The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) software research and development project described explores information seeking behavior of end-user energy experts and develops software offering tutorials on front-end use of DOE/RECON databases and active help in performing online searches. Software development is described and results of prototype testing…

Describes a study of the newly implemented online library catalog system at the Tarrant County Junior College District libraries, conducted to determine how heavily terminals were used and by whom, use of search aids, and user satisfaction. Describes the catalog and study purposes, procedures, and results. Includes recommendations. (CBC)

Investigation of end-user searching at National Library of Medicine reveals that volume of searching is related to convenient placement of terminal; slightly fewer than half of potential searchers search for themselves; practices of pharmacists and pathologists do not differ in important ways; end-user searchers perform simple searches. (86…

College faculty who learned to do online bibliographic searching were surveyed immediately following and one year after training workshops. Information was gathered about user characteristics, their motivation for learning to search, and type of training needed, and conclusions were drawn about need for academic libraries to provide end user…

Detailed analysis of 462 university faculty search request forms identifies similarities and differences among representatives of academic disciplines in their approaches to seeking information online. Search particulars noted include comprehensiveness, scope, language, retrospectiveness, relevant citations, search purpose, funding, clarity, and…

Presents Checkland's soft systems methodology, discusses it in terms of the systems approach, and illustrates how it was used to relate evidence of user survey to practical problems of library management. Difficulties in using methodology are described and implications for library management and information science research are presented. (8…

Suggests typology as initial framework for study of patterns of computer use in the home, along with four sets of independent factors--social status, technical features, sociocultural setting, and personal attributes. This approach integrates patterns of computer utilization with technological, social, and psychological factors to account for…

Public library users made judgments about the competence of reference librarians whom they observed in videotaped interviews. Two social factors were varied in the interviews: the gender of the librarian, patron, and observers; and the communication behavior exhibited by the reference librarian toward the patron. Nineteen references are cited.…

Assesses results of questionnaire survey of 150 users of National Library of Australia's ERIC Selective Dissemination of Information Services established in 1974. Topics covered include user opinions, communication between service and users, Australian material inclusion, retrospective searches, online searches, other ERIC users, document back-up,…

Reports study of communication patterns of students and faculty in Psychology department at Georgia State University. Topics covered include pertinence of Garvey's model of information dissemination, methods of information exchange, practicing clinicians and research, research requirements for students, library use among graduate students, and…

Reports intensive survey of medical library users in Oxford teaching hospitals and university science departments that employed six survey techniques (interview, questionnaire, feedback form, direct observation, reference-tracing experiment, library record analysis). Three distinct user types (practitioner, researcher, practitioner-researcher)…

Summarizes findings of Computer Equity Training Project studies concerning female presence in computer magazines; home computer use variability by sex; student software evaluation; and influence on computer use of teacher gender, gender of other computer users, and work environment. Successful classroom computer equity approaches based on these…

Describes study of periodical use in medium-sized university of technology which examined use of individual periodicals in relation to language of publication; patterns of use for interlibrary lending and for multiple copy journals; methods and costs for acquiring infrequently used periodicals. Thirty-three references and most frequently used…

This study describes how elementary and secondary California teachers nominated as successful in their microcomputer-based instruction teach science and mathematics, and how their computer usage varies in relation to (1) teacher characteristics (computer and subject matter knowledge, and attitudes toward computers); and (2) district, school, and…

Raises questions about influence of present reference practice on library user perceptions of the librarian as information intermediary and on user ability to distinguish between librarians and other staff. Questions are discussed within context of client-professional relationship, using data from study of users of three midwestern university…