If there's one thing you learn today, let it be this: keywords. Not specific keywords but the idea of them. If you whisper the correct keywords into the algorithm, you will achieve relevance. If you don't achieve relevance on the first try (which is super common), imagine you're an academic with a specialization in a super-niche disciplinary area…

The research examined the use of Information Retrieval Tools (IRTs) by the post graduate students of Mehran University of Engineering and Technology. The research used descriptive survey and was carried out over a period of six months between August 2016 and January, 2017. The sample size comprise of 2,000 postgraduate students which were randomly…

Librarians regularly encounter students who struggle to understand and apply information literacy concepts. A qualitative survey administered to information literacy practitioners asked about troublesome content and analyzed results using the threshold concepts pedagogical framework first described by Jan Meyer and Ray Land. A threshold concept…

Google Scholar is a free service that provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly works and to connect patrons with the resources libraries provide. The researchers in this study analyzed Google Scholar usage data from 2006 for three library tools at San Francisco State University: SFX link resolver, Web Access Management proxy server,…

The purpose of this project was to investigate how students' search strategies changed over the course of a semester-long information literacy class. Data collection included four different paper questionnaires corresponding to course content in the spring 2008 semester. Seventy-seven participants completed the questionnaires and course work in…

Modern composition instructors often use and teach research methods for Internet search engines and electronic databases. It is not their intent to turn back the clock. However, if they can help students connect the world of Internet searches and the university library, they can promote information literacy in its broadest sense by developing…

Federated search products are becoming more and more prevalent in academic libraries. What are the implications of this phenomenon for instruction librarians? An analysis of federated search products using the "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education" and a thorough review of the literature offer insight concerning whether…

A usability study was undertaken at Penn State University to explore how students search the library's online catalog after they have received library instruction. In 2004, eight first-year students received library instruction and were subsequently recruited for the study. Participants were recorded using the online catalog, and a think-aloud…

Presents an overview of the library's use of online systems in the areas of library user instruction, query analysis, and public access to library information. (FM)

Discusses a strategy for improving user access to information in academic libraries by articulating the goals of user education and planning programs accordingly, encouraging students to be critical and analytical in evaluating their information needs, and providing library instruction which makes students feel comfortable in the library…

As libraries automate their collections and mount online public access catalogs (OPACs), they face special challenges in educating patrons to use these electronic systems effectively and efficiently. Because users are less familiar with the concept and arrangement of an OPAC than with a card catalog, less successful searches commonly occur.…

Describes a study that was conducted to determine whether bibliographic instruction methods used in an academic library's computer classroom were effective. Teacher-education students were tested using pretests and posttests designed to determine their knowledge and skill in using library technology to obtain research information. The tests are…

Intended for use by undergraduate students in a required course, Bibliography 101, at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, this manual is designed to teach the fundamentals of doing research in the library. A brief preface and a glossary of useful terms are followed by an introduction to library research which discusses strategies and…

The success of Computer Science Applications 109, Information Retrieval Skills, at Doane College (Nebraska) is the result of a team effort. Until the fall of 1993, the class was taught by a single instructor. During the training of a new librarian, it was discovered that a team approach might benefit the students as well as the library faculty,…

This report summarizes the proceedings of a conference that brought together 35 librarians, network representatives, and system vendors to exchange information on the training of users of online public access catalogs. Three papers are presented: "Historic Concerns in Library Instruction: Teaching the Card Catalog," by Evan Farber;…