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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218815 |
| Date | January 1988 |
| Creators | Byrne, Alex, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Communication |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Alex Byrne |
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