Database Vendors Research Articles

Data Needs and Use of Electronic Resources and Services at Academic Research Libraries

The ARL (Association of Research Libraries) E-Metrics project is a concerted effort by the research library community to investigate various problems related to collecting and using data for electronic materials and services. A survey was conducted involving twenty-four libraries during the first phase of the project to learn about current data collection activities. Twenty-two libraries responded to the survey. The results show that a number of libraries are not well prepared to collect, to analyze, and to report data related to networked resources and services. Libraries need to determine their data needs and the amount of resource that they can commit for data collection and use activities. The results also identified the lack of consistent and comparable statistics from database vendors as a main challenge and an area in which libraries and vendors must work together for solutions.

Relational extensions for OLAP

Enterprises have been storing multidimensional data, using a star or snowflake schema, in relational databases for many years. Over time, relational database vendors have added optimizations that enhance query performance on these schemas. During the 1990s many special-purpose databases were developed that could handle added calculational complexity and that generally performed better than relational engines. DB2® has added a number of features that make it more competitive with these special-purpose databases. In this paper, we define meta-data extensions that allow designers of multidimensional schemas to describe the structure of those schemas to multidimensional query and analysis tools. The SQL (Structured Query Language) extensions include a cube object that returns row sets that are slices of the cube. We also describe Web services for OLAP (on-line analytical processing) that provide meta-data for multidimensional data, as well as XML (Extensible Markup Language) query results.

Traditional IR for web users: a context for general audience digital libraries

The emergence of general audience digital libraries (GADLs) defines a context that represents a hybrid of both “traditional” IR, using primarily bibliographic resources provided by database vendors, and “popular” IR, exemplified by public search systems available on the World Wide Web. Findings of a study investigating end-user searching and response to a GADL are reported. Data collected from a Web-based end-user survey and data logs of resource usage for a Web-based GADL were analyzed for user characteristics, patterns of access and use, and user feedback. Cross-tabulations using respondent demographics revealed several key differences in how the system was used and valued by users of different age groups. Older users valued the service more than younger users and engaged in different searching and viewing behaviors. The GADL more closely resembles traditional retrieval systems in terms of content and purpose of use, but is more similar to popular IR systems in terms of user behavior and accessibility. A model that defines the dual context of the GADL environment is derived from the data analysis and existing IR models in general and other specific contexts. The authors demonstrate the distinguishing characteristics of this IR context, and discuss implications for the development and evaluation of future GADLs to accommodate a variety of user needs and expectations.

Online News from Russia via the Internet

Over the last five years, useful information available about and from Russia has been increasing in both volume and quality. This article looks specifically at sources of news available via the Internet from Russia, primarily online versions of Russian newspapers. There are many useful free resources available as well as good collections of pointers to such free resources (AU, etc.), but the best selection is available from database vendors. An extended comparison is made of these resources, available from East View Publications, Integrum World Wide, Internet Securities, Inc., News Express, and Russian Story.

The common user interface in academic libraries: myth or reality?

Academic libraries have long desired one‐stop shopping for their customers and, in this electronic age, their customers are demanding it: a way to search from a single point at any physical location, and retrieve information from the library catalog, citations from journal indexes, and full text information from electronic resources. Academic libraries have explored ways to provide this access, as have library vendors of electronic databases, indexes, and integrated online library systems. The various components for a universal common user interface are in use and available, but have yet to be combined into a single system interface, adaptable enough to include any electronic resource, yet still powerful and versatile enough to provide a powerful and expert search engine. This article discusses the integrated facets as well as the system components that should be built into the ideal electronic library interface, taking into account the information needs of everyone from the newest freshman to the most erudite scholar and their expectations with regard to access, functionality and personalization.

Compiling a Collective, Searchable List of Full Text Titles for Multiple Databases

ABSTRACT This article discusses the compilation of collective lists of titles available in various online databases into one comprehensive list using Microsoft Excel. Methodology includes modifying the lists to reflect only titles available in full text. Web site addresses that link to downloadable lists from several common database vendors are listed. It includes the code for a C.G.I, script written in the Perl computer programming language that can be used to keyword search and list matches for use with an electronic form of the compiled list via the World Wide Web. Implementation of the script is discussed. Limitations of the method and materials are also discussed, as well as possible additional uses of such a collective full text availability list.

Aggravating or Aggregating? Providing Effective Access to Contents of Aggregator Databases: A Reference/Collection Development Librarian's Perspective

ABSTRACT Based on his experience, the author summarizes what reference/collection development librarians and library users want and expect from aggregator databases, and what's needed from database vendors and from librarians to meet these expectations. Particularly important are content quality, reliability, modularity, and affordability, interface simplicity and flexibility, and reliable congruence between and integration of print and electronic editions. From vendors, librarians should demand more and better content guarantees, purchase options, communication of content details and changes, full-text searching, and persistent URLs for individual titles. Librarians should provide analyzed cataloging and holdings for all titles in aggregator databases, keep these records current, fully integrate them with records for print and other electronic editions, and incorporate them into web catalogs, in addition to providing other web access tools such as browsable title lists.

Using Oracle in the Information Systems Curriculum

Oracle Corporation, a client/server database vendor, has made its software products available to educational institutions either bundled with textbooks or through special academic licensing. In this paper, we highlight the differences between personal and client/server databases and describe how using client/server databases for demonstrations and student exercises can enhance database education. We also relate our experiences and recommendations for procuring, installing, and administering an Oracle client/server database in an academic setting. Finally, we summarize the results of a survey used to determine how people are using the Oracle database software in the academic setting and relate the advantages and challenges that they have faced.

BiblioNet Database Review

Gaining end-user access to web-based electronics, technology and telecommunications bibliographic databases can be a frustrating task. Researchers prefer full-text, end-user access to a full range of news, academic, conference, dissertation, and preprint resources. However, providing current and retrospective access to such a one-stop-shop resource at a reasonable price continues to be elusive. While traditional database vendors continue to re-invent themselves and miss the mark, {BiblioNet}, a new service offered by {CISTI}, attempts to fill this small market niche.

“Honey, I shrunk the database”

The small-scale mobile computing market (palmtops, handhelds, smartphones, smartcards, etc.) is showing the most explosive growth in the history of computing. Within the last year, most database vendors have announced plans to build “small footprint” versions of their DBMS products to run on these small and mobile platforms. What are the real database systems issues? What are the likely markets? What are the challenges, and the dangers? Every specific vendor seems to have a different answer to these questions. They all agree on only one thing: there is a tremendous opportunity here. Our motivation for this panel is to get a number of the central decision-makers into a room and debate the issues.

Update propagation protocols for replicated databates

Replication is often used in many distributed systems to provide a higher level of performance, reliability and availability. Lazy replica update protocols, which propagate updates to replicas through independent transactions after the original transaction commits, have become popular with database vendors due to their superior performance characteristics. However, if lazy protocols are used indiscriminately, they can result in non-serializable executions. In this paper, we propose two new lazy update protocols that guarantee serializability but impose a much weaker requirement on data placement than earlier protocols. Further, many naturally occurring distributed systems, like distributed data warehouses, satisfy this requirement. We also extend our lazy update protocols to eliminate all requirements on data placement. The extension is a hybrid protocol that propagates as many updates as possible in a lazy fashion. We implemented our protocols on the Datablitz database system product developed at Bell Labs. We also conducted an extensive performance study which shows that our protocols outperform existing protocols over a wide range of workloads.

What does electronic full‐text really mean? A comparison of database vendors and what they deliver

The experience of a multi‐site higher education library consortium in purchasing electronic journals and databases is described. The criteria and guidelines developed to assist in the decision‐making process for the purchase of multidisciplinary electronic products and services can be of value to other libraries whether in a single or consortial environment. Factors such as database features, coverage, search features, and delivery options were considered.

Warehouse creation-a potential roadblock to data warehousing

Data warehousing is gaining in popularity as organizations realize the benefits of being able to perform sophisticated analyses of their data. Recent years have seen the introduction of a number of data-warehousing engines, from both established database vendors as well as new players. The engines themselves are relatively easy to use and come with a good set of end-user tools. However, there is one key stumbling block to the rapid development of data warehouses, namely that of warehouse population. Specifically, problems arise in populating a warehouse with existing data since it has various types of heterogeneity. Given the lack of good tools, this task has generally been performed by various system integrators, e.g., software consulting organizations which have developed in-house tools and processes for the task. The general conclusion is that the task has proven to be labor-intensive, error-prone, and generally frustrating, leading a number of warehousing projects to be abandoned mid-way through development. However, the picture is not as grim as it appears. The problems that are being encountered in warehouse creation are very similar to those encountered in data integration, and they have been studied for about two decades. However, not all problems relevant to warehouse creation have been solved, and a number of research issues remain. The principal goal of this paper is to identify the common issues in data integration and data-warehouse creation.

Evaluation of the ITOC information system design recovery tool: a case study

Most contemporary fourth-generation languages (4GLs) are tightly coupled with the database and other subsystems provided by the vendor. As a result, organisations wishing to change database vendors are typically forced to rewrite their applications using the new vendor's 4GL. The anticipated cost of this redevelopment can deter an organisation from changing vendors, hence denying it the benefits that would otherwise result, for example, the exploitation of more sophisticated database technology. If tools existed that could reduce the rewriting effort, the option of changing database vendors would become more economically feasible. The ITOC project is a large collaborative research initiative between the Centre for Software Maintenance at the University of Queensland and Oracle Corporation. The primary goal of the project is to develop tools to assist in the migration of 4GL information system applications. This assistance is in the form of both automated reverse engineering and support for legacy system program comprehension. A tool resulting from the project has been utilised to recover design information from several deployed commercial applications. This information is presented in a graphical form using existing tools to facilitate both program comprehension, and also modification of the design prior to forward engineering if desired. This paper describes the tool, evaluates its result when applied to these applications and provides insight into the development of “industrial strength” information system re-engineering tools.

The “currency” of electronic databases

This article examines some of the procedures that affect the ability of online database vendors and hosts to provide current information. The article focuses on the results of a survey on information use by a sample of business people in the Grampian region of Scotland. The study investigated the importance of timeliness or “currency” to those users in the context of electronic and non-electronic information. The findings illustrate methods of verification of currency used by business people in their assessment of information. The data reveal a relatively low pattern of individual use of online databases and CD-ROMs; the use of individual experience and industry contacts in evaluation of the currency of information; and an indication of general satisfaction with perceptions of currency. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The impact of object technology on commercial transaction processing

Businesses today are searching for information solutions that enable them to compete in the global marketplace. To minimize risk, these solutions must build on existing investments, permit the best technology to be applied to the problem, and be manageable. Object technology, with its promise of improved productivity and quality in application development, delivers these characteristics but, to date, its deployment in commercial business applications has been limited. One possible reason is the absence of the transaction paradigm, widely used in commercial environments and essential for reliable business applications. For object technology to be a serious contender in the construction of these solutions requires: – technology for transactional objects. In December 1994, the Object Management Group adopted a specification for an object transaction service (OTS). The OTS specifies mechanisms for defining and manipulating transactions. Though derived from the X/Open distributed transaction processing model, OTS contains additional enhancements specifically designed for the object environment. Similar technology from Microsoft appeared at the end of 1995. – methodologies for building new business systems from existing parts. Business process re-engineering is forcing businesses to improve their operations which bring products to market. Workflow computing, when used in conjunction with “object wrappers” provides tools to both define and track execution of business processes which leverage existing applications and infrastructure. – an execution environment which satisfies the requirements of the operational needs of the business. Transaction processing (TP) monitor technology, though widely accepted for mainframe transaction processing, has yet to enjoy similar success in the client/server marketplace. Instead the database vendors, with their extensive tool suites, dominate. As object brokers mature they will require many of the functions of today's TP monitors. Marrying these two technologies can produce a robust execution environment which offers a superior alternative for building and deploying client/server applications.

Database buffer size investigation for OLTP workloads

It is generally accepted that On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) systems benefit from large database memory buffers. As enterprise database systems become larger and more complex, hardware vendors are building increasingly large systems capable of supporting huge memory configurations. Database vendors in turn are developing buffer schemes to exploit this physical memory. How much will these developments benefit OLTP workloads? Through empirical studies on databases sized comparably to those seen in the real-world, this paper presents the characteristics of an industry-standard OLTP benchmark as memory buffer size changes. We design the experiments to investigate how the database size, the buffer size and the number of CPUs impact performance, in particular the throughput and the buffer hit rate on Symmetric Multiprocessor Systems. The relationships of these major database attributes are plotted and key observations are summarized. We discuss how these relationships change as the number of CPUs changes. We further quantify the relationships: 1) between database buffer data hit rate, buffer size and database size, 2) between throughput, buffer data hit rate and database size and 3) between throughput and number of CPUs. Algorithms, rules-of-thumb and examples are presented for predicting performance, sizing memory and making trade-offs between adding more memory and increasing the number of CPUs.

The Webmaster: A new player in the information centre's online team

In the pre‐Web days, in fact not more than two years ago, there was no mention of the word or even a job description for what we know today as the Webmaster. The phenomenal and even unexpected growth of the Internet, but specifically the World Wide Web, created the need for a completely new and unique staff member in an organisation with very specialised interests and skills. It soon became clear that practical knowledge of new skills such as HTML formatting and Web server installation and maintenance were imperative for an organisation that wants to stay ahead of its competitors. Today, the main assignment of a Webmaster is to design, implement and maintain an effective World Wide Web site. To be able to do this the Webmaster must acquire knowledge of diverse fields such as network configuration, interface and graphical design, software development, business strategy, writing, editing, marketing and project management. Furthermore, both the growth rate of the Web and its impact on enterprise are responsible for the fact that the task description of the Webmaster is under constant transformation. Instead of being only responsible for HTML formatting, programming and Web site maintenance, Webmasters have become an integral part of a larger Web site team and have to manage other specialised tasks such as being an editor, graphic artist and programmer. The Webmaster has in certain instances become an important part of the team responsible for the entire business strategy of an enterprise, because many Web sites are now being used for their marketing and supporting activities. However, with online database vendors such as KR Dialog, DataStar, Medline and LEXIS‐NEXIS also moving into the Web environment, a few of which have already implemented Web‐based interfaces to assist in the online search process, the Webmaster's responsibilities might extend to that of supporting information professionals and their online search activities as well. Hence the goal and position of the Webmaster will be discussed in an effort to indicate how the Webmaster can play a role in enhancing the online search process.

The Present and Future of Historical Journals

Journals play a critical scholarly role as regulators of both knowledgeand professional advancement. The fairness of the journal system, however, is notguaranteed by its structure, which is subject to arbitrariness inpeer review. To ensure the fairness of peer review and to serve scholarly goals in general, there needs to be a diverse range of publications available to academic authors and readers. Joumals are intrinsic to scholarship, yet they are increasingly required to meet commercial goals. The advent of electronic technologies will increase the financial pressures on journals by making levels of income less predictable and more reliant on large database vendors.

Negotiating Contracts for Electronic Resources

Serials in electronic formats often require contractual agreements governing their use. Librarians need to be educated consumers and understand the issues and concerns of the producer/vendor community to secure reasonable agreements for electronic access. Standard contracts often do not meet the needs of different libraries and may contain provisions that should be questioned or clarified. Database producers and vendors have their own contractual and legal obligations which must be considered when negotiating with individual libraries