As individuals become more and more comfortable mediating all kinds of situations online and through various technologies, their virtual selves increasingly overlap their "real" lives. Posting a "happy birthday!" message on Facebook is as automatic as dropping a card in the mail. E-mailing relevant links to co-workers happens as naturally as…

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…

Details the use of established evaluation criteria that help identify quality Internet resources. The research process involves locating information based on resource type. Although this survey focuses on the Holocaust, the process is universal. (AEF)

Research methodologies in several of the social sciences require the use of tests. When assisting social science researchers who seek information on tests, reference librarians do not, themselves, always have direct access to the instruments. Librarians should not only have the knowledge that various print and electronic database resources are…

This eighth part in a series of articles on Web-based reference providers focuses on subscription databases. Topics include training needs; keeping teachers informed about new databases; costs; information retrieval techniques; free information from the Internet versus paying for use; information vendors; and the need for printed reference…

Provides fundamental information about patents, describes effective and affordable reference resources, and discusses specific issues in providing patent information services to inventors and other patrons. Basic resources, including CD-ROM products, patent classification and searching resources, and other search tools are described in an…

Chemists have been very active in utilizing the World Wide Web as an information distribution medium and much interesting scientific chemical information is already offered on it. Various classical text-based search engines have made locating information on the Web easier. However, keyword-based searches are often insufficient for chemists…

A questionnaire was distributed to bookstore employees to determine their awareness and correct use of reference tools and skills with customers. Fifty employees returned the survey for a 42% response rate. The questionnaire collected demographic data on the education, work background, and on-the-job training of typical clerks at three Cleveland…

The Getty Information Institute conducted a two-year study of online searching by 27 humanities scholars using DIALOG. Discusses results and recommends that library services: provide interdisciplinary information for humanities scholars; recognize that online searching in humanities may be harder than in sciences; expect wide preferences for…

Examines information-seeking patterns of high school honors students. Discusses findings in terms of information needs, types of information sources consulted, relationship of information need to sources consulted, outcomes of searches, and student preferences among sources. (AEF)

This newsletter focuses on the presentations of a program session on Internet-accessible scholarly resources, held at the 1996 ACLS Annual Meeting. Articles in the newsletter include: "Building the Scene: Words, Images, Data, and Beyond" (David Green); "Electronic Texts: The Promise and the Reality" (Susan Hockey); "Images…

Fourteen undergraduate students who had successfully completed research projects were surveyed on their research processes, including focusing their topic, finding and using evidence, and writing. Their responses revealed significant differences between the way they actually do research and standard search strategies, and the implications of these…

In an effort to verify that the library research skills that comprise the library media instructional program at the Columbus (Ohio) School for Girls are those that college librarians would regard as essential, a questionnaire was mailed in February 1987 to the undergraduate libraries of 142 colleges and universities most often attended by…

This paper outlines the use of computer resources to conduct a literature search. While the phrase "computer archives" can refer to all computerized materials, for this discussion it is limited to textual information available online. Both commercial online services and organizations on the Internet offer files to search and download. In addition,…

Wisconsin's Interlibrary Library Loan Task Force was created in 1994 to identify and discuss effective patterns and methods of sharing resources among libraries of all types in Wisconsin and to determine the direction that different organizational levels should take in resource sharing, and to evaluate existing state-wide resource-sharing…