Provides preliminary information about patterns of access and use of Questia, a commercial online collection of 35,000 electronic scholarly monographs in the humanities and social sciences. Analyzes search logs and page view logs to determine characteristics of the search queries and browsing within titles. (Author/LRW)

Discusses topics related to use of search trees to enhance subject searching in online catalogs: subject searching in existing systems; search trees defined; highlights of a study of subject queries; normalized subject headings; the exact approach to subject searching; one-word queries; multiword queries; queries failing to produce retrievals; and…

Describes the Online Multiple User System (TOMUS), an integrated, turnkey library system with online catalog, cataloging, and authority control modules available; circulation, acquisitions, and serials control models are being designed. The experiences of four different libraries with the system are described. (EM)

Discusses characteristics of typical online public access catalogs (OPACs) and examines patron use via printouts of transaction logs for three separate systems. Desirable features of OPACs (mnemonic search commands, boolean operators, forgiveness or automatic truncation, browsing a subject heading index, suggestive prompts) and need for…

Online public access catalogs from 67 libraries using NOTIS software were searched using Internet connections to determine the positional operators selected as the default keyword operator on each catalog. Results indicate the lack of a processing standard for keyword searches. Five tables provide information. (Author/AEF)

Describes a study that investigated subject retrieval in a group of humanities databases. Scatter by subject field and type of search term is discussed, the effectiveness of natural language and of controlled vocabulary are compared, and implications for system designers concerned with end-user searches in the humanities are suggested. (37…

Traditional methods of studying and evaluating use of online public access catalogs (OPACs) are discussed and compared to verbal protocol method (spoken records of people describing their work that uncover detailed data about thinking during problem solving). Results of Carnegie-Mellon University protocol study of OPAC users are discussed. (22…

The feasibility of using the verbal protocol method as a means of conducting field research on the online catalog is examined. As 10 undergraduate students conducted research they talked aloud about what was happening. Potential usefulness of the method in online catalog research is assessed, as a development tool and as a tool to assist reference…

Search Helper, a microcomputer software package marketed by Information Access Company to serve as a gateway to several of their databases, was selected as a system for introducing the Carnegie-Mellon University community to do-it-yourself database searching. Preliminary results of user survey indicate service to be extremely popular with library…

Discussion of text files and textual analysis in humanities research focuses on the results of two surveys of Research Libraries Group (RLG) academic libraries which was conducted to identify the systems used to support text files. Description of a system at the University of Michigan includes examples of screen formats, and seven sidebars…