EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR INDEXES AND FULL TEXT DATABASES

1.  Who is the audience for this database? Purpose, why would a person use this database?

2.  Currency, what years are covered?

3   What Languages, Geographical coverage?

4.  What kinds of materials are indexed? (newspapers, journals, books, film reviews, radio transcripts, etc.)

5.  Access, how does one get to this database/where is it "located?"

6.  How do you use boolean/keyword operators (and, or, not)

7.  What are the truncation and wild-card symbols?

8.  Does the database provide a list of the journals (sources) it indexes?

9.  How do you search by fields?

10. How do you conduct phrase and proximity searches?

11. How do you bring up citations and abstracts of the computer record?

12. Are there Full-Text materials in the database? What percentage? Are any of these image (.pdf) files?

13. How do you mark records for printing?  How do you print?

14. Is there a Print Index equivalent of the database?

15. How do you search by subject or descriptor terms? Is there a print/online thesaurus/subject headings list? What is the "quality" of the subject terms given to an article?

16. Evaluate the database for your needs: Were you successful in your searches?   Was it easy to use? Is it slow?  Give the good and bad points?

17. What institutions would you suggest should buy or use this database?

18. Are the help screens "helpful?"

19. Evaluate the interface?  What is the best method of searching for the beginner user?  What is the best method of searching for the expert user? 

20. Who publishes this database? What organization?