Experiences of a literature search

Abstract

A manual literature search conducted at the Central Library of the Miskolc Polytechnical University for Heavy Industry is described. Based on three abstract journals (Műszaki Lapszemle, Gépészet, Metál Abstracts, Referativnyj Zurnal. Svarka) the search produced 926 articles, though, due to a 19 per cent overlap, this number was reduced to 754. The papers were published in 198 journals; the fraction of more than third of the documents appeared in two journals but more than half of the journals (57,6 per cent) contained only one sixth (114 articles) of the retrieved documents. The user judged 114 papers to be highly relevant, 75 per cent of which (in 28 journals) was available at the University; the remaining fraction had to be acquired by interlibrary lending.