REHABDATA: Origin and Purpose
NARIC is one of the most comprehensive libraries in the country on disability and rehabilitation information. All documents in the library--over 65,000--are cataloged in the REHABDATA literature database. The database also includes international research.
Two main categories of documents are featured: (1) reports, studies, and papers submitted by projects funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (as featured in the NIDILRR Program Directory) and (2) articles published in rehabilitation-related periodicals. These include more than 115,000 abstracts for documents collected by the Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange (CIRRIE), many of which were published in languages other than English. Some non-print material is also catalogued.
REHABDATA: Record Contents.
Each document selected for inclusion in REHABDATA is represented in the database by a 150-to-250-word abstract (a summary of the document's contents) and eleven data elements, called "fields." These fields contain information on the author(s), publisher, year of publication, number of pages, the organization that produced the document, and the funding government agency where applicable. Each record also contains up to five subject terms called "descriptors" that define the document's main topics.
Title: Title of the document or journal article; includes the journal citation in some records. Searchable by keywords or short phrases.
Name of Journal: Approximately half the records in the database were published in journals. Searchable by keywords or partial title. REHABDATA does not offer cover-to-cover indexing. Some journal names change over time. NARIC's Guide to Disability and Rehabilitation Periodicals is available through the NARIC Knowledgebase.
Accession Number: Record identification number. This number is added by NARIC as a call number, and is used to order documents from NARIC and by NARIC patrons retrieving documents from the shelves at NARIC. Accession numbers begin with J for journal articles, R for reference volumes, I for international research, and O for original, federally funded research papers. R documents are usually restricted due to copyright and may not be available for document delivery. I documents may have been added from the CIRRIE database and may not be available for document delivery.
ISSN: The ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) is an eight-digit number which identifies periodical publications as such, including electronic serials. Use this number to find series listed in REHABDATA at your local or university library.
Author(s): Author names, with last name listed first and initials for first name, and middle name when available. In records added prior to December 2002, first names are NOT included and are therefore may not be retrievable in REHABDATA.
Institutional Author/Source: In most cases, the name of the institution that received funding for the research/publication; sometimes lists the institution who provided funding for the research/publication. Often includes state code or country name. Publisher information and number of pages is included for some documents.
NIDILRR Grant Number: Sponsoring agency code, grant or contract number; may include Library of Congress classification number. Most projects funded by NIDILRR begin with H133, H224, ED, 90, HN, or RW. See the NIDILRR Program Directory for more information. Codes from projects not funded by NIDILRR might be found in the Availability field.
Year of Publication: Publication year and copyright (C) designation. $ indicates an approximate year of publication.
Abstract: A 250-word overview of the key points discussed in the document. Searchable by keywords or short phrases.
Thesaurus Descriptor Term(s): Five or more subject terms chosen from the controlled vocabulary of the REHABDATA Thesaurus. This Thesaurus is independent from any other database thesaurus.
Availability: This field indicates if this document is available online or on microfiche. Records may also include The National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Microfilm Corporation of America (MICRO CORP AMER), or University Microfilms Incorporated (UMI) microfiche numbers; may indicate journal format; or may display a sponsoring agency code, grant, or contract number.
Where Available: Where possible, a URL will be included to the online version of the document.
Can this document be ordered through NARIC's document delivery service? Make note of the information in this field. It will indicate whether the document is available and copyable. Some documents are not available due to copyright restrictions or because the document was removed during routine collection maintenance.
International records will also include the following fields:
Language: If the original publication was produced in a language other than English, those languages are indicated here.
Geographic location: The country of origin for the research or publication.
