This paper focuses on cataloging and classification, which are the most time consuming of library operations, requiring highly trained staff and involving considerable expense, to provide an overview of the concepts and considerations for centralized cataloging and interlibrary loans. Centralized cataloging is defined as a cooperative arrangement…

Using the ERIC/ONTAP file, student searchers may improve their online skills by employing an 8-step search strategy technique. ERIC/ONTAP, now available through LRS/DIALOG, uses a subset of the ERIC file with built-in answer sets and a special evaluation command. The training procedure guides the student from the initial search interview to the…

The use of online searching by reference librarians to provide actual answers and not just bibliographies or current awareness printouts has the potential to save time and money for the reference department. The quick reference service can actually promote rather than compete with the library's online search service for in depth subject searching.…

Discussion of planning, installation, and results of an online catalog at University of Maryland Health Sciences Library highlights Integrated Library System, speed and patron perceptions of online catalog, searching power, ways in which catalog can bypass physical and organizational boundaries, and effect on staff and users of the library. (EJS)

The information age along with the exponential increase in information technology has brought an unexpected amount of information. The endeavor to sort and extract a meaning from the massive amount of data has become a challenging task to many educators and managers. This research is an attempt to collect the most common suggestions to reduce the…

End user searching on the Web has become the primary method of locating images for many people. This study investigates the nature of Web image queries by attempting to map them to known image classification schemes. In this study, approximately 100,000 image queries from a major Web search engine were collected in 1997, 1999, and 2001. A…

Studies show that the majority of Web searchers enter extremely simple queries, so a reasonable system design approach would be to build search engines to compensate for this user characteristic. One hundred representative queries were selected from the transaction log of a major Web search service. These 100 queries were then modified using the…

This paper discusses access to information about Southeast Asia on the Internet. The first section summarizes problems with the major Internet search engines and directories. Three broad categories of solutions to improve Internet searching and retrieval are suggested in the second section: (1) efforts to assist end users to use the search engines…

This overview of the current capabilities of subject access in online public catalogs discusses keyword searching versus subject cataloging, users' views of the online catalog, and user-friendly versus user-hostile systems. Existing online catalogs in public and academic libraries are cited as examples. (EJS)

Describes a model of information retrieval as social interaction, which distinguishes between three types of information interaction goals: (1) task-oriented; (2) topically oriented; and (3) those centered around situation assessment (SA). Results suggest that SA is an important cognitive activity in new information retrieval environments; SA…

Describes a study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that analyzed the transaction logs of medical students' searches of a factual database to determine the overall frequency of search moves, the interaction between the problem statement and students' search strategies, the search moves selected, and the tactics used by students.…

Describes results of a study of transaction logs from three university libraries' online catalogs that analyzed subject queries to determine the extent to which they matched subject headings in the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). Computer and manual analyses are described, and user satisfaction with LCSH matches is considered. (14…

Addresses foundations of designing a bibliographic database for casual end-users, including the representation of knowledge, hierarchical schemata, cognitive processing of search problems, basic level categories of knowledge, and Boolean strategy in online searching. A hierarchical-based query model, data-item model, and idealized data model for…

Characterizes information retrieval systems in a network environment from a user's perspective along two axes: query and presentation. Several examples of early, current, and developing information retrieval systems are considered within this framework, and Daltext, a prototype system to support research on text-based retrieval systems, is…

Reports results of a pilot study that examined the level of information and concern that users possess about copyright in electronic resources and what methods users would prefer to use to obtain copyright management information in electronic resources. Results show that few users are willing to devote more than 10 minutes to locating copyright…