No abstract

Recently, several versions of Medline on CD‐ROM have become available — Bibliomed, BRS, Compact Cambridge, Dialog, Ebsco and SilverPlalter. They have been tested by the Biomedical Working Group of VOGIN (the Dutch Association of Users of Online Information Systems). An extensive list of items that have been tested is presented.

SummaryWhat kind of network infrastructure do we need in order to support information services into the 21st century? One way of answering this is to consider our present systems to see what the problems are. By addressing these issues, rather than the technology itself, we may begin to see how networks should evolve. There are two main issues that need to be resolved. One is a ' problem of incompatible technologies. The other is a problem of incompatible politics.Incompatible technologies (such as the TCP/ IP versus OSI problem) mean that applications running over one system cannot easily be made to operate over another. Incompatible politics (eg. the 'academic' vs. 'commercial' problem, as in JANET acceptable use means that the information world has been divided into autonomous domains that are prevented from talking to each other, even when the technological means to do so are present. As a result networkbased information services appear fragmented, with suppliers frequently unable to connect to customers. The consequences of this fragmentation are higher costs and poorer services. Only by resolving such issues can we build a network for supporting the next generation of information services.