A computer-based plant/soil-aeration bibliography

Sojka, R.E. and Busscheer, W.J. (1988) A computer-based plant/soil-aeration bibliography. In: Hook, D.D. and McKee Jr, W.H. and Smith, H.K. and Gregory, J. and Burrell Jr, V.G. and DeVoe, M.R. and Sojka, R.E. and Gilbert, S. and Banks, R. and Stolzy, L.H. and Brooks, C. and Matthews, T.E. and Shear, T.H., (eds.) Management, use and value of wetlands. The Ecology and Management of Wetlands, Vol. II. 394 pp. Croom Helm Ltd, Kent, UK.

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Abstract

Numerous reviews of the general topic of plant and soil aeration
have appeared in the past generation. Two comprehensive recent
examples are Kozlowski (1984) and Glinaki and Stepniewski (1985).
Each is excellently documented and thoroughly covers its subject
matter, though perhaps from somewhat divergent perspectives. As
might be expected the source of citations contained in each volume's
bibliography largely reflects the geographical orientation and
principal area of expertise of the contributors. In each case,
undoubtedly, the authors compiled large collections of reprints and
second-source citations which were summarized and synthesized
into reviews. In the process, the authors characterized the citations
of which they were aware, eliminated some of these from
final use in the reviews, and probably missed some citations in the
literature.

The nature of review writing, until only recently, has demanded
that these efforts be largely individual, uncoordinated,
tedious, and transitory (the work of collecting and compiling the
information is usually lost with the author's shift of interest,
retirement, or other activity-influencing career changes). Occasionally
such a bibliography may be handed down from major
professor to student. Even in these cases, however, the bibliographies
are not widely available.

The advent of computer-based information storage and retrieval
has created new opportunities. Commercial literature retrieval
services exist that scan organized data bases (e.g. SCI
SEARCH* and DIALOG). Even with the continued expansion of the
data bases of these systems they have certain shortcomings. For
the unfamiliar users of these systems there is usually difficulty in
limiting the searches sufficiently to retrieve only desired citations
without excluding elusive citations that may be unconventionally
titled or that may not contain certain specific keywords needed to
retrieve the desired citations. Commercial literature retrieval can
also prove to be expensive for some users, particularly if a comprehensive
retrospective search is desired.

If a subject matter area were sufficiently limited in scope it
could be possible for a few interested researchers cooperatively to
compile a highly comprehensive listing of the relevant literature. A
familiar example of such effort was the compilation of a bibliography
on the topic of 15N by Hauck and Bystrom (1970). Their
bibliography, published as a book, provided an excellent fixed
resource, but one which lacked the capacity to grow or be manipulated.
The advent of powerful microcomputers and inexpensive
data-base software now enables the compilation of highly specific
manipulable bibliographies. These bibliographies offer the advantage
of being indexed by author, date, keywords, etc., of being
sorted by subcategories, and of being copied and shared in a
compact format (e.g. on floppy disk, tape, EPROM), and easily
updated and expanded.

Item Type:	Book Section
NWISRL Publication Number:	0639
Subjects:	Research methodology Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User:	Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:55
Last Modified:	10 Jan 2017 23:12
Item ID:	802
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/802