RESOURCE CENTRE MANUAL
HEALTHLINK WORLDWIDE
• Phrase searching (searching for a string of words), and proximity or
adjacency of term searching (searching for words that are near each other)
are important when looking for important words in the title, or for
documents that cannot be well described by the use of subject keywords.
• Truncation searching is useful for finding words that have similar word
stems, such as singular and plural terms, or words with similar meanings,
such as computer, computing, computerised.
• Synonym and soundalike searching is useful for finding words that have
similar meanings, or words that sound alike, such as words spelt in different
ways.
• Cross reference searching is useful when a relevant term is found, as it
enables the entire database to be searched immediately for other records
containing that term.
• Cross database searching (searching more than one database at the same
time) can be very useful, for example if there are separate databases for
different types of materials, different resource centre sites, or for the
catalogue and ordering systems. It can help to speed up the search process, or
avoid duplicating materials or wasting time re-creating a record.
• Saved searches are a search strategy that can be saved and re-run at intervals,
to retrieve any new records of interest to a specific user, or in a specific
subject area.
Sorting It is useful to be able to sort data (for example, by date, subject, author
or title) when carrying out searches, producing bibliographies, or viewing records
on-screen. It is important to consider how many levels of sorting are available,
and whether complex sorting is offered. For example, if there is no author, the
record may need to be sorted by title instead.
Display, print and download formats It is important to look at how easy it is to
create a print format, and whether it is possible to format text, so that an
attractive printout can be produced without having to use a word processor. It is
useful to be able to save records and reports as ‘rich text format’ (RTF), so that
formatted data can be imported directly into documents such as bibliographies
and newsletters. It is also useful to be able to save data in HTML (hypertext
mark-up language) format, for placing records as text on a website. Check also
to see how easy it is to do mail merge and label printing.
User interface Does the program look pleasant on the screen? Is it easy to
understand? Can searches be carried out without using written guidelines?
However, even if the program is easy to use, it is a good idea to provide users
with written guidelines, as these can also be used to tell them what the different
databases contain.
Languages It is important that staff and users can understand the language used
in the user interface as well as the data that is entered into the database. Check
what languages the program is available in, and, if needed, whether data can be
entered in non-Roman scripts, such as Arabic or Hindi.
SECTION 6: COMPUTERS, ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION AND DATABASES
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