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…

Urges librarians involved in library user instruction to meet the challenges preented by the growing role of computers in bibliographic systems. (FM)

This essay suggests that until online public access catalogs can be truly user-friendly by encouraging searchers to learn and control and relearn, making systems too easy is not in the users' or systems' best interests. Experiences at Library of Congress and examples of search strategies and menu systems are noted. (EJS)

Discusses programed instruction as a technique for teaching the fundamentals of monographic searching on the OCLC database, the method used in developing the instructional text, the series of validation tests conducted, and some suggestions for future research. (Author/FM)

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…

Discusses characteristics of typical online public access catalogs (OPACs) and examines patron use via printouts of transaction logs for three separate systems. Desirable features of OPACs (mnemonic search commands, boolean operators, forgiveness or automatic truncation, browsing a subject heading index, suggestive prompts) and need for…

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;…

This manual provides a course outline and pre-test, as well as behavioral objectives, class handouts, exercises, and their keys for each of the ten sessions in a one-credit undergraduate library skills course offered by the State University of New York at Albany Library. Sessions include: (1) general course introduction and facility orientation;…

Discusses the definition of an online library catalog; five factors to be considered by the online catalog designer; user-computer communication (error messages, help screens, prompts, unnatural language); online tutorials and offline instruction offered by bibliographic instruction librarians; and the current situation. Nine references are…

Outlines the characteristics of TRAINER, a computer-based system designed to aid individuals in learning and practicing the search skills needed in using online bibliographic retrieval services. (FM)

Discussion of issues concerned with providing library reference services to machine readable data files focuses on numeric databases. The team approach used at the University of Florida, which incorporates reference librarians, programers and data managers, database producers and vendors, and professional associations, is described. A bibliography…

This paper describes how four classes of high school students were introduced over a 2-year period to the concepts and terminology of online bibliographic searching, instructed to formulate their own search strategies, and received the opportunity to observe their strategies executed by a skilled searcher on various selected databases. It also…

Provides practical information for librarians beginning to use online searching for reference services at the high school level. Selection of equipment, software, and database vendors are discussed, as well as financing, involvement of the school administration, and working with users to determine their information needs. (CDD)

Focuses on the training of students in online bibliographic searching as introduced by school library media centers. The online process, teaching students to search, search steps, negative and positive aspects, and implications for school library media programs in three areas (student instruction, collection development, service goals) are…

Describes a study of the different effects of online bibliographic searching and manual bibliographic searching on research quality and productivity among a group of graduate students assigned the task of compiling bibliographies. The study methodology is outlined, and 12 references and tables summarizing student responses to a questionnaire are…