This report describes the conceptual content and hands-on activities of a course in online information retrieval skills offered at Stockton State College to expose undergraduate students to an important area of information science not traditionally included in undergraduate computer science curricula. Observations of student experience with the…

The Company (abbreviated COMPNY) Library in the LEXIS/NEXIS database provides comprehensive information on corporations. The COMPNY Library contains more than 170 files of business and financial information, with an emphasis on publicly-owned companies. This guide is designed to walk users of the LEXIS/NEXIS system through the steps needed to…

Presents the decisions behind the closing of the main card catalog at University of Toronto Library and the procedures, problems, and costs involved in converting the catalog to an on-line system. User orientation to the conversion, including microform catalogs, training procedures, and use patterns are also discussed. (CWM)

Explores issues surrounding efforts to introduce online catalogs to users and presents relevant research results from Northwestern University's "Educating the Online Catalog User" project. Highlights include attitudes and preconceptions about online catalogs and instruction, research on online catalog use, suggestions for online catalog teaching,…

Describes program at Pennsylvania State University Libraries designed to inform faculty and graduate students about activities of library's fee-based search service and to explain individual subscription alternatives available to microcomputer owners for running searches. Registration form, results of pre-session and post-session questionnaires,…

Identifies problems inherent in using a "live" database search in initial instruction of online users and discusses the advantages of using prerecorded videocassette database searches as produced by University of California Berkeley's School of Library and Information Studies. A videotape explaining use of the online catalog…

The workbook is designed to give students the basic information needed to conduct effective library research. It helps familiarize students with the Buffalo Information System ONline (BISON), as well as other sources, in print and online, that can be used to search for information. A worksheet is included for students to mark their answers to the…

A library instruction computer game created at Newberry College, South Carolina challenges players' skill at using the "Readers' Guide," and by noting elapsed time needed to create a bibliography of citations on a given topic, encourages an increase in skill. Computer equipment used, illustrative examples, and five references are noted.…

Components of planning, developing, implementing, publicizing, and integrating were incorporated into a model of user education for an online catalog (OPAC) in academic library. Key elements in model's success were initial full-time coordination by project manager and subsequent merger of OPAC user education with existing bibliographic instruction…

Describes the process and results of the development of a set of systematic and formalized learning objectives for teaching and evaluating online catalog use which stemmed from research project conducted at Northwestern University. Planning principles, program evaluation, and adoption of educational models are noted. Learning objectives are…

Describes the process of developing and revising a brochure to guide library patrons in conducting an author search on an online public access catalog in order to demonstrate the application of four steps in production of a functional document--analysis; planning; development; evaluation, testing, and revision. Three sources are given. (EJS)

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…

User-friendly computer terminals with touch sensitive screens are used in new instruction and information dissemination system operating at Providence Public Library and Rockefeller Library at Brown University. This microcomputer-based turnkey system offers databases built by librarians providing information such as use of library, book reviews,…

Discusses the need to reevaluate bibliographic instruction in academic libraries for an expanded online environment based on experiences at Moorhead State University (Minnesota). Topics addressed include the addition of databases to local online catalogs; student searching; search patterns; database characteristics; student search skills; library…

Included in this collection of papers from the Louisiana Library Association's Academic Section 1982 Micro Symposium are (1) an overview of the history and changing role of academic libraries by Jane P. Kleiner; (2) "Afro-American Literature and the Contemporary Publishing Industry," a paper by Dorothy Davis which discusses the present state of…