Identifies several aspects of citing behavior (reasons for citing, criteria used in decision making, and metalevel documentation concerns) by directly questioning researchers about decisions to cite or not to cite specific documents. The results reported are preliminary results related to citing behavior derived from a qualitative, longitudinal…

Phase 1 of a two-phase project funded by the NSF-National Science Digital Library Project used focus groups to determine how undergraduate science students perceive journal literature and how they use digital library resources. Their perceptions and use are contrasted with faculty and graduate teaching assistants. Results reveal undergraduates…

Examines Web users' behaviors and needs and tests a methodology for studying users' interaction with the Web. A process-tracing technique, together with tests of cognitive style, anxiety levels, and self-report computer experience, provided data on how users interact with the Web in the process of finding factual information. (Author/AEF)

Proposes principles for the design of effective document retrieval (DR) systems incorporating users' cognitive behaviors. Addresses three issues: (1) effective representations for documents to enable users' relevance judgments and decision making; (2) efficient presentations of documents to facilitate users' information processing and decision…