We at Mead Data Central have noticed several comments about the recent
restructuring of the NEXIS Service. Following is some information
that addresses specific questions mentioned on the Internet.
o "What happened to NEXIS, the library name?"
- When we surveyed customers, we heard repeatedly that customers were
confused as to the difference between the NEXIS Service and the NEXIS
library. They said "the NEXIS library is news so just call it
what it is: NEWS." LEXIS and NEXIS represent a suite of numerous
products such as legal materials, news, financial information, political
information, etc. thus, you will not find either LEXIS or NEXIS as
library names.
o "One file search is more expensive; now you have to do an ALLNWS search and
an ALLABS search"
- Actually, the previous OMNI file was simply renamed to ALLNWS. The ALLABS
file existed before the restructure and remains intact today. The
placement of the abstracts remains the same pre and post restructure. In
other words, with the exception of abstracts written by The New York
Times, the abstracts were never in the OMNI file. One searched the
abstracts apart from the fulltext. Over the years, customers continued to
tell us that they appreciated the abstracts being separate from the
fulltext thus, we made no changes in this area.
o "Where did the XXXXX individual file go?"
- In order to provide increased coverage (more publications and improved
timeliness), MDC had to eliminate the individual files that were created
to house the sources provided by Information Access Company (ASAPII)
and UMI (Business Dateline). MDC added over 1,000 new sources and with
those additions comes the capability to immediately add new sources as
they become available from the suppliers. (Imagine the number of menu
pages that would have been required to display over 1,000 new sources!)
At this point, it must be
noted again that customers were actively involved in the restructure and
voted overwhelmingly to increase the coverage.
- Since a tradeoff had to be made that resulted in eliminating the
individual files, MDC did allow for searching an individual ASAP or
Business Dateline publication through the use of the PUB or PUBLICATION
segment. While this feature certainly is not as convenient, it does
provide the ability to search the publication while also reaping the
benefits of the increased coverage. To search a specific publication,
enter: ASAPII; PUB (XXXXX) and the search terms where XXXXX is a unique
word(s) from the publication title.
- The price of the ASAPII and BUSDTL group files was $21. As a goodwill
gesture toward those customers who were affected by the removal of the
individual files, MDC reduced the price from $21 to $15 effective 2/21.
- If you have questions about whether or not a specific publication is
provided by Information Access Company or UMI, please refer to either
the NEWS Library Reference manual or the list of individual sources
available prior to 2/1/94. The former piece lists all the contents of
the NEWS library whereas the latter piece lists the publication name
and the individual file names for all the ASAP and Business Dateline
sources that were available prior to the restructure. If you would like
either of these pieces, please send a message to Compuserve ID
70724,3376.
Thank you,
Angela D. Rickey, Director
NEXIS Product Development
adr1@profs.meaddata.com
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