Digital Commons Network^™

An empirical study was performed to train naive subjects in the use of a prototype Boolean logic-based information retrieval system on a bibliographic database. Subjects were undergraduates with little or no prior computing experience. Subjects trained with a conceptual model of the system performed better than subjects trained with procedural instructions, but only on complex, problem-solving tasks. Performance was equal on simple tasks. Differences in patterns of interaction with the system (based on a stochastic process model) showed parallel results. Most subjects were able to articulate some description of the system's operation, but few articulated a model similar to the …

As we seek both to improve public school education in high technology areas and to link libraries and classrooms on the “information superhighway,” we need to understand more about children’s information searching abilities. We present results of four experiments conducted on four versions of the Science Library Catalog (SLC), a Dewey decimal-based hierarchical browsing system implemented in HyperCard without a keyboard. The experiments were conducted over a 3-year period at three sites, with four databases, and with comparisons to two different keyword online catalogs. Subjects were ethnically and culturally diverse children aged 9 through 12; with 32 to 34 children …

Research in user behavior on online catalogs is in its early stages, but preliminary findings suggest that users encounter many of the same problems identified in behavioral studies of other types of bibliographic retrieval systems. Much can be learned from comparing the results of user behavior studies on these two types of systems. Research on user problems with both the mechanical aspects and the conceptual aspects of system use is reviewed, with the conclusion that more similarity exists across types of systems in conceptual than in mechanical problems. Also discussed are potential sources of the problems, due either to individual …