Since attending an Ovid MEDLINE presentation a few years ago, I have considered Ovid an innovative leader in information technology. At that time, Ovid was blazing the technology trail by introducing a full‐text integrated, graphically rich version of MEDLINE. Since then Ovid has expanded their range of databases and continued developing their user interfaces (please see http://www.ovid.com for additional product information).
The Nursing Collection on the Web has become Ovid’s full‐text component to the nursing database, CINAHL. Currently the Nursing Collection on the Web includes the following journals: Advances in Nursing Science, American Journal of Infection Control, AORN Journal, Dermatology Nursing, Heart & Lung Journal of Acute & Critical Care, Heart & Lung Journal of Critical Care, Image: the Journal of Nursing Scholarship, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Journal of Clinical Nursing, Journal of Emergency Nursing, N & HC Perspectives on Community, Nurse Researcher, Nursing Management (London): the Nursing Standard Journal for Nurse Leaders, Nursing Standard, RN. Issues range in date from 1995 to 1997 and the database is updated as new issues become available. Each indexed journal includes full‐text articles and graphics.
Coupled with CINAHL, this selection of full‐text journals is a solid start to an exciting project. Next to other database providers’ nursing resources, Ovid is again the technology trailblazer. For example, Information Access Company includes 39 additional nursing‐allied health journals in its new Health Reference Center‐Academic; however, only two journals include full‐text and none has images. However, there are some important journals missing from the Nursing Collection on the Web. For example: The American Journal of Nursing, Nursing 97, and Nursing Research are not included in the collection. To be fair to Ovid, I don’t believe the full‐text, electronic versions of these journals are available. However, for the product to stand alone, without CINAHL, and be useful to academic (non‐hospital) institutions, journal coverage will need to be increased.
Although this is a collection of full‐text journals, the user‐interface works like a bibliographic database. Instead of the product focusing on the journals’ table of contents, like Project Muse’s structure, the Nursing Collection on the Web is driven by a search interface. Having been produced by a bibliographic database provider, and not a publisher, this approach makes sense. In addition, by utilizing their existing user‐interface, integration into CINAHL is seamless and journal articles are easily searched and accessed.
Two search modes are available: basic or advanced. When logging in, the search mode must be selected from the logon screen and becomes the default for the search session. Thus, if you initially select advanced mode from this screen and change to basic mode mid‐stream, whenever you click the Main Search Page icon you are returned to the default mode initially selected. This may be confusing for novice searchers.
The basic mode is simple, straightforward, and fast to return search results. Keyword and author searching are offered as well as publication date, latest update, original article, review, and abstracts limits. Other icons provide access to help screens, advanced searching, changing databases, and logoff. Boolean search terms, truncation, and even a natural language phrase worked. I suspect most patrons would stick with the basic search screens and be quite happy. The help screens are the same for both the basic and advanced search screens, which is confusing. For novice searchers, there is far too much advanced information available on the help screens.
The advanced search mode is powerful, especially when compared to other database providers’ advanced search interfaces. Although similar to the basic search mode, it gives searchers more flexibility to do such things as limiting searches to specific fields and saving search strategy. Something that especially delighted me was the ability to search using the old BRS search commands. I love the search flexibility of command languages! For the many users who aren’t familiar with BRS commands, the help screens cover search basics. The search results for both basic and advanced modes are identical with markable citations linked to full‐text, complete record, abstract, and journal table of contents. Available from the initial citation display screen is Ovid’s Citation Manager, which gives users a wealth of output variations. Although I appreciate the flexibility, I think novice searchers will need considerable instruction on terminology like ASCII Text or BRS/Tagged. A basic mode Citation Manager with fewer choices would be easier for new users to handle. The records’ full‐text displays contain links to the articles’ table of contents, graphics, references, options for graphics display, and an abbreviated Citation Manager. Overall, the Ovid Nursing Collection on the Web is an excellent addition to the nursing database, CINAHL. Integrated full‐text, graphical, bibliographic databases are becoming increasingly important and Ovid has proven to be a leader in the field. Sophisticated searchers will appreciate Ovid’s rich user‐interface; and, with sufficient training, novices will become proficient at navigating the system. In addition, being able to search a full‐text journal collection in the same way as a full‐text bibliographic database utilizes its collection in the best way possible. Alone, however, the Ovid Nursing Collection on the Web is a bit devoid of journals to warrant purchase unless the institution is well funded, operating in a virtual environment, or lacks an adequate print nursing journal collection.
