Discusses the definition of an online library catalog; five factors to be considered by the online catalog designer; user-computer communication (error messages, help screens, prompts, unnatural language); online tutorials and offline instruction offered by bibliographic instruction librarians; and the current situation. Nine references are…

Presents a methodology for describing, analyzing, and evaluating the public service functions of serial file systems, and describes a user study conducted in a university departmental library to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of its system in enabling students new to the library to locate known-items in the serials collection. (CDD)

Discusses changes in academic libraries resulting from evolving technologies, and the need to train library patrons and staff in the use of electronic information systems. A review of the training literature and the results of three projects for supporting patron use of online systems are reported. (CLB)