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Internet Access to the National Library of Medicine's Toxicology and Environmental Health Databases (1998) / Chapter Skim
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2 Assessment of the Current TOXNET Web Site
Pages 11-16

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From page 11...
... The move to a free, Web-based interface represents a major leap forward in providing access to the TOXNET databases. The committee believes that this set of databases can provide valuable environmental health information to a wide range of users.
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From page 12...
... This chapter summarizes the search experiences of the committee and of the individuals who provided input to the committee (Chapter 1~. Most individuals searching the TOXNET Web site experienced similar problems.
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From page 13...
... . Other searchers wanted to be able to perform complex Boolean searching and would have preferred multiple boxes for entering chemical names and search terms (e.g., Internet Grateful Med)
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From page 14...
... The following three examples illustrate common problems. For searchers who entered the term "vinyl chloride" in the chemical name field and kept the default display choice of "Exact term matches," the retrieval displayed the message "Your search found 1 record" with two lines of text (name and registry number)
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From page 15...
... Searchers were pleased to find or be told about the "customized display" option; they felt that this option solved many of the problems described above because it provided an overview of the record content and presented them with useful options to narrow their search (e.g., human health effects, animal toxicity studies, emergency medical treatment)
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From page 16...
... Currently the TOXNET Web site offers searchers the opportunity to send an e-mail to TOXNET User Support to discuss problems, request assistance, or provide comments or suggestions. This feedback is important and can be supplemented on occasion by seeking searcher input on specific features of the TOXNET Web site.
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  • vinyl chloride

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  • hypertext links
  • medical treatment
  • chemical name
  • display option
  • term match

  • search interface
  • default display
  • horizontal scrolling
  • factual database
  • factual databases

  • search screens
  • database records
  • command line
  • left frame
  • emergency medical

  • line interface
  • containing options
  • leap forward
  • web browser
  • name fragment


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