The Turfgrass Information File (TGIF), produced at the Turfgrass Information Center of the Michigan State University Libraries, has passed a truly significant milestone – as of June 2012, 50% of all TGIF records link to full-text of the item! This is a particularly important achievement for users of TGIF world-wide. Access to full-text turf research and other pertinent turf materials can be a challenge for turf professionals who do not live near a research library, but these are often the individuals who use this literature most. Full-text availability is highly desirable in these instances, saving valuable time and effort dedicated to locating physical copies for personal use. With half of all TGIF records linking to full-text, this means thousands and thousands of records link directly to content.
Back at the end of 2005, TGIF had 108,741 records with only 21% linked to full-text, approximately 23,000 records. Today, however, TGIF has about 204,000 records total, meaning a little over 102,000 records are full-text accessible. In the span of just six years, the TGIF database has nearly doubled in strength, while the availability of full-text has tripled.
The Turfgrass Information Center strives to increase user ability to find and access relevant information, which is partially accomplished by loading full-text materials into TGIF. Full-text access can be provided when those who hold the copyright to materials allow TGIF to digitize and make a back file of their publications, as seen here: http://tic.msu.edu/pubjrnlbrowse.htm or by others loading their own material on the web.
TGIF processing of materials lends increased usefulness by linking together records, such as by column or article series. The power of the TGIF search engine makes identifying materials easy, benefitting everyone – the publication and TGIF users alike. This accomplishment is part of Turfgrass Information Center’s commitment to providing and improving precise and structured online access to the turf literature, as well as available electronic and other turfgrass-related resources, via the World Wide Web.
About the Turfgrass Information Center
The Turfgrass Information Center is a specialized unit at the Michigan State University Libraries, comprised of the O.J. Noer Memorial Turfgrass Collection and the James B Beard Turfgrass Library Collection, and contains the most comprehensive publicly available collection of turfgrass educational materials in the world. The Turfgrass Information File (TGIF) is the primary database produced by the Turfgrass Information Center. Using the Collections as a foundation, the Turfgrass Information File is designed to systematically inventory published turf research and make the bibliographic information available via a computerized database. For further information about the Collections or the TGIF database, see the Center’s website at: http://tic.msu.edu