A reference guide for online bibliographic searchers introduces and explains the major computer-searchable fields of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database, presents field access labels or commands of three online ERIC database vendors--BRS, DIALOG, and ORBIT--and lists the codes necessary for searching particular ERIC…

Reports the results of a study which examined costs and search results for 20 searchers conducted on both BRS After Dark and Knowledge Index. Various features of the two retrieval systems are reviewed, and advantages and disadvantages of each system are summarized. Data are presented in one table and several graphs. (24 references) (MES)

This exploration of reasons why historians do not take full advantage of government publications as sources of historical materials focuses on the difficulty of accessing information under current classification and indexing schemes. (CLB)

American Chemical Society's Directory of Graduate Research has been put online. Information on faculty research interests and demographics at United States and Canadian universities offering chemical sciences graduate degrees can be retrieved. New concordance codes permit searching at different hierarchical levels, thus providing more information…

This booklet is an instruction manual for those using the FOCUS database, an information source on dropout prevention of the National Dropout Prevention Center. An introduction lists the FOCUS files, which include Program Profiles, Calendar of Events, Resource Materials Library, Organizations, and Consultants and Speakers. Also given is the…

Identifies aspects of reference services amenable to evaluation, discusses the need for measures of service quality as well as quantity, presents modifications of current measures that meet this need, and stresses the importance of linking performance measures to library planning. (CLB)

The chapters in this volume, originally presented at the Third Annual Virtual Reference Desk (VRD) conference, "Setting Standards and Making It Real," (Orlando, Florida, November 2001), were organized, revised, and updated to reflect current technology and practice. The VRD conference and the ideas in this book represent the cutting edge…

Description of the way in which some essential features of pathfinders have been incorporated in the online library catalog at Lehigh University discusses factors involved in record design, provides examples of records used with a GEAC Integrated Library System, and suggests several ways of implementing pathfinder records online. (CDD)

Examines online and printed equivalents of selected government documents indexes to compare the recall, precision, overlap, and cost effectiveness of online and manual searching. Indexes studied were the Monthly Catalog, CIS (Congressional Information Service) Index, and Government Reports Announcements and Index. (CLB)

A clearinghouse on mastery learning (CML) has been established at Loyola University (New Orleans, Louisiana) to accommodate the informational needs of mastery learning researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Manual and computer searches on this topic have been conducted in the following databases: ERIC, Education Index, Psychological…

Twelve online searchers in several reference departments in a major urban university library were interviewed to identify the criteria that are present in successful searches from the searcher's perspective. The study was designed to show that successful searching requires active participation by both the searcher and the patron throughout the…

This annotated bibliography of materials dealing with the evaluation of library reference services is arranged by category including literature success, quality, and accuracy of answers; cost and task analysis; interviews and communication; classification of reference questions; reference collections; staff availability; use and nonuse of…

Discussion of library reference work that may be suitable for use of expert systems focuses on (1) information and literature searches, and (2) requests to interpret bibliographic references and locate items listed. Systems and computer-assisted instruction modules designed for information retrieval at the University of Waterloo Library are…

Fifty-five Association of Research Libraries member academic libraries were surveyed to determine trends in use of commercially available online numeric databases. Databases searched, searchers, users, publicity, library role in relation to numeric databases, and librarians' attitudes toward and knowledge of databases are examined. The…

This paper describes how four classes of high school students were introduced over a 2-year period to the concepts and terminology of online bibliographic searching, instructed to formulate their own search strategies, and received the opportunity to observe their strategies executed by a skilled searcher on various selected databases. It also…