Tools VII/Information retrieval: On-line reference searching: `Let your computer do the walking¿ ¿ it can be fast, thorough, and inexpensive

If you are surrounded by experts who can answer your every question, or if you are a researcher in a narrow field of specialization and communicate with other leaders in the field throughout the world, or if your work is ¿cut and dried¿ and no problems arise that require outside reference work, then you are in a near utopia and computerized retrieval is not for you. On the other hand, if you are finding it difficult to track your field and feel that some of your problems may be answered in unfamiliar journals, government reports, or foreign journals; or if you lack access to an adequately equipped technical reference library; or if you desire to be informed automatically and quickly of the latest references in your field; then computerized retrieval may be the very thing you need.