Electronic Collections Committee
Evaluation of UMI’s ProQuest Education Complete

Criteria Comments
Coverage Primary, secondary and university level topics. The most current list of titles available from http://www.bellhowell.infolearning.com was dated May 26 and listed 633 titles. A search of each title for full text articles showed approximately 250 titles with actual full text or page image articles. Includes Wilson’s Education Abstracts. Current contains current year plus two years. Date range searching by: Current (1997 to Present) and Backfile (1986-1996)
Currency Very current. Updated daily. Citations are loaded 1 or 2 days after receipt of publication. Many August articles already loaded.
Response Time Good
Compatible with Multiple Web Browsers Yes
Extra Software Needed Adobe Acrobat required to view page images
Indexing Criteria Does not index ads or "ephemeral" material. Indexes substantive articles, editorials, commentaries, review, and columns. (Brennan)
Help Screens Help screens are good although there are typos. Clear and concise. Has a page on how to cite articles from the database in MLA or APA style.
Searchable Fields Basic (author, abstract, article title, company/organization name, geographic name, personal name, product term (?), subject terms, and source), abstract, article title, article type, image caption, publication title, publication type, subject, text.
Search Modes Basic
Advanced
Search Wizard (similar to command searching)
Truncation
Wildcard


Phrase searching

? For any endings of a root word
* Searches for a specific number of characters;
e.g., wom*n or educat** (retrieves educator or
educated)
" " Quotation marks to search a phrase longer than two words.
Search Screen Layout Clean, simple, and uncluttered. Good use of color.
Search Options Setting Search Options allows user to search for variant spellings and related terms. Searching includes Boolean AND, OR, NOT and nesting, adjacency, and proximity.
Browsable Indexes None
Limiting Full text or citations/abstracts
Dates by month and year
Lateral Searching Authors’ names, subject terms, and personal names are hyper linked.
Search Revision The last search is displayed in command searching format at the bottom of the screen and may be revised by using the Search Wizard. The user may combine searches or see a search history by clicking on Your Recent Searches which gives a list (up to twenty-five) of the last searches in the current session. Searches can be rerun by clicking on an item in the Search column or by clicking on the Search Number. Previous searches may be combined with a new search by using the Search number. The user may also use the back button to return to the last search.
Thesaurus Subject List is "a listing of cross-referenced subject headings used to index articles." (Bell and Howell) Gives Broader terms and Related terms which are hyper linked. Offers Suggestions when the subject searched is not found.
Results Display ProQuest does not indicate a total number of results unless it is less than fifty. For results of fifty or more, the statement "At least 50 articles matched your search" appears. The statement changes at each increment of fifty. The user has to scan through all pages to find a total number or guess at limiting.
Display Format Options TOC display is achieved by using New Search for Publication which gives a list of separate issues in descending chronological order. Looking at the date of the last issue in the list is also a good way to determine the coverage of a specific publication title. Display options include: citation and abstract (not always available), ASCII Full text, Text+Graphics (full text in ASCII format with images inserted into the text), and Page image. Clicking on the title of a record takes the user to the full text version of the article. Format legend is displayed at the bottom of each page of the Results List.
Records Marking Individual articles may be marked or records may be marked from the Results List. Clicking on Marked List displays citations for all marked articles which may be printed or emailed as a group.
Export Options Articles in any format may be printed. Full text may be emailed or downloaded to a disk.

Preferences may be changed to set email options to plain text or HTML-formatted attachment. Page Control panel allows for printing of one page at a time from page image. Parts of articles may be printed.

Print Quality Dependent on printer, of course, but generally good. Graphics from Text+Graphics, which can be enlarged 200% or 400%, may have to be printed separately to be legible.
Pricing SUS pricing for 135,000 FTE: $108,090
7/18/99 email from Deborah Humphrey, UMI

PROS
  • Variety of print formats including page images and ASCII full text with graphics. Acess to charts, tables, and graphs is often requested by faculty members.

  • Access may be set up through IP address and made available remotely via proxy server.

  • Good search interface. Searching tips and help screens are concise and easy to follow.

  • Options for spelling variations and related terms.

  • Can add link back to home library.

  • Table of contents available by searching by publication.

  • Because SUS Libraries are learning to search the ProQuest version of ABI Inform and several are using the ProQuest Medical Library, the learning time for Education Complete should be short.
CONS
  • Duplication of records which creates a larger database and more titles to peruse. Apparently, new titles are added to the list before actual records are added. There are titles in the list with no records. There are also citations without abstracts.

  • Lack of information on total number of results is a negative for ProQuest. It may be important for a user to know how many actual records are in the database for a specific subject.

  • Searching in the Search by Publication block results in a keyword search, not always by specific title.

  • To allow for searching across databases, ProQuest uses a somewhat generic search engine with options included which may not be appropriate for a specific database. For example, the pull down menu for Publication Type includes Newspapers and Reference Books when the only option available for Publication Type searching is Periodicals.
RECOMMENDATION
  • Subscription purchase recommended.
REFERENCES
Brennan, Patricia. (1999). What does electronic full-text really mean? A comparison of database vendors and what they deliver. Reference Services Review. 27(2), 113-126.

Cahill, Mary. (April 15, 1999) ProQuest Direct Online Service (electronic reference). Library Journal, 124(7), 157.

Karp, Rashelle. (1998, May 15). Comparing three full-text journal services. Booklist. 94(18), [4 pages]. Retrieved August 3, 1999 from: IAC, Academic Index.

Rogers, Michael. (1999, May 1). UMI is now B&H Info and Learning. Library Journal, [1 page]. Retrieved August 4, 1999 from: ProQuest, Bell & Howell Information and Learning.
Although over two years old, the following article contains a good description of the display options currently available through ProQuest.

Berinstein, Paula. (1997, March-April). Text and graphics on UMI's ProQuest Direct: the best (yet) of both worlds.(Evaluation). Online. [5 pages]. Retrieved August 5, 1999 from: IAC, Academic Index.

Submitted by: Sarah Philips, Head- Reference Department, University of North Florida