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…

Senior citizens are comparatively vulnerable in accessing learning opportunities offered on the Internet due to usability problems in current web design. In an effort to build a senior-friendly learning web as a part of the Life-long Learning Network in Shanghai, usability studies of two websites currently available to Shanghai senior citizens…

The new trend on the Web has totally changed today's information access environment. The traditional information overload problem has evolved into the qualitative level beyond the quantitative growth. The mode of producing and consuming information is changing and we need a new paradigm for accessing information. Personalized search is one of…

The authors describe how content-based multimedia search technologies can be used to help learners find new materials and learning pathways by identifying semantic relationships between educational resources in a social learning network. This helps users--both learners and educators--to explore and find material to support their learning aims.…

Researchers at American University investigated user preferences for discovery layer features, interface design, and content. They tested local implementations of WorldCat Local and Aquabrowser by conducting a group test with eighteen students and individual tests with ten students. Students searched a given question and a topic of their choosing…

Purpose: This study is an attempt to develop an automatic identification method for Arabic web queries and divide them into several query types using data mining. In addition, it seeks to evaluate the impact of the academic environment on using the internet. Design/methodology/approach: The web log files were collected from one of the higher…

Discovery tools are the next phase of library search systems. Illinois State University's Milner Library implemented EBSCO Discovery Service in August 2010. The authors conducted usability studies on the system in the fall of 2010. The aims of the study were twofold: first, to determine how Milner users set about using the system in order to…

That little rectangle with a button next to it? (Those things called search boxes but might just as well be called "resource drains.") Imagine it disappearing from a library's webpages. The intricate works behind these design elements make up a major portion of what library staff spends time and money developing, populating, supporting,…

This paper looks at criteria on how education service providers' websites could benefit their potential students from overseas. Effective design of education website is important as web users are typically fastidious and want information fast--this serves as the background of this study. The study focuses on three selected education institutions'…

In this article, the authors compared the MLA International Bibliography database (MLAIB) across five vendor platforms to determine how and why seemingly comparable searches produced varying results. A number of tests were conducted using a variety of fields, terms, and parameters, and examples of results are provided. The authors' findings are…

This article examines what is desirable in online reference books in science and technology and outlines a framework for evaluating their interfaces. The framework considers factors unique to these subject areas like chemical structures and numerical data. Criteria in three categories, navigability, searchability, and results, were applied to five…

This article examined the search functions for all individual EAD Web sites listed on the Library of Congress Web site in 2003. In particular, the type of search engine, search modes, options for searching, search results display, search feedback, and other features of the search systems were studied. The data analysis suggests that there have…

This paper focuses on developing a relatively simple method for analyzing web-logs. It also explores the challenges and benefits of web-log analysis. The study of student behavior on this site provides insights into website design and the effectiveness of this site in particular. Another benefit realized from the paper is the ease with which these…