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Choice,
July 2004
Reference Reviews, Volume 18, Number 7,
December 2004
Review from: Reference Reviews, Volume 18, Number 7,
December 2004
As the market for electronic
indexes for current literature becomes increasingly saturated, publishers
have turned to offering electronic versions of indexes for historical
scholarly and popular periodicals, such as Humanities & Social Sciences
Index Retrospective (HSSIR). This index includes the content of two
standard reference indexes Humanities Index and Social Sciences
Index (1974-1984), as well as their predecessors: the Social
Sciences & Humanities Index and International Index
(1907-1974).
HSSIR offers citations to over
1.3 million articles with indexing for 1,004 journals (excluding journal
name changes). Journals indexed cover all areas of the humanities and
social sciences, with some coverage of scientific literature through the
1950s. These are primarily scholarly journals with a small number of
general periodicals. Over 240,000 book reviews are included, along with
poems and short stories, making this a rich resource for literary
research. Non-English language content (largely from Western Europe) is
also indexed. Wilson offers the ability to link from citations to a
library's online journal subscriptions using the Open URL standard and to
directly link to a library's catalogue record for a journal. The latter
feature will be of particular value, as the age of journals indexed makes
them less likely to be online.
The index utilizes the
standard Wilson software and Web interface. This is a complex and busy
interface, which uses multiple frames. Search, browse, help, thesaurus and
exit options are consistently presented on every screen, making navigation
easy for users. Other menus appear once searches are performed. With up to
four sidebars and menus bordering the main section of the screen, the
space for viewing search results and citations can feel uncomfortably
small. Help screens are complete, but are generic to all Wilson databases,
rather than customized for an individual database.
Basic and advanced search
options are offered. The basic option allows Boolean or natural language
searches. The natural language search option is intriguing, but seemed to
result in keyword searches using the Boolean operator OR, leading to
retrieval of many irrelevant citations, even when using the exact search
example given by Wilson. Perhaps counter-intuitively, command-line Boolean
searches and full use of the over 30 operators supported by Wilson are
only available from the basic search screen. Operators offered include
concept, proximity and wildcard and allow searching of selected fields.
While of interest to some advanced searchers, many are too arcane to be of
everyday use. Explanations and examples for each operator are accessible
from help screens, but these are not easy to understand.
The advanced search option
offers guided searching using the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT and
searching of combined or individual fields. Useful fields available for
searching (other than the usual keyword, subject and author fields)
include document type, historical subject and physical description. The
physical description field is particularly useful for locating
bibliographies, illustrations, maps, plates, tables and other special
elements. Searches can be limited by year (although only to whole years,
rather than months), physical description or document type, and results
sorted by many variables including relevance and date. Users can also
browse various indexes and search the thesaurus. Surprisingly, for an
index that offers both historical and updated subject terms, there is no
link in the thesaurus between the two. The usual print, save and e-mail
options for citations in various levels of detail and formats are offered,
as is the ability to create a profile and save searches. This resource
effectively provides access to important historical scholarly literature
in the humanities and social sciences and increases the visibility and
ease of use of a library's older journal collection. Despite some problems
with the interface and search functions, HSSIR is indubitably easier to
use than the corresponding print indexes. These required volume-by-volume
searching and constant cross-reference between citation and library
catalogue to verify a library's holdings. This index will be of value to
many academic libraries.
Reviewed by Hui Hua Chua,
Michigan State University
Review from: Choice,
July 2004
This
Wilson index cites English-language scholarly journals and specialized
magazines that treat a wide range of topics in areas of the humanities and
social sciences. Search options include Basic Search, offering both
natural-language and Boolean searching techniques; Advanced Search with
search boxes supplying Boolean operators and the ability to sort results
by several parameters; Browse Search of subject terms; and a Thesaurus
search to explode or collapse terms. Other navigation features include a
search history and the ability to mark records before printing, e-mailing
or saving. WilsonWeb is not a full text database, but it does offer
library holdings capabilities. Wilsonlink, a URL resolver, links readers
to full text from other services to which the host library subscribes. It
also provides the unique feature of linking to a Web search using any
number of available search engines. Library patrons have long had access
to electronic indexes 1980 to the present, but they had to revert to
printed indexes for earlier dates. For readers interested in a historical
perspective, Wilson offers both this database and Readers Guide
Retrospective, excellent sources for researchers ranging from high school
students to scholars.
Summing Up: Highly recommended. General and academic readers.
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