In a recent comment Albert Henderson said the following: -- The bottleneck in science communications is based on the theory that researchers can locate useful materials through databases and citations in the literature.
The databases have reduced their coverage, also thanks to stingy budgets. The National Library of Medicine bibliographies, which in early days attemped to be comprehensive, covered less than ten percent of the biomedical literature according to the centenery essay by Martin Cummings. Analyses of other discipline-wide databases reveal similar shortcomings. Like the libraries themselves, the secondary information services are shrinking in comparison to the totality of publication. I would like to see Mr. Henderson's "Analyses of other discipline-wide databases...." This is certainly not the case with Chemical Abstracts, the major, comprehensive index for all the varieties of chemistry. Kendall Rouse, Head, Chemistry Library University of Wisconsin-Madison 1101 University Ave. Madison WI 53706 Telephone: 608-2622942 FAX: 608-2629002 Email: [email protected]
