Selection of databases and host services for online information retrieval

Abstract

The wide choice of online available databases and online services today makes their selection a rather diffrcult task, for solving a given information retrieval problem. The decisions to be made before an online search session starts are overviewed. Database and host selection criteria are discussed in detail, and decision guidelines are presented for the following cases: the selection of a host service or host services to be accessed prior to the establishment of a new terminal station, the selection of a database or databases for searching a given query, and the selection of a host service when the selected database is available at more than one host that are accessible for the user.