[WEB4LIB] Limiting searches to online only items

[Roy Tennant]

Again, I am amazed at the Web4Lib community. I posted my query about  
catalogs that make it possible to limit searches to online items last  
night, and within an hour or two I had replies back from Canada, Qatar,  
and Australia. In much less than 24 hours I had received 19 replies,  
all helpful. Below is the summary, along with a beginning laundry list  
of issues relating to this function. Thanks to all who helped (names  
below),
Roy

Systems Mentioned:
* University of Utah, http://catalog.lib.utah.edu/
* University of California Libraries, http://melvyl.cdlib.org/
* Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar,  
http://libq.med.cornell.edu/search
* University of Adelaide,  
http://voyager.library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi? 
DB=local&PAGE=First
* Flinders University,  
http://voyager.cc.flinders.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi? 
DB=local&PAGE=First
* University of South Australia,  
http://catalogue.library.unisa.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi? 
DB=local&PAGE=First
* Australian National University, http://library.anu.edu.au/
* Ohio University, http://alice.library.ohiou.edu/
* Vanderbilt University, http://acorn.library.vanderbilt.edu/
* Franklin UPenn, http://www.franklin.library.upenn.edu/
* Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarthmore, http://tripod.brynmawr.edu/search/t
* Michigan State University, http://magic.msu.edu/search~S8
* Western North Carolina Library Network, http://wncln.wncln.org/
* Wright State University, http://wsuol2.wright.edu/
* University of Virginia,  
https://virgo.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/opac.pl?element=60/1315/ 
X&level=public
* University of Michigan, http://mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/
* Dartmouth, http://libcat.dartmouth.edu/
* MIT, http://library.mit.edu/
* OCLC's FirstSearch, http://firstsearch.oclc.org/
* Charleston Southern University,  
http://lib.csuniv.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi.exe/x/0/49
* New York State Library, http://nysl.nysed.gov/

Issues Found (these do not apply to all systems):
* No immediate link to full-text in search results (usually available  
in the full record display)
* Items are available online in full-text, but SFX reports "no  
full-text available" (and the user must go to the full record to see  
the link).
* No way to distinguish web-accessible from items like CD-ROMS
* Option to limit not readily apparent, some catalogs require clicking  
a "set limits" button and reviewing many choices, often from scrolling  
menus, to find the right limit
* Some have no apparent way to limit the search initially, therefore  
the limit must be applied after the search is first executed
* Some put online items as a separate file or catalog, others treat as  
a limit to a search
* Competing limits (which one to use?): Item Type: "website or etext or  
ebook or compfile" or Location: online?
* "Online" sometimes means only the table of contents or some other  
part, but not the full-text
* The labels used for describing the limit vary widely, and may include  
items which are not online (e.g., CD-ROMs). Examples found include:  
"E-books", "Electronic Resources", "Web Resources", "INTERNET",  
"Online/Computer Resources", "Computer File". "Online Resources",  
"Electronic Resources (web)", "Internet Resources"

Thanks to: David Mattison, Dianne Cmor, Stephen Cramond, Arvind Kalia,  
Thomas Dowling, Marshall Breeding, John Hubbard, Hui Hua Chua, Thomass  
Bennett, Marty Jenkins, Jim Campbell, Patricia Anderson, Jennifer  
Merrill, Nina Davis-Millis, Ginny Brown, Megan Mitchell, Ellen Meltzer,  
Diane Madrigal, and Eileen Lutzow