Presents preliminary results from a study of an information need identification system for interactive information retrieval for undergraduates researching a history topic. Concludes that the query taxonomy must include levels of topic specificity because while general topic-based queries are inappropriate as query terms, more specific topic-based…

Describes Web conferencing in a staff development program for lecturers at the University of Southampton (United Kingdom), designed to enhance the quality of learner support in higher education through the use of learning technologies. Highlights include use of the Web conference; perceived usability; appropriate use; and whether it influenced…

Analyzed annual electronic journal usage data for the NorthEast Research Library (NERL) consortium. Discusses the high degree of skew in journal use; describes results of a cluster analysis that revealed three distinct groups of institutions based on journal use; and recommends that institutions consider their consortial membership and organize…

Researchers studying subject searching distributed an online questionnaire to users who access the University of California's online public access catalog, MELVYL, from public access terminals in the libraries of the University of California at Santa Cruz. This article discusses the results of transaction log analysis, comparison of in-library and…

Argues that evaluating a library's collection is not an acceptable substitute for evaluating the collection development process and its developers. With increasing materials costs, overselection can be much more serious than underselection. Several useful methods for evaluating collection development incorporate statistics regarding proportional…

Collection development for interdisciplinary areas is more complex than for traditionally well-defined disciplines, so new evaluation methods are needed. This article identifies variables in interdisciplinary fields and presents a model of their typical information components. Traditional use-centered and materials-centered evaluation methods…

Describes the management and collection of standardized educational and psychological tests at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and analyzes the use patterns of patron request cards. Current electronic test locators and evaluation services are indicated as well. (Author/LRW)

Discusses the use of e-mail by humanities faculty based on an e-mail survey of faculty at Brigham Young University (Utah) and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Results indicate that humanities faculty are significantly heavier e-mail users than previously reported. (LRW)

Reports on two studies that compared adult students' responses to, and recall from, hypermedia materials with and without integrated video segments. Results suggest that embedded video can enhance learning from hypermedia: (1) video adds an affective dimension that makes hypermedia materials more meaningful; and (2) video is presented in a more…

This is the second part of a descriptive survey that analyzed the behavior of students and faculty in three high school library media centers in the Dallas-Fort Worth (Texas) area. It reports on the nature and extent of faculty use of library media centers and describes their perceptions of service, and compares data with an earlier study.…

Discusses results of a usability study at the University of Illinois Chicago that investigated whether Internet search engines have influenced the way students search library Web sites. Results show students use the Web site's internal search engine rather than navigating through the pages; have difficulty interpreting library terminology; and…

Describes a needs assessment process that was developed for the Soledad branch library, which is located in a rural, predominantly Spanish-speaking community. Questionnaires for users and nonusers are described, community residents' involvement is discussed, desirable library services are suggested, and needs in a bilingual community are…

Describes results of a study of interlibrary loan statistics that was conducted at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) Library (Saudi Arabia) in 1985-86. Results are used to examine collection development needs, departmental use, categories of users, time required to fill requests, and lending vendors. (five references) (LRW)

Describes study that was conducted at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to examine variables that determine which undergraduates use microcomputers and how often they use them. Computer access, expected future computer use, and prior computer experience are discussed, and the influences of gender and class rank are examined. (17…

Student requests for online searching often show that faculty members have suggested inappropriate searches. A survey of faculty that examined their use of online searching in research and their communications to students about this research method is described, and ways in which librarians might improve the situation are suggested. The…