A collaborative evaluation project has been carried out by fourteen UK and European organisations, both industrial and public sector, to compare information resources and searching techniques for chemical toxrcology information. The project had two objectives: to improve the participants' own expertise in this area, and to allow an objective evaluation of searching methods. Eight test queries were designed and searched by the participants, and the results evaluated semi-qualitatively, with an extensive failure analysis. Printed sources, online data-bases, data-banks, and in-house files were included in the evaluation. The results are presented and discussed, including both comments on strengths and weaknesses of sources and search techniques, and recommenda tions for future improvements to facilitate access to chemical toxicology information.
