A study of ways in which users conduct subject searches with an online public access catalog (OPAC) was performed at the College Park Campus of the University of Maryland. Both process (search patterns) and product (search results) variables were examined with respect to individual characteristics of 39 volunteers, many of whom were master's level…

This research project investigated the information seeking behavior of Syracuse University doctoral students in six disciplines--economics, English, geology, history, philosophy, and physics. Questionnaires distributed to 112 students elicited data from 69 respondents (61.6%) on their educational environment, search strategies, selection of…

Based on the assumption that librarians can benefit from a better knowledge and understanding of information needs and behavior, this paper presents a review of the literature on information needs and information seeking behavior from 1971 to 1986, a report on a survey of 100 graduate students enrolled in a course on educational research at…

Reports the methodology and conclusions of a study that examined the research skills of graduate students by analyzing the bibliographies of over 600 master's theses. Presented by academic department, the results include the type of formats used (books, periodicals, etc.), currentness of citations, and possible source of indexing for the journals.…

Reports results of a survey sent to business school graduates from the classes of 1977 and 1983 on their use of libraries both currently and as students. Areas covered include: use of monographs versus journals and use of online services, public and corporate libraries, loose-leaf services, and popular current reading. (EM)

After receiving training in searching INSPEC or ERIC on DIALOG using either the SciMate menu or native commands, 40 doctoral students performed free searches on research topics of their choice. In comparison with 20 control subjects (doctoral students for whom a free search was performed by a skilled librarian), the experimental subjects were…