Rhiannon James, International Distribution Manager
IAC is a leading publisher of predominantly full text databases for the business and academic arenas. At IAC we have a commitment to quality and customer choice.
To this end we publish in a wide variety of formats and in a wide variety of subject areas within the business and academic disciplines in addition to healthcare; law and computing. All are offered in a variety of media including CD-ROM; online; Internet and even microform.
Information Access Company is first and foremost content driven offering the customer the information of their choice in the format of their choice. Our mission is to offer high value information which is easily and accurately searchable without blinding users with technology. Our information is accessible simply by utilising the systems you already have. There are none of the hidden costs neccessitated by extra hardware investment. Both the InfoTrac range of CD-ROM databases and the new Internet SearchBank service provide seamless desktop delivery information solutions.
For over 10 years librarians from a multitude of different types of library have chosen IAC as their preferred reference system because of higher quality indexing; higher quality abstracts; more full text titles; intuitive, flexible interfaces; a comprehensive subject guide and broader coverage from a single source.
IACs reference systems therefore have become the cornerstone of many of the worlds leading libraries collections and benchmarks within the library industry. Since its inception in 1985, the InfoTrac optical disc system has grown to incorporate over 30 databases. These databases are designed to fit the research and budgetary needs of public, academic and corporate libraries.
Both academic and business databases come in a variety of options:
The flexibility of our different delivery options mean that you can choose the right reference solution package for your particular library whether you require 24 hour wide area access or need high quality databases for stand-alone workstations.
Meanwhile our software makes searching databases easy. The interfaces for both CD-ROM and Internet databases provide several levels of search sophistication for users of varied experience. Intuitive and flexible, IAC software empowers the novice while its advanced capabilities support more complex searches.
IAC believes in offering customers the right mix of powerful software with core journal article information.
The search engine we provide is specifically designed to search full text information to the best effect. This is illustrated by the wealth of see also references and means of expanding and refining research offered.
Underlining the quality of our data, IAC uses the world renowned Library Congress subject headings. These total 65,000 enabling highly specific searches.
Highly trained editorial staff offer value added information by qualifying article titles which may be obscure or misleading.
Not only do we provide access to the latest journal articles but we update our subject criteria accordingly so you can effectively track down topical current affairs articles. IACs Quality Management Group constantly update our databases with new topical subject headings to reflect current events and new trends.
In addition to providing electronic access to full text journal articles, we also offer key financial and statistical corporate data like international investment reports from Investext for example.
As our latest publication European Business ASAP, illustrates IAC has a commitment to truly international publishing without the American bias which prevails with many other publishers.
By actively involving librarians from across the world in the important process of journal selection, we produce products which meet the objectives outlined by librarians themselves.
As is evidenced by European Business ASAP, IAC listens to the experts in the markets it serves and works with both customers and local distribution partners in a constant effort to offer the most relevant data with the best indexes and search engine at affordable prices.
EBA was developed in consultation with business librarians from across Europe. In order to identify the content that most libraries wanted from a business periodicals database, IAC asked business librarians to assist us in helping define, shape and develop the database. EBA allows users to view and print the full text of the most requested business and management journals.
It includes over 110 full text business and management related journals like The Economist; The European and The Banker to name just a few. EBA currently contains over 70,000 articles. Topics include economics, management, trade, industries, human resources, advertising, finance, accounting, banking, marketing and much more.
The CD-ROM database is cumulative and is updated monthly. This version also includes a two year backfile.
Meanwhile General BusinessFile ASAP International integrates all the major sources of business and company information into one unique all inclusive database.
This one-stop shop offers full text scholarly journals; popular business magazines; trade and industry journals plus 180,000 full text company directory listings and 50,000 full text investment reports.
Article references and abstracts from business and management publications are linked with company directory information and company and industry investment reports to provide comprehensive, up-to-date information instantly.
The comprehensive international coverage includes directory information on companies from across Europe including Eastern Europe; the Middle East; Asia; Australia and the USA.
The CD-ROM is cumulative and is updated monthly. This version also includes a two year backfile.
The above information can be supplemented by the international edition of the F&S Index which offers analysis of industry trends, sales figures and company statistics. The database also includes English language abstracts for articles originating from non-English sources.
Though this database is also offered by Silver Platter. It is up to 20% cheaper from IAC.
Again this CD-ROM is updated monthly and includes a two year backfile.
Expanded Academic ASAP is our premier database for research across all academic disciplines. Unparalleled in its depth and scope, Expanded Academic ASAP offers balanced, full text coverage of every academic concentration. This database covers a range of topics including:
Special features include comprehensive inter-disciplinary coverage. This database then alleviates the need to purchase and consult several individual different subject databases and covers 100% of the titles indexed in Wilsons Humanities Index; Social Sciences Index and General Science Index.
We are also planning to enhance the database with a further 500 full text journals by the end of the year.
Consolidation of data into a one-stop shop eliminates the need to search multiple sources in print; on CD-ROM or online.
Computer Select is the only database that delivers comprehensive, late-breaking information on computer-related products and industries. It contains the full text of 110 leading computer publications like PC World; PC Week and now Byte. In addition to over 70,000 articles, Computer Select offers the latest software and hardware product specifications; company contact details and two glossaries of computing and telecommunication terms.
The annual subscription to the CD-ROM version includes cumulative monthly updates.
Finally Health Reference Center (HRC), our award-winning, multi-source reference center for research into healthcare, has recently been enhanced with a further 40 full text journals from CINAHL. The new version is called Health Reference Center - Academic. With over 80% full text information, HRC draws from an unmatched selection of current sources:
HRC provides unrivalled depth and breadth including:
InfoTracs powerful, intuitive search features enable easy linking between the different source types to pinpoint relevant information.
The CD-ROM version is updated monthly and offers a 3 year backfile.
New for 97:
This month we are delighted to announce the launch of our Windows based products. InfoTrac on Windows 95 brings all of the advantages of our powerful search and retrieval software with a graphical user interface.
Existing InfoTrac subscribers will be able to upgrade easily at no extra cost.
Reasonable hardware requirements:
IAC full text CD-ROM products are in ASCII format and so do not require many discs to run them. Therefore to run IAC products customers do not need to invest in expensive hardware such as jukeboxes for example.
Manageable disc collections:
The small amount of discs our products require mean less administration hassles in managing large, unwieldy disc collections.
The full text business journal database European Business ASAP runs on just one cumulative disc which includes a two year backfile.
Not only does IAC offer researchers a choice of information in a choice of media but also a range of different downloading format options. ASCII format means that the data is brought to the customer in a more flexible format which is easy to manipulate and incorporate into other software packages. While if you prefer facsmile format is also an option when searching on our Internet service - SearchBank.
First to market:
All of our databases are now available via our Internet service - SearchBank.
SearchBank then helps you fulfil your role as an information centre any time,
day or night while allowing you to reach those researchers who might be
deterred by more complex online systems with their complicated search language.
SearchBank does this by bringing together:
Pricing is subscription based and includes daily updates and graphics and images. In addition to providing currency and full text, SearchBank offers extensive backfiles for the annual subscription price.
This service then eliminates the need to invest heavily in extra hardware and offers cross-platform access and user convenience with a user-friendly graphical user interface. With SearchBank then you can provide access to more full text without heavy maintenance responsibilities.
SearchBank also offers multiple download facilities from the flexible ASCII to facsmile images of articles exactly as they would have looked in the printed journal.
A dedicated European line has been set up to ensure speedy response times.
Passwords can be supplied for you to test the system yourselves and now is the ideal opportunity for us to give the service its first test run in the Czech Republic.
Meanwhile our Web site provides full listings of the journals covered by all our databases:
http://www.international.iacnet.com
and our reccommended distributors here in the Czech Republic, Albertina Icome Praha, will be able to help with any queries you may have.
Thank you for your attention.