LINUS July 1996

CD-ROM Highlights

CA on CD

Chemical Abstracts (CA) 1996 Volume 124 is now on Windows and can be accessed via NUSNET-II. Re-shop for CD-ROM on Windows to get CA on CD. Some of the features of CA on CD are:

• Complete CA bibliographic citations with abstracts.
• Structure diagrams included with abstracts.
• Keyword index.
• CA indexes, providing many other searchable fields not available in the printed CA weekly issues, e.g. General subject, Formula, Compound, etc.
• Cumulative monthly updates, including indexes, containing all the information available year-to-date.

How to use CA on CD

To begin a search, access the Search menu from the Main Menu bar which has the commonly used commands. Alternatively, click on the Search icon located on the toolbar. Three types of command searches are provided:

1. Word Search

   Select Word Search to search for a term or a combination of terms in any searchable field. Enter the terms as a single word or a phrase.

   The following fields are available in Word Search; Word (titles, abstacts, keyword index, general subject headings, organization location), CAS RN, Author, General Subject, Patent Number, Formula, Compound, CAN (abstract number), Organization, Journal, Language, Year, Document Type, CA Section, Update.

   Word Search allows searching for multiple terms and in multiple fields. Use the Query List button in the Word Search template to save queries from one CA on CD session to another.

   Truncation can be used to retrieve variant forms of a term. Use * to represent any number of characters, including none. It may be used at the end of each search term.

2. Index Browse

   The Index Browse window is used to examine the search indexes and to perform simple searches for a single search term. Select Index Browse from the Search menu. Or click on the Browse icon. Then from the Index pull-down menu, choose a search field to browse. The easier and quicker way to find a specific term is to type the search term in the Find input box. After selecting a term from the list, click on Search to retrieve Abstract Documents that contain the term.

3. Substance Hierarchy

   The Substance Hierarchy provides access to a list of CA index names for chemical substances. The organization of the hierarchy resembles that of the printed Chemical Substance Index. Access the Substance Hierarchy window via the Search menu or the Subst icon. Entries with + indicates that there are next level headings. Double-clicking on a hierarchy entry with no + or - (minus) symbol will result in searching for abstract document containing references to the particular substance.

   A Search Results List is generated when a search is executed using any of the above commands. If more than one document in the database matches the search criteria, a list of document titles is displayed in the Search Results List window. At this window, you can:

   • mark document titles
   • sort documents by relevance or by CAN
   • print Search Results Lists
   • view abstract documents

   Double-click on the specific title to view the abstract documents in the Document Window. Other titles in the same Search Results List can also be viewed, marked, saved and printed in the Document Window by using the appropriate icons at the toolbar. For example, to download the abstract documents, click on the Save icon.

Advanced Searching

• Searching Terms from Abstract Document

  Highlight a block of text in the abstract document, click the SrchSel (Search selection) icon or select Search from the Search menu. The entire database is searched for the highlighted term using the Word index. If more than one abstract document is found, a new Search Result List Window appears with the titles.

• Locating CAS Registry Numbers

  A quick way to locate CAS registry numbers within a abstract document is to click on the NextLink icon. The cursor is then placed at the first CAS registry number in the abstract. Click the NextLink icon again to move the cursor to the next CAS registry number. At this point, use the Goto icon to retrieve the Substance Record in the Substance window.

  Similarly for an abstracted patent, when the cursor is positioned at a CA abstract number, use the Goto icon to retrieve the abstracted patent's document record.

• Searching at the Substance Window

  Other abstract documents containing the same CA registry number can also be retrieved by clicking the icon in the Substance window that has a registry number visible through the magnifying glass.

Different formats of CA

At the moment, CA is only partially available on compact disc. For efficient searching, please take note of the different formats of CA available.

Before 1986	Printed CA with decennial & collective indexes.
1987-1991	12th Collective Index with abstracts on CD, request from the Science Library Information Desk.
1992-1995	Printed CA & volume indexes.
1996-	CA on CD via NUSNET.