A personal reference retrieval system for medium sized computers allowing automatic data entry from ONLINE databases.

Abstract

A series of programs has been developed for the storage and retrieval of bibliographic references, which allow automatic cross-referencing of the stored entries. Reference retrieval becomes successively faster as more searches are performed and references are automatically sub-grouped under indexed terms allow complete sub-sets to be scanned independently. The indexing allows complete sub-collections of references to be printed, e.g. for a review, with no further searching requirements. This style of retrieval is conceptually similar to card systems in use by many scientists and should enable a rapid familiarization with the retrieval system. The editing features of the programs provide for the direct collection of references from large ONLINE databases (e.g. MEDLINE) and the automatic entering of the references into the personal data collection. The programs provide reliable storage of references for individual scientists, so that their collections from library databases, or from manual input may be updated and searched quickly.