BIBL (rhymes with nibble) is fast and easy to use. Written in Turbo Pascal (using B+ tree indexes) retrieval occurs on an indexed field in 2 seconds or less regardless of database size. Any field may be searched, but four are indexed for fast retrieval: * Author (first 20 characters) * Descriptors (each word / 20 characters) * Title (first 25 characters) * Subject (all 30 characters in field) When searching index fields, BIBL will report close matches when nothing in the database satisfies your query. This feature becomes more important as your database grows (helping you fine-tune a search). BIBL supports the export of your data to a variety of ASCII files. Use your word processor to create custom reports or import the data to other packages (e.g., dBASE). You may view files you create from within BIBL (via the FILE MAINTENANCE sub-menu). commmand switches: /M = monochrome /V =43/50 display /P = Read Only Field lengths for a BIBL record appear in []'s below: Author [140 characters] Title [210 characters] Subject [30 characters] Publisher [70 characters] Class [40 characters] Keywords [60 characters] Note [420 chars] To conserve disk space, deleted records are reused before new records are added. If you encounter a problem with the system, rebuild the indexes. BIBL also supports dumping individual records to printer or disk. As a record is displayed, press 'P' to print or 'S' to send a copy of the record to an ASCII file (QUERY.TXT). Utility program BIBL5Rx will rebuild/repair a damaged BIBL5 database - Pointers - - enter the AUTHOR information just as you'd like to see it in your bibliography; that is, instead of John H. Smith, enter Smith, John H. - If using WordPerfect (5.0), be sure to read in your BIBL-produced text files via the CTRL-F5 (Text In) function. This will convert the ASCII files to WordPerfect form. WP 5.1 converts automatically. - Remember that BIBL considers everything between spaces a word in your descriptor field. To keep a multi-word term together in the index, include a hyphen: data-compression <- instead of -> data compression If you use 'data compression' you'll get two entries in your index, one under DATA and one under COMPRESSION (not what you had in mind). - At any 'bounce-bar' menu, you need only press the first letter of the option you wish to use (e.g., L activates LIST from the main menu). Check 'GMUtant OnLine BBS' for the latest version of BIBL (703) 323-3100.