In Reference ...
OCLC to Merge EPIC with FirstSearch
OCLC has decided to integrate the OCLC EPIC and First-Search services. When the two
services are merged in July 1999, the EPIC service will no longer be accessible. OCLC
has sent a formal letter of notification to every EPIC subscriber and discontinued EPIC's
annual fee in December 1997. Orders for EPIC will not be accepted as of April 3.
Current EPIC databases, however, will continue to be updated through the end of the
service.
New Colorado/Kansas FirstSearchTrials Set
The Colorado/Kansas FirstSearch Group is conducting free trials of the following
databases from March 1 through May 31:
Wilson Select (abstracts, index and full text)
SIRS Researcher (abstracts, index and full text)
Books In Print (index)
Participating libraries already have access to WorldCat, ArticleFirst, Contents-First,
FastDoc, PapersFirst, ERIC, ProceedingsFirst, GPO, MEDLINE, World Almanac, UMI
Periodicals Abstract and ABI/Inform databases and share 75 ports.
To buy access to the same databases, with one port, would cost a single institution a total
of $38,140, which includes a subscription to the FirstSearch Base Package plus
individual subscriptions to UMI Periodicals Abstracts (Abstracts & Indexes with full
text) and ABI/Inform (Abstracts & Indexes with full text). Colorado libraries
participating in the group purchase pay varying amounts according to their size and use
of FirstSearch, but 85 percent pay only $200 a year. The Kansas State Library
subsidizes all costs for participating libraries in Kansas.
Contact Karen Graham to join the Colorado/Kansas FirstSearch Group.
New Databases Added to FirstSearch
Two new databases are now available to FirstSearch users. They are: Social Issues
Resources' SIRS Researcher, a full-text general reference database covering social,
scientific, historic, economic, political and global issues; and Contemporary Women's
Issues (CWI), from Responsive Database Services.
WilsonWeb Now Available
Now you can access information on the World Wide Web using state-of-the- art
WilsonWeb. This search and retrieval system combines powerful and efficient search
options with unprecedented flexibility. Users can use point-and-click searching with no
complex commands to learn.
Cross database searching is one of the many powerful capabilities of this search system.
Searching is possible by keywords and phrases with Boolean or proximity operators and
with truncation symbols. Other options include index browsing, combined searches,
lateral searching, subject look-up and hotlinks between records.
Tap into a remote server at H.W. Wilson or use your own library's server through your
Internet connection and a forms-capable web browser. Clients such as SilverPlatter's
WinSPIRS, MacSPIRS or PCSPIRS may be used as well. For more information on
subscribing to Wilson databases using WilsonWeb, contact BCR's Karen Graham.
SilverPlatter Adds New Databases
SilverPlatter has added four new databases to its inventory available to subscribers. They
are: Lexi-Comp's Clinical Reference Collection medical reference database; American
Theological Library Association's ATLA Religion database (formerly the Religion
Index); FOREGE on CD-ROM, an authoritative source of food additive, composition and
labeling legislation; and U.S. Pharmacopeia's Volume I: Drug Information for the Health
Care Professional.
(For questions or to subscribe to any reference database -- CD-ROM, online or Internet-accessible contact BCR's Jim Hensinger or Karen Graham.