[Literature searching on CD-ROM disks]

CD-ROM, Compact Disk Read Only Memory, is a powerful resource which combines the best features of both online and print access to the literature. In 1988 the Medical Library in Trondheim installed the Medline database from Dialog on CD-ROM for library users, and used the opportunity to launch a study to evaluate the new medium in the library (use, users, costs, etc.). The results are based on 651 questionnaires answered by 185 different users. Totally they searched for more than 1,200 different subjects during first six months that the library subscribed to the CD-ROM-disks. All users said that the system was easy to learn and to use (even the 50% who were not familiar with a PC). The study shows that retrieving information from CD-ROM databases is an easy and popular way to keep updated in a particular field.