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Brad Gauder
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After a successful nine-year run, the OCLC EPIC service will be discontinued effective June 30, 1999, as previously announced. Shortly thereafter, EPIC users will have a more powerful tool for expert searching--the new OCLC FirstSearch service.
Scheduled for full release later this year, the new FirstSearch will offer functionality for expert searchers like EPIC users, including right-hand truncation, wildcards, unlimited ORs, search history, record sorting and thesaurus-aided searching.
The new FirstSearch will also offer:
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Access to the same quality of information and more databases, including nearly all of those now available on EPIC
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More full-text information available online, including thousands of professional and academic journal articles in the OCLC FirstSearch Electronic Collections Online database
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World Wide Web interface and the capability to customize default interface settings
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Command-line searching for experienced searchers like EPIC users
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E-mail capabilities for sending citations and full-text information
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Integrated interlibrary loan functionality (for libraries using the OCLC Interlibrary Loan service)
- A MARC record from the OCLC WorldCat database when accessing FirstSearch via Z39.50
Although the EPIC service remains available until June 30, current EPIC users may cancel the service at any time and sign up for FirstSearch.--Brad Gauder is senior marketing/public relations writer, OCLC.
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