Boolean systems still constitute most of the installed base of online public access catalogues (OPACs) in the French universities even if many studies have shown that Boolean operators are not frequently used by non-librarian users (by contrast with professional librarians). The first study examined the use of Boolean operators by French…

Reports results from a study of postgraduates at the University of Sheffield that investigated the relationship between study approaches and Web-based information seeking. Applied factor analyses to data from over 500 queries submitted in response to three search tasks to identify clusters of variables associated with three Web-based search…

Describes MusiCat, an experimental user interface designed in Denmark that reflects the different ways that patrons think when searching for musical material on the Web. Discusses technology versus content; search trees that use a hierarchy of subject terms; and usability testing. (LRW)

Describes three groups of databases sponsored by the European Communities Commission: Eurobases, a textual database of the contents of the "Official Journal" of the European Community; the European Community Host Organization (ECHO) databases, which offer multilingual information about Europe; and statistical databases. Information on…

Describes online catalog research being conducted in Europe in the areas of interaction and interface design, subject access, functional improvement through the application of information retrieval techniques, and library networks. Three operational online catalogs, not available outside Europe, are discussed. (30 references) (CLB)

Describes a project at the University of Sheffield that is investigating the use of nearest-neighbor retrieval algorithms for full-text searching. Nearest-neighbor searching is compared with Boolean retrieval and hypertext, and an experimental text retrieval system called INSTRUCT (Interactive System for Teaching Retrieval Using Computational…

Explains the Web impact factor (WIF) for comparing the relative attractiveness or influence of Web spaces, where the WIF is the number of pages linking to a Web space divided by the number of pages in the Web space. Compares WIFs for Australasian universities and for Australasian electronic journals. (Author/LRW)

Explains how to find statistics on the Internet, especially international statistics. Discusses advantages over print sources, including convenience, currency of information, cost effectiveness, and value-added formatting; sources of international statistics; United Nations agencies; search engines and power searching; and evaluating sources. (LRW)

Background: Efficient library searches for research evidence are critical to practitioners who wish to engage in evidence-based practice (EBP) as well as researchers who seek to develop systematic reviews. Aims: This review will propose the benefits of the search technique "Pearl Growing" ("Traditional Pearl Growing") as well…

This paper centers on doctoral-level education candidates in the United States and Australia and their realms of engagement with information. On the basis of in-depth interviews with American and Australian doctoral students and academic librarians, we pose a critical reflection upon the two doctoral pedagogies as they relate to experiences of…

The database contents, search features, and costs of two services offered by UTLAS (University of Toronto Library Automation Systems) are compared to determine which of the two should be used for interlibrary loan (ILL) processing at Concordia University. A review of studies of CATSS (Catalogue Support System) is provided, as well as a description…

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…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to compare three experts and three novices in a Web-based problem solving context. The task was to search and evaluate Web sources for writing a research paper on a topic (inquiry based instruction, or IBI) that was unfamiliar to the users. The following research questions guided the study: (1) What type…

Forty-two searchers with varying degrees of experience in searching online bibliographic retrieval systems queried the ERIC database using DIALOG. The results were measured with variables which related to the search outcome (cost effectiveness, precision, and recall) and the search process. (JJD)

Compared age differences in search tasks for two groups of children (N=40) and an adult control group (N=20) who completed a similar visual search task, i.e., determining whether a predesignated target character occurred in a character string. The mean search latency decreased with age. Results showed a qualitative difference in processing letters…