Academic music libraries in the US collect resources to support music students and faculty in their performance and research needs. These resources include non-text items such as musical scores and recordings that are difficult to represent in standard library information systems that were built for text items. The advent of web scale discovery…

Seeking to better understand the longitudinal association between online usage of library-licensed content and short- and long-term student performance, we linked EZproxy logs to institutional university data to study how library usage impacts semester and cumulative GPAs. Panel linear mixed effects regression models indicate online library usage…

This study presents findings from one-on-one interviews with 21 undergraduate students at a large public research university in the southeastern United States. While the preliminary focus of the study was to be students' opinions about and use of Wikipedia as a resource for course-related research, many of the interviews evolved into discussion…

This study provides a database evaluation method for the practicing bibliographer that is more than a brief review yet less than a controlled experiment. The author establishes evaluation criteria in the context of the bibliographic instruction provided to meet the research requirements of undergraduate sociology majors at Queens College, City…

Explores the use of metaphors as problem-solving mechanisms by novice searchers of bibliographic databases. Subjects were 28 undergraduate students at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, who "talked through" a search on a bibliographic retrieval system. A range of metaphors was apparent from the language used by students.…

A study investigated the relationship between the completeness of end users' mental models of an online system and their ability to use the system effectively. Although all of the study subjects were relatively successful, those with more complete mental models tended to have better search results than subjects with incomplete or poor mental…

The Magazine and Journal Instructional Kit (MAJIK/1) is a HyperCard program delivering basic individualized library instruction. Using a technique derived from naturalistic inquiry, the program's formative evaluation was conducted at the University of Maryland, College Park, with 28 upperclassmen as subjects. They reported little difficulty with…

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)…

Reports on a four-year study of use patterns of CD-ROM databases in a biological sciences library. More than half the individuals recorded all use within one month. Over a third recorded use on only one day. Results suggest that the library should emphasize point-of-use instruction for first-time searchers and deemphasize workshops. (Contains 11…

Integrating comments from the literature about CD-ROMs, online searching, and information retrieval, this report describes the initial experience of using InfoTrac at Winona State University (WSU). After finding that students did not tend to order fee-based online searches, the WSU library provided access on a trial basis to bibliographic…

ERIC and PsycLit are two of the most frequently searched CD-ROM databases at the Indiana University-Bloomington campus. Training has been developed to help students use these popular resources. This includes classroom presentations on ERIC in the Education Department and training workshops in the library for ERIC and PsycLit users. In 1990 a…

Describes a study that observed undergraduates as they searched bibliographic databases on a CD-ROM local area network. Topics include related research, information needs, evolution of search topics, database selection, search strategies, relevance judgments, CD-ROM interfaces, and library instruction. (Author/LRW)