An adaptation of a live workshop, this guide offers pertinent information and practical techniques for users to become proficient searchers and conscious evaluators of World Wide Web resources. The book does not provide comprehensive coverage of the Internet, rather it gives the exact amount and level of information needed to perform a successful…

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 Native American cultural themes. The pathfinders were designed by students in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Texas at…

E-Referencer is an expert intermediary system for searching library online public access catalogs (OPACs) on the World Wide Web. It is implemented as a proxy server that mediates the interaction between the user and Boolean OPACs. It transforms a Boolean OPAC into a retrieval system with many of the search capabilities of Web search engines.…

This practicum was designed to provide more comprehensive access to current and relevant information for students and teachers in an elementary school for curricular augmentation, research, and classroom projects. The printed materials and electronic databases in the library (media center) did not have the information needed because of their age,…

Results of study on patron information retrieval success and patron use patterns at Ohio State University show that 90 percent of online users preferred online to card catalog; 64 percent of those who tried online catalog switched to it; and patrons used the online more than the card catalog. References are provided. (EJS)

Describes the online catalog in a university library, including the database, the database index, user instruction, the command language and search capabilities, functions of various commands, statistics generated to monitor system use, and hardware for both public access and staff use. (CHC)

Describes a program developed to expose college chemistry students to some of the more modern information retrieval tools, as computerized online databases. Following classroom lectures and discussions, students individually develop a search statement relevant to their own research needs and run it in the Chemical Abstracts files. (BT)

Describes the InfoMagic program at Chapman University (Orange, California), a three-part multimedia program for teaching information-access skills. Discusses the network simulations; automatic tracking and reporting; distributed versus centralized reporting; and student participation and feedback. Sidebars show examples of two student reports and…

Discusses how to teach online research techniques and how to design research activities for beginner searchers. Highlights include contextualized learning; task definition; one-stop resource pages; words and search topics; search engines, including metasearch engines; browser techniques; management techniques for organizing sources into folders;…

Discusses problems with the use of technology, especially the Internet, for providing inservice teacher education. Highlights include the gap between available technology and the expertise to use it; antiquated hardware; the rapid growth and acceptance of the World Wide Web and graphical browsers; and the expertise gap between rural and urban…

Ohio State University Library studied abilities of undergraduates to identify correct sources for answering reference questions when using the online catalog and the Sourcefinder database with its new Question Unit feature. Users located subjects and instructions at a greater percentage with Sourcefinder than with the online catalog. Topics…

Describes a research project where fifth- and sixth-grade students compiled information from original sources and presented it on a Web site. Discusses planning, students' critical thinking in research strategies, and learning outcomes. Includes a summary of selected topics researched with a note on technology skills used. (AEF)

Three studies examined public library reference services use by patrons in Anglo, Hispanic, and Vietnamese communities in California. Interview questions concerned search topics, use of staff help, perceived usefulness of search result, successful search strategies, reasons for not seeking help, foreknowledge of sources, reasons for using the…

Describes the British Library's Document Supply Centre and explains INSIDE, a service that provides remote digital access to the collections of the British Library. Topics include the database, searching methods including CD-ROMs and World Wide Web access, ordering facilities, and future plans. (LRW)

Describes an experiment that examined the relationship between successful searching of CD-ROM databases by undergraduate students and various types of instruction provided by the library staff. The findings indicate that the only level of instruction that resulted in a significant difference was a live demonstration of searches. (six references)…