Online searchers in Australia were studied through six sets of variables: backgrounds, experience, attitudes, behaviours, styles and satisfaction. A mailed questionnaire attracted a response rate of 84.5 per cent. Respondents were drawn equally from academic and special libraries. Those in special libraries tended to be more satisfied with their searches, and favoured adaptability but not preplanning. Those whose organisations levied charges appeared to search less often and to have less faith in controlled vocabularies. A minority with computational backgrounds tended to have more searching experience. Many respondents searched infrequently and had conducted low total numbers of searches. Those searching more often were less cost conscious, and more in favour of trial-and-error and reviewing retrieved titles. Searchers who had conducted more searches favoured trial-and-error , browsing and reviewing retrieved titles. Controlled vocabularies, adaptability (related to a disinclination to review retrieved titles), trial-and-error and browsing were favoured . Fidel's conceptualist style tended to be adopted by those favouring trial-and-error. Her operationalist style was considered routine and positively related to perceived user satisfaction with searches. Some concern about cost was related to a tendency to plan alternative strategies.