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Tobacco industry documents: comparing the Minnesota Depository and internet access
E D Balbach1, R J Gasior, E M Barbeau
1Community Health Program, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA. edith.balbach@tufts.edu
Tobacco Control
|March 14, 2002
Summary
Researchers found significantly more unique major documents using tobacco industry websites compared to the Minnesota Depository. Tobacco industry websites offer a more comprehensive resource for accessing these crucial documents.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Information Science
Background:
- Accessing tobacco industry documents is crucial for research and litigation.
- Two primary collections exist: the Minnesota Depository (hard copy) and industry-maintained websites (electronic).
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the searchability and document yield of the Minnesota Depository against tobacco industry websites.
- To evaluate the accessibility and comprehensiveness of electronic versus physical document archives.
Main Methods:
- Identical search queries were performed on both the Minnesota Depository and tobacco industry websites.
- Documents were matched by Bates number, duplicates removed, and unique documents categorized by significance (major, minor, trivial).
Main Results:
- Searches yielded only four unique major documents from the Minnesota Depository.
- In contrast, 62 unique major documents were identified using the tobacco industry websites.
- Four smaller subcollections were only searchable manually within the Minnesota Depository.
Conclusions:
- Tobacco industry websites provide a more effective search resource than the Minnesota Depository for major documents.
- Researchers can rely on industry websites for immediate access, pending improvements in tobacco control community-managed archives.
- While industry websites are generally superior, some specialized collections may still require manual searching in Minnesota.