Flexibility in query handling can be important if one types a search engine query that is misspelled, contains terms not in the database, or requires knowledge of a controlled vocabulary. Presents results of experiments that suggest the optimal form of similarity functions that are applicable to the task of phrase based retrieval to find either…

Although it has become very common to use World Wide Web-based information in many educational settings, there has been little research on how to better search and organize Web-based information. This paper discusses the shortcomings of Web search engines and Web browsers as learning environments and describes an alternative Web search environment…

Although the mandate to promote information literacy in the classroom is no longer a new one, many teachers still struggle to find trustworthy Web sites and tools that allow them to meet that challenge in a meaningful way. The Internet is an exciting and powerful tool for research and learning. It also is one of the ultimate conduits for freedom…

This study investigates the satisfaction of library users at Wayne State University who utilize alternative information access methods. The LibQUAL+[TM] desired and perceived that satisfaction ratings are used to determine the user's "superiority gap." By focusing limited library resources to address "superiority gap" issues identified by each…

The purpose of this investigation was to document the magnitude of the problem of retrieving school records of highly mobile foster youth residing in one of the largest counties in the nation. Results indicate that it took between 3 weeks to 8 months to track down records and that, for many youths, social workers and case files had inaccurate…

For years, recording companies have been waging a losing war against millions of Net-savvy college students who download and copy digital music or videos and sell or swap them. Many students make illegal use of high-speed computer links owned by universities as administrators catch the flak. Meanwhile, the recording industry and artists claim…

This article presents four projects geared towards providing the community of EAD users with methods and tools to control the quality of archival finding aids, to extract metadata from them in Dublin Core and qualified Dublin Core for use in OAI-PMH repositories, and to publish them on the Web along with the digital images produced by digitization…

Online course syllabi provide a convenient source of information about library use. This article discusses the strategies used to retrieve syllabi, analyze library use, and develop new opportunities to collaborate with faculty. A new Web-based service was developed to pull course- and library-related materials into a convenient package.

Objective: "Classic" articles remain an important resource in teaching psychiatry. But, such materials are often buried in a faculty member's filing cabinet, effectively lost in today's world of instant access. We attempt to recover these materials through a marriage of traditional reading lists and contemporary technology. Method: The authors…

It is evident from previous research that user satisfaction is a multidimensional, subjective variable which can be affected by many factors other than performance of the system or searcher. This article draws on information retrieval and information systems literature in an attempt to understand what user satisfaction is, how it is measured, what…

Currently available World Wide Web search engines determine a site's qualification as a response to a search request by matching keywords in the request to keywords representing the site. The returned sites are given a score and ranked according to the match on keywords. Many of these retrieved sites can be irrelevant to the user's true…

This study points out the need for evaluation criteria for business resources on the Internet, so that both corporations and special libraries will be better able to judge the value of the Internet as an information source and increase their competitive edge in today's global market. The research addresses concerns that unfiltered information on…

The Internet has the potential to be the ultimate information resource, but it needs to be organized in order to be useful. This paper discusses how the subject guide, "Yahoo!" is different from most web search engines, and how best to search for information on Yahoo! The strength in Yahoo! lies in the subject hierarchy. Advantages to…

The Internet is becoming an increasingly important medium of electronic information dissemination, and thus an increasingly important library reference tool. This study examines the Internet skills of a sample group of 15 public reference librarians in the Adult Services Department at the Cleveland Heights Public Library. The Internet skills that…

Like a table of contents in print material, a computer-presented menu presents information. It informs a user of the topics that are available. Some menus present information by categories and thus communicate the organization as well as the content of the program. In addition to providing information, menus serve as a selection and retrieval…