Problems and Methods in Database Descriptions

摘要

To aid the producing of better database descriptions, a research project for developing a general, systematical framework for database descriptions was started. An essential requirement for the database description is that searcher's needs have to be taken into consideration. The user documents should satisfy these information needs as well as possible. When selecting an appropriate database, a searcher needs information about the contents of databases and how the material in a particular database differs from that of the other databases. On the search stage, a searcher needs information about the features specific to a selected database in order to conduct the search as efficiently as possible. The key issue is how to segment the information into appropriate pieces of data and represent them in such a manner that any piece of information, such as language or document types, can be easily accessed. A list of such description segments was produced. Each description segment is an independent entity which can be accessed separately, but they all together form a general 'master' file, which represents the characteristics of a database. According to the model, instruction sheets for describing a database directory entry and a data sheet were produced.