Expert Systems & Critical Thinking Tools
Tributes and Awards
Dr. John V. Richardson, Professor, UCLA Department of Information Studies
Knowledge-Based Systems for General Reference Work: Applications, Problems, and Progress. Academic Press, 1995.
[1995 Best Information Science Book of the Year, American Society for Information Science]
"Applications in Advanced, Subject Reference ... Interested readers should consult Chapter 8 for detailed analysis of Conceptual Analysis of Business Information Needs (1984) ... One of the most advanced thinkers in the business field is Eloisa Yeargain of UCLA's Management Library" -Chapter 3, p.76.
Denise Chochrek, B&F Awards Chair,
Business & Finance Division of the Special Libraries Association,
award notification letter dated May 13, 1997.
"On behalf of the Awards Committee, I would like to congratulate you on winning the Disclosure Award for Outstanding Achievement in Business Librarianship. The nomination that we received demonstrated your pioneering efforts in Web development for your library. Your creative use of Web technology serves as an example to all business libraries, the full potential of the Web." [Also reported in the UCLA Library Newsletter, May 30, 1997].
Publications
Borah, Eloisa Gomez, "A Virtual 'Hello': A Web-Based Orientation To The Library",
Journal of Business and Finance Librarianship, Vol.3 No.2. (1997)
"The Rosenfeld Library re-designed its Web site to serve as its gateway to library services and resources, and to provide an interactive platform for its formal Library Orientation sessions, including its triple-option Virtual Tour of the Library. Among the Web-based library services and resources now available through the Rosenfeld Library Web are information-gathering "decision tools", new models of remote user reference assistance."
Borah, Eloisa Gomez,
"When to Use What: Users and the Proliferation of Database and CD-ROM Options"
in CD-ROM for Library Users: A Guide to Managing and Maintaining User Access, Learned Information, 1995.
"With the proliferation of electronic information products in libraries, the time has come for classifying information in electronic format to improve retrieval." Includes a one-page decision tool for selecting among thirty popular databases.
Borah, Eloisa Gomez,
"Beyond Navigation: Librarians as Architects of Information Tools",
Research Strategies, Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1992), pp. 138-142.
"... the author challenges librarians to assume the role of primary architects of tools for future information users. She briefly describes three computer-based projects that may serve as examples of how librarians can increase their involvement in the development of reference tools".
Cited in the American Library Association's Teaching Electronic Resources Bibliography, by the University of California, Berkeley and by San Jose State University / California State University, Fullerton.
Yeargain, Eloisa G.,
"Updating Service With New Reference Tools Created on Your Microcomputer",
in Microcomputer Power: Option or Necessity?, Learned Information, 1989.
"Large quantities of common routines - the usual computerization targets - are not typical in reference work. Nonetheless, reference librarians, especially those subject-specialized, are capable of identifying information needs that have common routes to an answer. ... A case study is presented of the development of such a reference tool, "Guide to Sources of Business Ratios".
Yeargain, Eloisa G.,
"Conceptual Analysis of Business Information Needs",
Business Reference Services Discussion Group (now BRASS) Meeting,
American Library Association, 1987 Annual Conference,
Hyatt-On-Union-Square, Plaza Ballroom-West, San Francisco, June 30, 1987.
"Offers a conceptual framework for understanding the elements inherent in business information requests. Flowcharts for each module outline data characteristics in determining answer routes. Actual business reference questions are used to illustrate the process, with links to familiar types of reference sources. Work on similar conceptual frameworks are encouraged as a means of developing reference expert systems."