This usability study examines how students use electronic research libraries such as Questia, which has been designed to replace traditional libraries, and compares it with large university library Web sites. Suggests that design features incorporated by Web site designers can drastically affect the success of students doing research. (Author/LRW)

Examines the demographic profile of reading room users in urban public libraries in Israel as well as their patterns of use. Reports results that include user occupations; age; educational level; use of additional library services; purposes of spending time in the reading room; and how books used were located. (Author/LRW)

Analyzed correlates of senior center participation for 13,737 elders from Supplement on Aging of 1984 National Health Interview Survey. Significant characteristics were higher levels of social interaction, decreasing income, living alone, fewer activities of daily living difficulties, being female, and living in suburbs and rural nonfarm areas.…

Summarizes the results of research that has examined the cost- effectiveness of media use in the instructional process. The use of instructional technology in the classroom is discussed, emphasizing the role of the teacher; and the increased use of media in business, government, and medicine is explored. (18 references) (LRW)

Using Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" as a case study, demonstrates the evocative power of fiction to promote interracial understanding. Creative art, by appealing to the imagination, can evoke feelings and insights that make human relationships vivid and personal. (BJV)

Using a newspaper article database, this study analyzed the effects of ellipsis and anaphor resolution on proximity searching in a full-text database; 154 keyword pairs in different categories were created. Findings indicate that some resolution method might be developed only for proper name phrases to support keyword-based full-text information…

Describes a study of factors accounting for low levels of student participation in academic assistance programs, based on case studies of eight university students on academic probation who had rejected offers of academic assistance, using structured interviews and the Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory and the Mooney Problem Checklist. Includes…

Reviews literature on environmental information since 1986, with special emphasis on machine-readable sources as reported in the published literature. Highlights include a new model for studying environmental issues; environmental communication studies, including user studies; and environmental information sources, including pollution media and…

Identifies four motivations adolescents report for viewing graphic horror films: gore watching, thrill watching, independent watching, and problem watching. Argues that viewing motivations are predictors of responses to graphic horror. Finds that viewing motivations were related to viewers' cognitive and affective responses and a tendency to…

Reports on an exploratory study which used tracking records and evaluation questionnaires to examine the ways students use a hypermedia system. Findings in the following areas are discussed: enjoyment, ease of use, perception of system control, actual search strategies, perceived purposive search strategies, and effectiveness of search strategies.…

Presents a spreadsheet used to record online searches at the University of Kentucky's decentralized library. The spreadsheet is described by fields, and its advantages and disadvantages as a tool for accounting and for gathering information about database usage are discussed. Seven figures showing sample spreadsheets and usage patterns are…

Discusses land use patterns in fifteenth-century Europe and in the Americas and the mutual influence (initiated by Columbus's arrival in the Americas) that led to land use change. Presents a historical perspective and categorization of contemporary global land use changes for the purpose of highlighting associations between past and present global…

Data on adoption of 43 user-developed computing applications in 3 large corporations were analyzed to develop an empirically grounded model of the adoption process for intellectual technologies. A five-stage model consisting of Resource Acquisition, Application Development, Adoption/Renewal, Routinization/Enhancement, and External Adoption was…

Describes a study of the design and operation of 13 community college writing centers, which assist students with planning, drafting, and revising essays and research projects, often with word-processing and computer support. Reviews staffing patterns, facilities, services, clientele, hours of operation, budget, evaluations, and plans for…

Reviews existing studies of use of formal care by families of Alzheimer's sufferers with special attention to findings relevant to access, particularly perceptions of appropriateness and acceptability or consistency with other needs and values. Applied conceptual model represented by these findings to narrative that serves as proxy for real case.…