ANALYSIS OF RETRIEVAL PERFORMANCE IN 4 CROSS-DISCIPLINARY DATABASES -ARTICLE1ST, FAXON FINDER, UNCOVER, AND A LOCALLY MOUNTED DATABASE

As an increasing number of cross-disciplinary databases become accessi ble over the Internet, librarians are presented with the dilemma of wh ich to choose to support patron research. Several factors, such as cos t, retrospective coverage, and document delivery, are usually consider ed in making a decision. However, one key factor-citation retrieval pe rformance-is often overlooked because comparative data have been unava ilable. A study of four cross-disciplinary databases was undertaken to provide those data. In addition to citation frequency distribution, t wo other variables were examined: percentage of unique periodicals cit ed per search and relevancy of citations to stated search topic. An an alysis of the data is provided, with its implication for database sele ction.