The term "disintermediation" has developed to describe the finding of information by an end-user without the need for a third party. New developments in techniques for retrieval and dissemination have led to a situation where an end-user can acquire the basic skills necessary for searching the myriad databases available. The information…

This paper describes the creation of a comprehensive evaluation tool for reference librarians in adult service divisions to use in selecting World Wide Web sites as reference sources. Traditional evaluation criteria, endorsed and applied by librarians over the years, are not sufficient for the evaluation of today's hypermedia web site environment.…

Part of a larger report on the Four Directions Project, an American Indian technology innovation project, this section includes 10 "pathfinders" to locating information on learning and instructional technology resources. The pathfinders were designed by students in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University…

This book is a user-friendly guide explaining the fundamental principles of academic library research. It guides students through the specifics of finding, using and evaluating information in print, electronic and multimedia formats, and is geared towards helping students judge information sources for what they convey. The focus is on teaching…

This resource, designed to help K-12 teachers find relevant information on the Internet for both themselves and their students, lists educational World Wide Web sites that have been selected based upon their content and relevance to the curriculum. Each entry includes: the URL; comments describing how the site relates to the specific area of the…

This book provides practical information for secondary school teachers on using the Internet to enhance learning. The first chapter looks at how to make the best use of a World Wide Web browser, gives some general tips for using the Web, and examines more advanced topics such as downloading, plug-ins, and using the Web "offline." Tips on…

Describes the history and development of an online research course at Washtenaw Community College, which provides students with information regarding the Internet and the use of electronic sources. The course is part on an Internet Professional Program at the college. Contains four references, the course objectives, the reading list and a list of…

A citation analysis was conducted to assess the impact of electronic journals on scholarly communities and their research. The article discusses data collection methods (the Institute of Scientific Information's indexes, searchable via DIALOG), explains searches done on particular record fields, and identifies the most frequently cited electronic…

Provides specific tips and guidelines for information professionals who are currently administering, or who plan to introduce, end-user search programs. Discusses the reference interview, evaluation of information sources, electronic database standards, pragmatics of access, electronic search strategies, and the role of the information center.…

Describes a study conducted at Ohio State University libraries that gauged success using the Library Resources Network by having 43 users complete an exercise that forced them to make database selections, use a variety of database interfaces, and select appropriate terminology. Sample screen displays and the questionnaire used are appended.…

Describes a study conducted at the University of Rhode Island library that identified students' preferences and effectiveness using CD-ROMs. A questionnaire was used to ask students their preferences, confidence levels, skills, and training in searching CD-ROM databases as well as their satisfaction with CD-ROM services. (Author/LRW)

Describes study conducted with British undergraduate library science students that compared natural language indexing and searching with controlled language searching on a computerized database. The use of the ERIC Thesaurus and Sears List of Subject Headings is explained, recall and precision measures are reported, and further research is…

Describes a study in which community college students participated in a library instruction experiment to determine whether individual term paper counseling sessions conveyed information for immediate recall better than group instruction sessions. The test instruments used are provided and the absence of significant differences between the two…

Describes a study comparing information retrieval from print and CD-ROM versions of Compton's Encyclopedia. Forty-eight sixth-grade students searched four questions in both versions. The results showed that the searches took the same amount of time in both. The novice searchers were able to use an information retrieval system with minimal…

Discusses changes in higher education that are resulting from the use of hypermedia. Topics addressed include the structure of traditional texts; a distributed model for academic communication; independent learning as a model for higher education; skills for hypermedia literacy; database searching; information retrieval; authoring skills; design…