IDEA ‐ the International Directory of Educational Audiovisuals ‐ contains two reference databases from the National Information Center for Educational Media (NICEM): an audiovisual database of over 300,000 titles of teaching and training aids from pre‐school to university and professional, in every subject area and a wide range of media formats, and a database of producers, distributors, and credited names of audiovisual products. Some of the media formats covered include: 16mm film, video, audio cassette, audio CD, CD‐ROM, software, laserdisc, filmstrip, slide, transparency, kit, model, and realia. The CD‐ROM comes with a booklet of user notes which describes installation and hardware requirements and provides step‐by‐step instructions for accessing information. The booklet also contains a number of sample searches. Audiovisual items can be searched using multiple fields, including title, subjects, audience, media, and publication year. Boolean searching allows for greater flexibility and accuracy. Users can also add their own fields for searching the database. According to the accompanying brochure, a new CD is delivered quarterly containing a totally new and updated database. Phone numbers are provided for information and for database support.
I found the database very easy to use; and the user notes booklet was extremely helpful in its use of examples for searching. I would highly recommend this CD to Learning Resource Center (LRC) directors, school libraries, and any others who provide and purchase audiovisual items for patrons. The fact that it is updated quarterly is a strong plus, as both new and out‐of‐print items are constantly being added. The NICEM database is perhaps the largest and most current database of audiovisual items currently available; and this CD‐ROM service is a great help to those who must work in this area.
