output or other function. Depending on demand, we can also provide a breakdown by user category.
We intend to deliver usage statistics by email to each site representative. This will allow site representatives and administrators to read the figures into their chosen application. Should this method of delivery pose a problem to you we can also arrange to send printed reports through the post.
A sample of the proposed monthly report has been sent to the mailbase list lis-jibs-users and to all EDINA site representatives. Comments on the format and content of the proposed report are welcome.
| (image not available) | Helen Kerr (left), Helen Strain (right) and Nicola Shields (seated) have recently joined the staff of EDINA. In addition to their other responsibilities within the User Support Team, the two Helens and Nicky will be providing helpdesk assistance, making sure that all your queries are answered quickly and efficiently. |
| Q: | When I try to connect to EDINA through my web browser, clicking on ``Login'' gives me the message, ``Application not Found.'' |
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Netscape users: you must have Telnet installed on your computer. If you know that a Telnet application is already in place, it may be that Netscape doesn't know where to find it. Look under the ``Options'' menu, and choose ``General Preferences,'' then select ``Applications.'' This dialogue box allows you to ``Browse'' so that you can locate the Telnet program. Once you have selected the Telnet application through the ``Options'' menu, Netscape will be able to start up a Telnet session automatically. You only have to perform this procedure once.
Other browsers will use a similar procedure, although the menu titles may be slightly different. If you need further help with getting your browser to start Telnet, consult your local computing officer. |
If you would like to host a training session at your site, please email us at edina@ed.ac.uk
EDINA services are:
For BIOSIS, the Periodicals Contents Index and Palmer's Index to The Times, licence agreements must be obtained from Eduserv Chest (email chest@chest.ac.uk) and a subscription fee must be paid. Individual users must also register.
For UKBORDERS™, there is no fee for academic institutions within the UK, but a licence agreement must be signed (email edina@ed.ac.uk) and individual users must sign an End User Licence.
SALSER is a completely free service, with no subscription fee. No licence or prior registration is required.
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EDINA Newsline is published four times per year by the Edinburgh University Data Library, using Adobe PageMaker. It is printed on recycled paper by the University's Printing Services. Suggestions and comments on the newsletter may be sent to the editor at edina@ed.ac.uk.
Editor: Dawn Griesbach The next issue of Newsline will appear in early May 1997. |