Describes results of a study of transaction logs from three university libraries' online catalogs that analyzed subject queries to determine the extent to which they matched subject headings in the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). Computer and manual analyses are described, and user satisfaction with LCSH matches is considered. (14…

Presents an outline for a planned technical session discussing innovations in the Web, the current state of Web searching, challenges, and future directions. Highlights include search engines; an empirical comparison of Web site overview techniques; Federal statistics web sites; and an evaluation of Web search engines from the end-user's…

Examines the communication and information use environment of a corporate engineering community. Highlights include typical work practices; the accessibility of communication and information resources; frequency of use; satisfaction with use in seeking information; and the influence of trust and credibility in using the World Wide Web and human…

Describes a prototype for a shelf-browsing search system that can be tailored to meet the needs of marginalized user groups. Terms in an online thesaurus are linked to relevant classification numbers. Users can search the thesaurus, identify appropriate classification numbers, and use them as vocabularies appropriate to particular user…

Examines patterns of uncertainty, complexity, and process in the perceptions of information users from different work environments. Zone intervention based on Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development is presented. A study with two early career professionals showed need for a more interactive, collaborative role for the library…

Description of a research study that empirically investigated book index usage behaviors and the extent to which specific print index features affect a user's search for information highlights observable behaviors of a sample of users when consulting different variations of a hard copy book index. (Contains 12 references.) (LRW)

Presents findings from a study of how knowledge workers use the Web to seek external information as part of their daily work. Participants were 34 users from seven companies. Findings suggest that a behavioral framework that relates motivation and moves may be helpful in analysing patterns of Web-based information seeking. (AEF)

Describes the development of a taxonomy of the value of library services based on users' assessments from five large research libraries. Highlights include empirical and derived taxonomy, replicability of the study, reasons for using the library, how library services are related to time and money, and a theory of value. (LRW)

Describes a study that was conducted to determine whether the searching behavior of remote users of LIAS (Library Information Access System), Pennsylvania State University's online public access catalog (OPAC), differed from those using the OPAC within the library. Differences in search strategies and in user satisfaction are discussed. (eight…

Provides an overview of a session that planned to discuss selected information policy issues that affect the management of and access to Federal Websites, including agencies' development and use of Web-based services; needs for improvement; implementation issues; and issues that affect the delivery of Web-based services to the public. Panelists…

Examines the effectiveness of four Web-based search engines--Alta Visa, infoseek, Lycos, and Open Text--from users' perspectives. Results show that although Lycos has the best relevance ranking performance and highest precision ratio, Alta Vista has the best connectivity, highest user satisfaction ratios for precision and three components of…

Reports on a study of 40 audiotaped reference interactions between librarians and public library users. Data analysis focused on users' problem formulation, librarians' elicitation of information from the user, unsolicited information provided by users and the effect of these factors for the outcome of the interaction. (Author/AEF)

Describes the ViewFinder interface, designed at Indiana University as a client to a database server; it supports querying based on both visual and verbal clues. Presents results of usability analysis performed on ViewFinder with 18 users. High search success rates were achieved through both types of querying means; verbal clues were used more than…

Questionnaires, observation, and taped interviews of 36 graduate students were used to compare and evaluate the use of a continuous zooming graphical interface and a typical jump-based hypertext interface, with a focus on minimizing user disorientation when reading documents. Learning time, performance and user satisfaction were evaluated. (AEF)

Presents preliminary findings of a project intended to develop a user-validated measurement instrument based on users' relevance criteria. Two validation tests revealed conceptual and methodological challenges involving the semantic ambiguity of terms and verified the importance of situational context to scale development and use. (Author/AEF)