Background: Obesity presents major challenges to public health in the United States. Trials of web-based interventions for weight control suggest that the Internet is a promising option for program delivery. Purpose: This study sought consensus among experts regarding critical components of successful weight control and to systematically examine…

Web-scale discovery systems are gaining momentum among academic libraries as libraries seek a means to provide their users with a one-stop searching experience. Illinois State University's Milner Library found itself in the unique position of having access to two distinct discovery products, EBSCO Discovery Service and Serials Solutions' Summon.…

Increasingly, users are performing more sophisticated types of tasks, like information search, across computing platforms including desktops/laptops, tablets, and smartphones. While much research has been done to improve efficiency for each of these devices in the area of information search, few investigations have taken a pragmatic approach to…

It is critical that students learn how to retrieve useful information in hypermedia environments, a task that is often especially difficult when it comes to image retrieval, as little text feedback is given that allows them to reformulate keywords they need to use. This situation may make students feel disorientated while attempting image…

This study investigates the relationships between the use of a zoom tool, the terms they supply to describe the image, and the type of image being viewed. Participants were assigned to two groups, one with access to the tool and one without, and were asked to supply terms to describe forty images, divided into four categories: landscape, portrait,…

Addresses the problem of benchmarking image browsers. Existence of different search paradigms for image browsers makes it difficult to compare them. Currently, the only admissible evaluation method involves conducting large-scale user studies. An automatic image browser benchmark is proposed that uses structured text annotation of the image…

The first article describes SPORT, a database providing international coverage of athletics and physical education, and compares it to other online services in terms of coverage, thesauri, possible search strategies, and actual usage. The second article reviews available online information on sports medicine. (CLB)

Discussion of online public access catalogs focuses on a study that evaluated 3 different systems in Great Britain. Comparative evaluations were made using structured exercises to determine searching techniques and transaction logs to investigate user behavior. Comments on future research are also given. (12 references) (LRW)

Describes 3.5 years' experience using BRS/After Dark and Dialog's Knowledge Index as the main systems of choice in the mediated search service of a department library on a large academic campus. Factors discussed include average use, costs, databases offered, system capabilities, comparisons of the two systems, and limitations of the systems. (13…

Compares users' self-reported and observed usability problems within a Web-based information system. Participants were asked to complete a specific list of tasks within the system, after which they answered several questions regarding the system's usability. While, advanced users generally completed the tasks in less time than novices, the number…

Discussion of database searching by end-users versus mediated searching by library staff focuses on a user survey conducted at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to determine reasons for end-user searching and mediated searching. Search expertise, cost factors, and time constraints are discussed as influences on search strategies. (LRW)

Discussion of user persistence in displaying postings from an online catalog focuses on a study at the University of Illinois at Chicago that compared results of an earlier study of user persistence with a recent study of users and their online catalog, LUIS. Results of questionnaires and transaction log analysis are reported. (LRW)

This study investigated the use patterns of four CD-ROM systems--Newsbank Electronic Index, SilverPlatter's ERIC and PsycLIT, and Dissertation Abstracts Ondisc--and their print index counterparts in the University of Georgia (UGA) Main Library, which houses collections and provides library services for the humanities, the social sciences, and…

This review of the literature on the effect of information overload on users' information-seeking behavior focuses on librarians' opinions about the number of references that constitute too many, and users' preferences for maximum numbers of references from online searches, online public access catalog postings, and manual indexes. (35 references)…

Results of survey indicate that: academic faculty are unaware of range of databases available; few recognize need for databases in research; most delegate searching to librarian or assistant, rather than perform searching themselves; and 39 database guides identified tended to be descriptive rather than evaluative. A comparison of the guides is…