MEDLARS: Its Utilization in Research, Education and Practice

 

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A study of the utilization of the MEDLARS bibliographic service at one of the regional MEDLARS Centers is described. Data were obtained by sending a questionnaire to a sample of users who had requested bibliographic searches in previous months. The characteristics of the users, their awareness of the service availability, the purposes of their search requests, and their satisfaction with the results of the search were analyzed. The relation between outcome of the search and user’s satisfaction was examined.

There was a ratio of 2:1 between high and low satisfaction. A favorable appraisal of the MEDLARS search was found to be prevalent among users who had received large bibliographies. The group of requesters with teaching status also showed a higher proportion of satisfied users than the group of students or trainees.

Verf. legt eine Untersuchung über die Nutzung des MEDLARS-Literaturdienstes in einem der regionalen MEDLARS-Zentren vor. Die Auswertung basiert auf Angaben aus Fragebögen, die an eine Stichprobe von Benutzern des Literaturdienstes versandt worden waren. Die Charakteristika der Benutzer, ihre Kenntnis der verfügbaren Dienstleistungen, der Zweck ihrer Anfragen und der Grad ihrer Zufriedenstellung mit dem Suchergebnis wurden analysiert. Die Relation zwischen dem Suchergebnis und der Zufriedenheit des Benutzers wurde untersucht.

Das Verhältnis von hohem zu niedrigem Zufriedenheitsgrad war 2:1. Eine positive Einschätzung der MEDLARS-Suchergebnisse herrschte bei denjenigen Benutzern vor, die umfangreiche Bibliographien erhalten hatten. Auch zeigte sich bei den Anfragem mit Lehrfunktionen ein höherer Anteil von zufriedenen Benutzern als bei Studenten oder Praktikanten.

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