The information on this page will help you to understand the basic concepts involved in searching for documents on GPO Access. It contains general instructions, covering topics such as how to construct a query and how to interpret a results list. For specific instructions on how to use a particular database, as well as sample searches, please consult the Search Tips for that database. Search Tips are available from the main search page for each database and from the GPO Access Databases page.

This is the keynote presentation delivered at The Sixth Conference on Problem-Based Learning in Finland: Constructing knowledge in information society, Tampere, 2006 June 6-7. Abstract: Finding information, especially accurate, timely, and relevant information, is increasingly important in nearly all human endeavors. Accordingly, numerous studies have examined the processes information seekers employ, as well as the strategies information providers use to meet their needs. Most models emphasize satisfaction or closure as the criterion for successful completion of an information search; thus the emphasis is on solving a specific problem. But often, information seeking is part of some larger process, which is invisible to the information provider and often unclear even to the seeker. Successful search may lead not so much to eliminating an existing, well-defined problem, as to delineating a new problem within a complex, ill-defined space. This paper examines information seeking from an inquiry, or problem-based perspective, and argues that the fields of information seeking and problem-based learning can benefit from closer dialogue.

During the last twenty years rapid developments in technology have led to changes in the way we work, play and learn. Technology has become an integral part of societyâ s everyday information environment. Children growing up during what has been called the technological or digital revolution have never known a world without instantaneous communication and easy access to vast quantities of information using multiple formats, text types, graphics and multimedia. For the â Net Generationâ (born after 1985) of users and consumers who are surrounded by information, technology is transparent and a part of their social, economic and educational landscape. The terms tech-savvy, web-savvy, Internet-savvy and com-puter-savvy are being used to describe young people in major educational policy documents and population studies worldwide. While educators recognise that their students have a different culture of use when using and seeking information delivered electronically, they struggle to come to terms with the changes the integration of technology brings to the teaching-learning environment. The implications for educators, teacher librarians and librarians being raised in current research on the information seeking of the Net Generation, is whether students have an intuitive/instinctive grasp of how to access and use elec-tronic information or is this just an illusion borne of familiarity with the technology? This paper presents a brief summary of the research and popular literature about the information seeking behavior of the Net Generation and outlines future research to be conducted as part of this thesis. It also proposes a leader-ship role for libraries and their personnel in designing programs to ensure that young people have ade-quate information skills that will enable them to use evolving technologies effectively and efficiently when searching for information.

This paper reports on an exploratory study that investigates the relationship between participants' learning style preferences and their perceptions of a professional workshop on collaboration and technology to support collaboration. The Learning Preference Scale-Students (LPSS) (Owens & Barnes, 1992) was administered to identify participants' learning style preferences as cooperative, competitive and/or individualized. Using cluster analysis two groups, or categories, of learning style preferences among the participants emerged. Group 1 showed a strong preference for the cooperative learning style, and Group 2 showed a strong preference for competitive and cooperative learning styles. Group 1 rated the workshop more positively than Group 2. However, Group 2 reported a larger increase in self-efficacy compared to those in Group 1 (18.9% vs. 6.0%). Both groups provided different suggestions regarding the content of the workshop. Group 1 suggested adding more discussions and group exercises, whereas Group 2 suggested adding explicit theory or rules to govern behavior. These findings indicate that learning styles should be considered as a potential variable that influences learning outcomes and preferences.

We propose a model of search term selection process based on our empirical study of professional searchers during the pre-online stage of the search process. The model characterizes the selection of search terms as the navigation of different discourses. Discourse refers to the way of talking and thinking about a certain topic; there often exists multiple, diverse discourses on the same topic. When selecting search terms, searchers appear to navigate a variety of discourses, i.e., they view the topic of a client's search request from the perspective of multiple discourse communities, and evaluate and synthesize differences and similarities among those discourses when selecting search terms. Six discourses emerged as sources of search terms in our study. These discourses are controlled vocabularies, documents and domains, the practice of indexing, clients' search requests, databases and the searchers' own search experience. Data further suggest that searchers navigate these discourses dynamically and have preferences for certain discourses. Conceptualizing the selection of search terms as a meeting place of different discourses provides new insights into the complex nature of the search term selection process. It emphasizes the multiplicity and complexity of the sources of search terms, the dynamic nature of the search term selection process, and the complex analysis and synthesis of differences and similarities among sources of search terms. It suggests that searchers may need to understand fundamental aspects of multiple discourses in order to select search terms.

This paper explores the experience of reading from the readerâ s perspective, drawing on research conducted by Louise Rosenblatt and Catherine Sheldrick Ross. Rosenblattâ s transactional theory of reading is described and contrasted with contemporary library practices, and these different approaches serve to exemplify the poles of what she calls the efferent-aesthetic continuum. Library educators and practitioners tend to reside at one end of the continuum and emphasize goal-oriented searching with pre-defined needs and specifically articulated questions; at the other end we encounter the complex cognitive, emotional, imaginative, associative and experiential transactions that engage pleasure readers. The medium of the book is briefly examined, as are the purposive skills that can emerge from the practice of reading for pleasure. To better serve readers, the largest body of library users, it is incumbent upon the library profession to understand the detailed processes and characteristics that constitute the reading experience.

The nature of work for librarians/information professionals is undergoing a profound transformation, due to the arrival of deadly diseases like AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) and the change in information needs of the local community. This change necessitates much more professional expertise, updated knowledge, critical thinking and involvement in developing effective AIDS literacy programs. Information professionals serving in different libraries or potential information dissemination centers can provide dedicated services to society by helping to access AIDS information not only in urban settings but also in rural environments. This paper outlines strategies for effective collaboration in the context of AIDS literacy promotion efforts. It identifies a number of obstacles in the process of empowering the community and suitable measures essential for success.

This paper discusses user needs for a system that indexes tables and figures culled from scientific journal articles. These findings are taken from a comprehensive investigation into scientistsâ satisfaction with and use of a tables and figures retrieval prototype. Much previous research has examined the usability and features of digital libraries and other online retrieval systems that retrieve either full-text of journal articles, traditional article-level abstracts, or both. In contrast, this paper examines the needs of users directly searching for and accessing discrete journal article components â figures, tables, graphs, maps, and photographs â that have been individually indexed.

Artificial Intelligence Lab, Department of MIS, University of Arizona / As new and emerging classes of information systems applications the applications become more overwhelming, pressing, and diverse, several well-known information retrieval (IR) problems have become even more urgent in this “network-centric” information age. Information overload, a result of the ease of information creation and rendering via the Internet and the World Wide Web, has become more evident in people’s lives. Significant variations of database formats and structures, the richness of information media, and an abundance of multilingual information content also have created severe information interoperability problems-structural interoperability, media interoperability, and multilingual interoperability. The conventional approaches to addressing information overload and information interoperability problems are manual in nature, requiring human experts as information intermediaries to create knowledge structures and/or ontologies. As information content and collections become even larger and more dynamic, we believe a systemaided bottom-up artificial intelligence (AI) approach is needed. By applying scalable techniques developed in various AI subareas such as image segmentation and indexing, voice recognition, natural language processing, neural networks, machine learning, clustering and categorization, and intelligent agents, we can provide an alternative system-aided approach to addressing both information overload and information interoperability.

Certain human communication traits have historically been identified as gender-specific. The purpose of this paper is to collect and compare the most widely-indexed, gender-specific World Wide Web sites from five given interest areas, and to then determine which, if any, traditionally gender-based communication patterns were present within these sites. Using qualitative and quantitative analysis, this study found that in many cases: * Female-oriented sites in this study emphasized communality * stressed sharing personal experience * resisted authoritative language * encouraged emotional interaction # Male-oriented sites in this study relied on authoritative language # emphasized privacy # stressed professionalism # minimized personal interaction . Although these sites represent only a miniscule "snap shot" of communication on the Web, they seemed to suggest that the core of traditionally identified gender-specific communication traits is being actively transplanted into Cyberspace.