Describes a United States Department of Commerce (National Telecommunications and Information Administrations, NTIA, 1995) study of home Internet use by Low-income families. The study investigated the barriers, benefits (empowerment), and perceived worth of the Internet and concluded that home Internet access enabled powerful emotional and…

Describes the design of the survey employed to measure the impacts of the Integrated Information Center (IIC) at the University of Minnesota on the end-users and reports the results of that survey. (Author/MES)

An OPAC transaction log analysis at the University of Illinois at Chicago revealed that users had trouble with basic search techniques. After the introductory screens were simplified, a second analysis showed improved search results, indicating that monitoring OPACs can lead to improved information retrieval when changes are made in response to…

Surveys were administered to 548 students from three regional universities in the southeastern United States, examining: how many students regularly use the Internet, hours per week regular users spend on the Internet, types of computers used, use of e-mail, use of the Internet to obtain university information, number of students who had home…

Uses a life-history method and compares results with earlier research on newspapers to examine college students' life experiences with television news, particularly those related to its role in citizenship. Shows differences in how television news is understood and used by gender, age, and ethnicity. Suggests that a fundamental reevaluation of…

E-journal, printed journal, and database usage data from polls conducted during 1998-2000 at one research university show increased use of e-journals and decreased use of printed journals by faculty and graduate students as availability of e-journals. The majority of frequent users of all three resources were from departments in the sciences.…

A study involving 170 British Columbia students with autism found that the majority received technology for educational participation while a smaller number received voice output communication aids; some students received both types of technology. The primary goals for the technology use were related to writing, expressive communication, and…

Reviews literature on the relationship between small businesses and the information sources and providers available to them; the use of information by small businesses; and the state of the information technology adoption process by small businesses, particularly as it relates to small-business information use. Also comments on changes in…

Describes the implementation of a user-centered document delivery system at Colorado State University. Evaluates the system via a statistical compilation of system usage and a telephone survey of the service's users. Results indicate that the system usually provided fast delivery at acceptable costs, but fell short as a substitution for mediated…

Reports on an empirical study of how end-users utilize an online bibliographic information system available on the World Wide Web by analyzing the use of a union catalog of academic libraries in Norway. Discusses how hypertext links affect search behavior and considers individual differences in search behavior and problem solving. Interview…

Analysis of user surveys at Texas A&M University indicated service is rated highest at the reference desk with 80.4% satisfied, while 55.3% found what they needed at the information desk and 55.3% in the database room. Although the information desk referred 62.5% to other sources, only 46.4% were satisfied with the referral. Includes survey…

To manage Web-based resources effectively, librarians must evaluate vendor-supplied data about their use. Identifies aspects of data collection librarians need to pay special attention to, recommends that vendors report the maximum number of simultaneous users per day and data gaps in addition to International Coalition of Library Consortia…

This study, based on data from the National Study of Student Learning, examines factors that influence undergraduates' academic library use during the first three years of college. Undergraduates' high school library use, student-faculty interactions, and active learning and engaged writing activities predicted library use for all three years of…

The article reports the results of a usability study of an EAD interface. Findings indicate that subjects had trouble understanding archival terminology and how best to search for information in finding aids. Furthermore, they were not familiar with the structure or contents of finding aids. In addition to building interfaces that minimize…

In the spring of 2002, the author conducted a qualitative study that used student engagement as a lens through which to analyze the effects of technology on campus. The setting was a four-year private institution that had, three years prior, instituted a laptop computer requirement for undergraduate students. The study used focus groups of…