Full Text Retrieval -Reply

[Stan Furmanak]

At  6:09 AM 7/25/96 -0700, KAREN SCHNEIDER wrote:

>In our library, we have such a
>special focus that we're planning to use FirstSearch by-the-search
>for its full-text services, including EbscoHost, which we predict
>we will use lightly because of their general orientation.
>
>Gotta run... more thoughts later... anyone else?
>
>Karen G. Schneider/opinions mine alone
>

Karen-

I've had a friendly debate with another college in our consortium about IAC
vs. EbscoHost. While I agree that EbscoHost does include titles of a
general interest nature in its database, I still think its coverage of
scholarly titles is pretty good. Thought you might find our discussion
below of interest.

We are seriously thinking of relying on EbscoHost more in light of the
statistics outlined below. A fixed subscription cost is much easier to
budget than is the per search cost of accessing the Wilson indexes via
FirstSearch. Our use of F.S. has skyrocketed now that our campus is fully
networked. While EbscoHost does not duplicate select Wilson indexes, it
does come close in some instances.

Ebsco now has an administrative module which allows you to create separate
databases which the user can select. Potentially, then, one could have
"business periodicals" target, "social science periodicals" target, etc.
giving the illusion of separate dbs when actually what one has done is set
predefined limits for the user. In this way you can block out "Ladies Home
Journal" or "Redbook" and really make EbscoHost more academic if you wish.


Stan Furmanak
Systems Librarian
Lebanon Valley College

>Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 13:27:33 -0400
>To:zhou at ycp.edu
>From:furmanak at lvc.edu (Stan Furmanak)
>Subject:Re: EBSCO Wilson Title Overlap
>Cc:miller
>
>Zehao-
>
>I think you've got an inverted number below. EbscoHost indexes 86% of the
>titles indexed in Wilson's BPI, not 68% as you state. I did a check against
>all 400 titles indexed in BPI and EbscoHost indexes 344 of those titles.
>EbscoHost also indexes quite a few business/management periodicals NOT indexed
>in BPI. A definite plus!
>
>I think EbscoHost's overall coverage is still pretty good in that it does
>cover Wilson's SSI rather well, 85% according to my quick and dirty survey,
>and has the bonus of providing decent coverage of the BPI, which IAC covers
>only by subscribing to a separated db. I'm not sure why Ebsco didn't provide
>their own figures about SSI.
>
>That Ebsco did not provide an analysis of how EbscoHost covers the EDI is
>perhaps understandable as is their not providing stats for AST, the ART INDEX,
>etc. In each case, these indexes are so specialized that one would expect a
>user to defer to these resources rather than relay exclusively on EbscoHost or
>IAC's Expanded Academic for that matter.
>
>BTW, my q&d survey indicates that EbscoHost indexes about 55% of EDI as
>opposed to the 18% coverage you mentioned for Expanded Academic. I checked 163
>titles (Titles A to I) and found 89 indexed. And, just to reiterate what I
>mentioned above, my q&d survey of SSI titles indexed in EbscoHost indicates a
>rough 85% coverage. I checked 127 titles (A to F) and found 108 in EbscoHost.
>
>My own perspective on all this is that if having 100% coverage of SSI, HI, and
>GSI is a concern, then go with Expanded Academic but accept the limitations of
>not having very good coverage in business and education. On the other hand, if
>85% coverage (on average) of SSI, HI, and GSI is acceptable, you get the bonus
>of 86% coverage of BPI and 55% of EDI. That EbscoHost indexes additional
>titles which are not indexed at all in any Wilson index is a bonus to me as
>well. Subscription costs, of course, haven't entered into our discussions and
>should probably remain outside the arena of this battle!
>
>
>Stan
>
>
>At 10:37 AM 5/21/96 -0500, zhou at ycp.edu wrote:
>
>>Good morning, Stan,
>>
>>Finally, my colleague Vickie Kline received info from EBSCO about their
>>coverage of Wilson indexes.  I think it came a bit too late and the coverage
>>doesn't seem to be good enough, particularly the mysterious lack of mention of
>>the two important indexes.  I think EBSCO blew it with their slow and poor
>>response.  Thanks for all your input in this whole thing.
>>
>>Zehao
>>
>>Here is Vickie's message to the Library faculty at
>>YCP:
>>
>>    EBSCO finally did provide some limited Wilson comparison:
>>
>>        BPI - 68%
>>        HI - 93%
>>        GSI - 81%
>>        RG - about 90%
>>
>>    No info provided for SSI, EDI.
>>
>>
>>
>

Stan Furmanak
Systems and Reference Librarian
Bishop Library
Lebanon Valley College
Annville, Pa 17003
(717) 867-6973 voice
(717) 867-6979 fax
furmanak at lvc.edu
LVC WWW server: http://www.lvc.edu/