PROFESSIONAL LIBRARIAN by Soft - Slick Do you have trouble finding articles in your own professional library? We did. That is why we created the Professional Librarian: to do most of the work for us. And now we would like to pass along this useful piece of software to you. Professional Librarian came into being as an answer to piling through stacks of reprints from professional journals trying to find a particular one. When a person owns even a few hundred reprints, the task becomes time consuming if not very frustrating. Instead of thumbing through stacks of reprints or textbook indexes, let your computer find those articles or chapters quickly. Or, to start a literature search on a new research proposal, search through databases of citations compiled by other professionals with similar interests. These are just two of the reasons why we think you will be very pleased with our product. This version of Professional Librarian is "hot off the press" and was distributed with an example file so that you could see how helpful it would be to you. Remember, a check for only $25 (Missouri residents please add $1.62 for sales tax) to Soft - Slick will get you the latest version of Professional Librarian, complete documentation, notification of new version releases, and will help underwrite development of new features. Features to improve the programs will be added regularly. As announced, Version 2.0 contains improved utilities including choice of files, the ability to merge files, and the ability to route output to disk, screen, or printer. We also welcome suggestions from our users so that we and our products can help you do your job better. Registered users also will be eligible for a database exchange whereby they can be financially rewarded for the work they put in to organize their own library of citations. Professionals with similar interests will be able to purchase and sell their citation lists through Soft - Slick. We have current listings in Fisheries and Wildlife Management, Limnology, Forestry, Wetlands Management, Population Dynamics and Population Modeling, Community Ecology, Quantitative Ecology, and more. For more information and a catalog of current databases, contact us by phone or letter: Soft - Slick 2621B Summit Rd. Columbia, MO 65203 (314) 445-7415 Our lists will make available information compiled by current researchers in a number of fields and will be less expensive than most on-line library searches. Whereas on- line searches provide a piece of paper with a list of citations compiled by a computer, our database exchange will provide lists on diskette compiled by expert people in their own disciplines. You also get the software to let you search, sort, merge files, etc. Professional Librarian handles citation databases very efficiently. However, to enable the database exchange, fields must be of standard size. If you find that the fields we use are not suitable for your purposes and you are not interested in participating in the database exchange, let us know. Also, if you like the way the program works, but have a radically different application, we would like to know. We would love to work with you on new applications or custom programming to meet your database needs. As always, our services are available for a modest price. ******************************************************************************* * * * WE HAVE MADE EVERY EFFORT TO MAKE OUR SOFTWARE EASY TO * * USE AND ERROR FREE. HOWEVER, THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES, EITHER * * EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF * * MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, * * ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SOFTWARE. ANY SUCH WARRANTY IS HEREBY * * EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. THESE PROGRAMS ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS * * IS" BASIS, AND USERS ACCEPT THE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR * * EFFECTIVE, WISE, AND INTELLIGENT USE. * * * ******************************************************************************* This section contains the documentation for Version 2.0 of Professional Librarian by Soft - Slick. The software is really so easy to use that for now, you can type 'PL' and begin to use it. Play with the few citations on the example database until you see what the programs do, then delete them and begin to add your own citations. Those wanting a little more detailed documentation can read further. After typing 'PL', a copyright notice appears and will disappear after you strike another key. (If you need to go directly to the utilities you can press Esc.) Then the main menu will appear offering you a choice of several ways to work with your citations. ADD A CITATION The first choice lets you append citations (records) to the existing database. A record consists of several fields of information such as author, title, etc. Fields are kept somewhat short to conserve space and help keep the programs running quickly. It is wise to fill in these fields as carefully and fully as possible to take advantage of the full power of Professional Librarian. The subject fields should be used for key words that do not appear in the title. As biologists, we usually put taxonomic names in a subject field to aid in taxonomic searches, for example. We number all our reprinted articles and file them in numerical order making the number field very important. Locations of articles in journals or in other places such as a campus library are noted in the field for notes. A blank field for the author or Esc will exit back to the main menu. Up and down arrow keys move between fields. If there is anything in the author field, the PgDn key will advance you to the next record. DELETE A CITATION The second choice lets you delete records, one at a time. If you choose to delete a record, the computer will prompt you for the record number, show you the citation, and ask you to confirm that this is indeed the record you wish to delete. If it is, just type a 'Y'; if not, type 'N', and you will be prompted for another record number. If the record number you type in does not exist, you will be notified and asked for another number. Esc will exit. EDIT/BROWSE CITATIONS The third choice is a very efficient editor for citations on the database. The program will prompt you for the record number you wish to start with and will allow you to move to records on either side by using the PgUp or PgDn keys. Up and down arrow keys will move you through the fields of a record. To edit, simply type the correct characters into the appropriate field. Esc will exit. Ctrl-W will allow you to select a new record number to edit. SEARCH CITATIONS When your database gets large, the fourth choice will be of great use for finding or editing certain citations. The program will ask on which field you would like to conduct a search then will prompt you for the character string you wish to find. If a match is found in the database, a second menu will appear. It will give you the choice of browsing and editing records in the usual screen format or outputing selected citations to disk, screen, or printer. If you choose to browse and edit, the first occurrence of that string in that field will appear on the screen. Arrow keys will move you through the fields for editing. PgUp will move you to the next record. Esc will get you back to the field selection menu. SORT CITATIONS The fifth choice will send you to a menu of fields on which you may sort a database. After choosing the appropriate fields, you will be asked for the bounds of the first key field. For example, if you want citations sorted by author for first authors whose last names begin with 'A', type 'aaaa' for the first bound and 'azzz' for the second bound. After sorting, you will be asked what you want to name the new sorted file. PRINT REPORTS The sixth choice allows printing of lists of citations. Simple reports may be printed to the screen or to the printer. A more complete report with more information in each field can also be sent to the printer by selecting the wide report. UTILITIES The seventh choice sends you to a second menu and into the most powerful part of Professional Librarian. If you choose to change files, a catalog of files appears, and you will be able to type in the name of the file you want. To change data drives simply push '2', and the drive changes. If you want to use a data disk on a drive other than the one where the program will be, use DOS to copy a *.dbf file to a formatted data disk. A file may be appended to your current file by the third choice. You will be asked to name the file you want appended. Files may be created or deleted by selecting either the fourth or fifth choices. In each case, you will be asked the name of the file. The citations may be deleted from a file by selecting the sixth choice. An ASCII file may be output to disk by selecting the seventh choice. This file could then be retreived by most word processors, inserted into a document, and edited to become a literature cited section, for example. The eighth choice allows you to change the ASCII code for condensed print for your particular printer so that the wide report can be printed. The final choice gets you back to the main menu. You will find that with these utilities you can do many creative things that were not possible with earlier versions of Professional Librarian. A much more comprehensive discussion with examples is available in the complete documentation for registered users. EXIT The last choice on the main menu is '0' and lets you leave the program, saving all your changes on the database.