Creation of problem‐oriented databases by downloading information from online social science systems
| Pages | 149-153 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045285 |
| Published date | 01 March 1994 |
| Date | 01 March 1994 |
| Author | L. Chemberko,L Gromova,W. Khisamoutdinov |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Article
Creation of
problem-oriented
databases by downloading
information from online
social science systems
L. Chemberko, L Gromova and
W. Khisamoutdinov
Institute
of
Scientific Information on
Social
Sciences of
Russian
Academy
of
Sciences,
28/21
Krasikov
Street,
117418
Moscow
B-418,
Russia
E-mail:
INION@sovamsu.sovusa.com
Abstract:
Information
users find
online access to
bibliographic databases
and other
sources
of information
fast
and
convenient.
INION RAN
is developing new ways of
disseminating search results in
order
to overcome
temporary difficulties
—
these can be through
a
text
file
or a
problem-oriented
database.
The latter
is
preferable as (1) it
contains the results
of
cross-searches in different databases
and (2) it
is
flexible:
the records
in
such
a
database can be
sorted in various
orders depending on individual
information
requirements;
an alphabetical subject index to
any part of
the database can
be
formed;
etc.
Problem-oriented
databases can also be updated regularly
using internal and external information resources
(CDROMs,
online
systems,
printed
indexes).
Problem-oriented
databases are a response to the changing
information needs
of
both expert
and
non-expert users in
today's
Russia,
which
is changing faster
than
ever.
1. Introduction
A problem-oriented database can be defined as a
domain-
independent subject- or task-oriented database that contains
information extracted from different information sources
(online, CDROM and so on) according to a particular
problem,
goal
or subject categories.
The economic and political situation in Russia is very
dynamic, changeable and unstable and it has an obvious
impact
on the
information
environment.
The
political changes
in Eastern Europe have also influenced the field of
informa-
tion (Anon
1992a).
Adapting information products
and
serv-
ices
to a new pricing
model,
unceasing
inflation
and
constant
growth
of prices
proved to
be
difficult.
The problems of infor-
mation provision under the transition to the market were
analysed at the All-Russia seminar 'Scientific and technical
information stocks and databases: their state, acquisition
opportunities, prospects' (Moscow, 16-18 June 1993 (Anon
1993)).
Analysis of the information situation in Russia suggests
the
following:
(1)
the
information products market is
shrinking;
(2) the concept of
a
market for producers has changed to a
market for consumers;
(3) there
are
three simultaneous types of
demand
for infor-
mation in Russia
nowadays:
information
repeated
with-
out a change in subject; information repeated with
changes in queries sets; and complete retrospective
information for solving new problems;
(4) there are not many large buyers of information
products;
(5) information product
users are
geographically
dispersed;
(6)
the emergence
of new
structures,
including commercial
ones, is destroying existing long-established links
between
information centres
and
users;
(7) large online databases are being
'frozen'
under hyper-
inflation
conditions,
and as
a
result
comparatively small
databases that
can
be
hosted on
PCs
and
distributed on
floppy
disks prove to be more
competitive.
Databases on CDROM have similarly favourable pros-
pects to (7) but the market for them is still at an embryonic
stage.
Transferring retrospective stock bibliographical
data to
CDROM is also
a good
task for
the
future.
Researchers, scholars, managers
and
politicians
need
rele-
vant
and
well-tailored information from different information
sources, but not all of
them
have sufficiently powerful
com-
puters and the financial resources for online information
searching even in native databases, let alone Western infor-
mation
sources.
Besides, as Lankenau (1992) points out, ac-
cess to specialised Western
information is of no
use in
Russia
if
the original
literature
cannot be made
available.
At present,
users in Western Europe have access to many online social
science databases. According to the EUROSPES guide
(Meyriat 1992) there are more than 170 databases on the
social sciences
in Western
Europe
(65
databases
are
provided
by
France,
41
by
Italy,
24 by
Belgium,
14
by
Portugal,
24 by
The Electronic Library, Vol. 12, No. 3, June 1994 149
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