Boolean logic can be a difficult concept for first-year, introductory students to grasp. This paper compares the results of Boolean and natural language searching across several databases with searches created from student research questions. Performance differences between databases varied. Overall, natural search language is at least as good as…

Introduction: This paper aims to determine how appropriate information literacy instruction is for preparing students for these unmediated searches using commercial search engines and the Web. Method. A survey was designed using the 2000 Association of College and Research Libraries literacy competency standards for higher education. Survey…

The train-the-trainer model has great potential for expanding information literacy programs without placing undue burden on already overextended librarians; it is surprisingly underused in academic libraries. At the University of Kentucky, we employed this model to create a new information literacy program in an introductory biology lab. We…

The purpose of this project was to investigate how students' search strategies changed over the course of a semester-long information literacy class. Data collection included four different paper questionnaires corresponding to course content in the spring 2008 semester. Seventy-seven participants completed the questionnaires and course work in…

Among librarians, government information has a reputation for being a valuable but underused resource. A literature review of undergraduate citation studies, however, reveals that the use of government information has apparently increased so much for some subject areas that, after books and journals, it has become one of the most frequently used…

Treasures await students and researchers on the shelves of libraries and archives across the country, but unfortunately they often remain unknown to the "modern" researcher who limits his/her research to using the Internet. The process of physically going to the library stacks and browsing the shelves in a subject area is on the decline…

The object of this study was to assess the value of teaching online searching techniques to undergraduate students for the completion of a specific assignment in a human biology course, both as a research tool and as a means of supplementing the limited holdings of primary medical literature in a small college library. Students were divided into…

Describes a library instruction program at the University of Illinois that consists of a narrowly focused one-shot lecture, complemented by a series of library activities that can be completed independently by students. The reasons for revising the program, the variety of instructional approaches and media used, and the effectiveness of the…

Discusses the rationale for and development of a course for undergraduate biology majors which includes a bibliographic instruction component. This component is described in detail, and the importance of cooperation between the biology faculty and library staff is discussed. Examples of assignments, research projects, and laboratory exercises are…

Discusses the need to reevaluate bibliographic instruction in academic libraries for an expanded online environment based on experiences at Moorhead State University (Minnesota). Topics addressed include the addition of databases to local online catalogs; student searching; search patterns; database characteristics; student search skills; library…

Reports on a study of general library skills, online catalog skills, and attitudes toward and use of the library among undergraduates at Indiana University, South Bend. Amount of library instruction, frequency of computer use, grade point average, and experience with online catalogs were analyzed for the effect on library skills test scores.…

Discusses collaborative or cooperative learning and its use in school and academic libraries to improve the effectiveness of bibliographic instruction. A study in which the pairing of undergraduate education students was used to teach information retrieval using the ERIC database on CD-ROM is described. (13 references) (EA)

Discusses the need to teach undergraduate students the critical thinking processes necessary to formulating and researching a topic, rather than the technicalities of online catalogs. The development and design of an online catalog at Dickinson College, which forces students to make informed choices throughout the search process, is described.…

This report describes the grant proposals which funded an end-user instruction program for upper division and graduate students enrolled at a state university in California, and reviews the implementation and the evolution of the online instruction program originally funded by a $3,500 California State University Northridge Instructional…

Reports on a four-year study of use patterns of CD-ROM databases in a biological sciences library. More than half the individuals recorded all use within one month. Over a third recorded use on only one day. Results suggest that the library should emphasize point-of-use instruction for first-time searchers and deemphasize workshops. (Contains 11…