This paper presents two interactive visualization tools for learning management systems (LMS) in order to improve learning and teaching in online courses. The first tool was developed at the Intelligent Information Systems Laboratory (IISLab) at the Tampere University of Technology (TUT). The tool is used to analyse students' activity from…

This article summarizes the author's dissertation regarding search strategies of millennial undergraduate students in Web and library online information retrieval systems. Millennials bring a unique set of search characteristics and strategies to their research since they have never known a world without the Web. Through the use of search engines,…

Even in the age of Google, digital repositories can add tremendous value to an institution. Yet creating and maintaining these collections is no small task. Digital repository advocates will concede that the challenges in building and maintaining these collections can daunt even the most intrepid supporters. Three repository directors share their…

This study evaluates the usability of the Journal Finder integrated search interface, developed at the Jackson Library at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This interface provides electronic access to publications including journals, newsletters, newspapers, and magazines. This study was conducted to determine how intuitive and…

Describes a prototype system for software documentation management called SLEUTH (Software Literacy Enhancing Usefulness to Humans) being developed at the University of Virginia. Highlights include information retrieval techniques, hypertext links that are installed automatically, a WAIS (Wide Area Information Server) search engine, user…

Discussion of visual information retrieval systems focuses on an approach for testing novel interfaces that uses bottom-up, stepwise testing to allow evaluation of a visualization itself, rather than restricting evaluation to the system instantiating it. Presents a case study of undergraduates that compares a new visualization technique to more…

Reports findings from an exploratory study investigating working notes created during encoding and external storage (EES) processes by human search intermediaries (librarians at the University of North Texas) using a Boolean information retrieval (IR) system. Implications for the design of IR interfaces and further research is discussed.…

This study investigates the nature, manifestations, and behavior of successive searching by users in digital environments, and establishes criteria for use in the design of information-retrieval interfaces and systems supporting successive-searching behavior. Study includes two projects--one based at the University of North Texas, one at the…

Examines the Museum Educational Site Licensing (MESL) Project--a cooperative project between seven cultural heritage repositories and seven universities--as well as other developments of cultural heritage image databases for academic use. Reviews recent literature on image indexing and retrieval, interface design, and tool development, urging a…

This study investigated the effects of interface tools and learner cognitive styles on performance in searches for information within a hypermedia database. The subjects, 75 students in a university English as a Second Language (ESL) program, were blocked for field dependence and assigned to four treatments which differed by the search tool…

Includes four articles that discuss the impact of academic libraries' shift to electronic journals on staff and costs; open citation linking for improved access and the Open Archives Initiative; development of global digital libraries, particularly between the United States and Korea; and retrieving documents from a digital library through a…

Discussion of information retrieval in the humanities focuses on a study of 10 graduate students at Indiana University as they conducted literature searches using databases on CD-ROM. Highlights include a review of related literature, search strategies, relevance assessments, human-computer interaction, and databases and indexing. (LRW)

This paper presents "Campus," an environment that allows University of Hagen (Germany) students to connect briefly to the Internet but remain represented by personalized, autonomous agents that can fulfill a variety of information, communication, planning, and cooperation tasks. A brief survey is presented of existing mobile agent system…

This paper reports on an Old Dominion University (Virginia) and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Langley Research Center project, NCSTRL+, a unified, canonical digital library (DL) for educational, scientific, and technical information (STI). NCSTRL+ is based on the Networked Computer Science Technical Report Library (NCSTRL),…

This paper presents an information retrieval system for delivering educational visual materials through the World Wide Web. The system is designed to meet the following user requirements: lecturers prefer direct control over their visual resources; lecturers demand a browser-based interface that will allow them to create and modify their online…