• My own 2Sense
• Information Seeking Behavior Articles/ Reports
• Seeking Healthcare Information Behaviors
• Miscellaneous Information Seeking Behaviors
• How People Use the Internet for finding Information
• How Consumers use the Internet - Statistics & Research
• Learning how to Navigate the Internet for Information/ Resource Sites
• Books of Interest
• To >> Online Reference Resources
• To >> The Art of the Reference Interview
• To >> Live/Virtual/Email Reference Services in Libraries - Resources

You can read some of the resources I have included on this page - 
but you may come away as
confused as when you first tried to understand
"user information seeking behavior"
No two people really seek information the same way, and alot has to do with
"cultural" behaviors, their education, problem solving & reading skills, etc.
Plus a person's  perception of a "Library" and what it 
can do for them and how to find things in it, is also something,
that has to be taken into account.
Many of the studies and papers, articles that are noted on this page - are very subjective
and may not necessarily address or give answers to you and show you how to 
understand "your users".
It is important that all Library Staff be Trained, Friendly,
and Approachable - 
so that any Library consumer will feel comfortable and at ease,
in asking for assistance.
All Library Staff should be afforded the option of working the
Reference Desk (some staff may be just the "resource" that is needed for a patron inquiry)
and Staff should be allowed to walk around  the Library on a regular basis,
to make sure users/patrons are finding what they need and to note "user behaviors". 
Observations & Interactions, and Conducting Reference Interviews,
of your own library patrons will be your best guide as to 
understanding their individual information seeking behavior's.

I work in a Hospital Medical Library - my patrons are Medical Staff,
Residents, Medical Students, Nursing Students, Hosptial Administrators,
and Hospital Employees, and our Library is also open to consumers -
looking for Health Information. 
I know that when I shelve my books and journals each day - it is always
an opportunity to ask individual patrons if they need any assistance
or if they have found what they need. And I when I am in our Computer lab
I always ask if any one needs help with anything - from Software applications,
or Medline or Internet searches. Quite often - they are  eager to seek
advice or assistance. Sometimes patrons will not seek information assistance,
because they think they might be percieved as asking a "stupid" question.
But when "you" offer assistance "first" - they usually welcome the help.
Don't wait for the patrons to come to you - go to them and offer help.
Customer service should always be offered with a  smile, and a
willingness to go the extra mile.
You need to be part of your community to know your users,
and the Library must be a "community" of well trained 
Information Professionals (Librarian & Support Staff).

The Internet - for Better or Worse - has had a definite impact on how people seek information,
and what their "expectations" are of the "Internet" to fill their information needs.

I had a patron come to me - and ask for assistance searching on the Internet
She wanted the phone number and address of a person - who she knew had moved to
Florida - 12 months previous - she had no city, just a name - "Doris Smith"!!! 
She was quite persistant, and really felt the Internet would have a 
"directory for the state of Florida" and she would just put in 
Doris Smith and "find" her friends address and phone number.
I tried to explain - as best I could - that there might be better ways to obtain that info - 
such as: ask "Doris's"  friends, relatives, or coworkers for the - new address. 
But - She wanted to use the Internet, and probably
thought - "I" wasn't versed well enough in the "nets" use - so I left her alone to, do her searching.
(No - she didn't locate Doris that night, but "Doris" if you're reading this - I have someone who
wants to contact you)

So while "we" seek to understand users - we must also step up our own
" information seeking skills ",
We must design better "instruction" programs - 
Instruction on how to use Modern day Libraries,
Instruction on how to use the Internet, and 
we must design our Libraries "in house" and "online"
to be more "user friendly". 
It will be a never ending process, especially - keeping up with 
the Technology, Search Engines, User Interfaces, 
Content and Information on the Internet 
and a patrons thirst for knowledge & information
and books & materials we have in our collections. 
And of course the "speed" of delivering that information,
is something that we must cope with as a "user's expectation" 
in this Information Age.
(But then again - that's "job security" - remember "Never Stop Learning!"
and The More You Know - the More You Know)
Please see these resources on Library Support Staff.com for 
further exploration and knowledge
on these issues.

To >> Information Seeking Resources

• Teaching Information Literacy
• Teaching Online
• Creating Online/Offline Presentations & Tutorials
• Signage in Libraries
• Resources for Library Webmasters (learn how to design "usable" websites)
• Training & Resources : How to Conduct a Reference Interview
• Marketing Your Library Using the Internet
• Reference Resources on the Internet
• Library & Information Science Journals Online (browse the TOC's to find articles on the subject of "information seeking behavior" & much more to learn about the world of "Information" Retrieval & Dissemination)

Identifying and Categorizing Information Seeking Strategies in the Networked Environment: An Exploratory Study
http://home.swbell.net/walkerjr/ISBS/index.html

Information Seeking on the Web
http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue5_2/choo/
This paper presents findings from a study of how knowledge workers use the Web 
to seek external information as part of their daily work. 
Thirty-four users from seven companies took part in the study. 
Participants were mainly IT specialists, managers, and research/marketing/consulting
staff working in organizations that included a large utility company, a major bank, 
and a consulting firm. Participants answered a detailed questionnaire and 
were interviewed individually in order to understand their information needs 
and information seeking preferences. 
A custom-developed WebTracker software application was installed 
on each of their work place PCs, and participants' Web-use activities 
were then recorded continuously during two-week periods. 
The WebTracker recorded how participants used the 
browser to seek information on the Web:
it logged menu choices, button bar selections, and keystroke actions, 
allowing browsing and searching sequences to be reconstructed. 
In a second round of personal interviews, participants recalled
critical incidents of using information from the Web.

Bates' Bibliography of Works on 
Information Seeking, Indexing, and Information
Retrieval System Design
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/bates/bib-intro.html
Copyright © 2000 by Marcia J. Bates

ARTICLE
Designing for Information Foragers:
A Behavioral Model for
Information Seeking on the World Wide Web
James Kalbach
Internetworking v. 3(3) 2000
http://www.internettg.org/newsletter/dec00/article_information_foragers.html

Machine-Assisted Reference Section
User Access to Services Committee
http://staff.lib.muohio.edu/~shocker/mars/
CURRENT USER RESEARCH BIBLIOGRAPHY - 
Working List - Last update July 31, 2000
The MARS User Access to Service Committee is interested in 
exploring the information-seeking behavior of our users in the current environment. 
While there is a large body of literature dealing with catalog use and
end-user searching, there does not seem to be a comparable body of information 
reflecting more current issues--issues of user behavior with multiple citation databases, 
proliferating interfaces, and web access to an ever increasing body of information, good and bad. 
How are users making sense of the conflicting messages in an information environment 
in which the only constant seems to be change? 
http://staff.lib.muohio.edu/~shocker/mars/bib.html

Information Research.net
Chapter 5 : Information-seeking and acquisition
http://informationr.net/tdw/publ/infbehav/chap5.html

A framework for investigating the interaction in information retrieval 
http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/454900.html 
Abstract: 
To increase retrieval effectiveness, information retrieval systems must offer 
better support to users in their information-seeking activities. 
To achieve this, one major concern is to obtain a better understanding 
of the nature of the interaction between a user and an information retrieval system.
For this, we need a means to analyse the interaction in information retrieval, 
so as to compare the interaction processes within and across information retrieval systems. 
We present a framework for investigating the interaction between 
users and information retrieval systems. 
The framework is based on channel theory, 
a theory of information and its flow, which provides an explicit...

Uncertainty in Information Seeking
http://informationr.net/tdw/publ/unis/

INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR: AN INTER-DISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE
British Library Research and Innovation Report 10
http://informationr.net/tdw/publ/infbehav/prelims.html

Microdescriptions of Library Research:
A Longitudinal Study of the Affective, Cognitive
and Psychomotor Behavior of Users
Diane Nahl and Leon James
University of Hawaii
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/nsf.html

Information Seeking Behavior in New Searching Environments (no date on document)
Colleen Cool, Soyeon Park, Nicholas Belkin, Jurgen Koenemann
and Kwong Bor Ng 
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~sypark/colis.html

Effects of cognitive and problem-solving styles 
on information-seeking behavior in the WWW: A case study
http://www.edb.utexas.edu/mmresearch/Students97/Kim/

Web Search Behavior of Internet Experts and Newbies
Christoph Hölscher & Gerhard Strube 
http://www9.org/w9cdrom/81/81.html
Abstract:
Searching for relevant information on the World Wide Web is often a laborious 
and frustrating task for casual and experienced users. To help improve searching on
the Web based on a better understanding of user characteristics, 
we investigate what types of knowledge are relevant for Web-based information seeking,
and which knowledge structures and strategies are involved. 
Two experimental studies are presented, which address these questions 
from different angles and with different methodologies. 
In the first experiment 12 established Internet experts are first interviewed 
about search strategies and then perform a series of realistic search tasks on the WWW.
From this study a model of information seeking on the WWW is derived and then
tested in a second study. In the second experiment two types of potentially
relevant types of knowledge are compared directly. 
Effects of Web experience and domain-specific background knowledge
are investigated with a 
series of search tasks in an economics-related domain
(introduction of the EURO currency). We find differential and 
combined effects of both Web experience and domain knowledge: 
While successful search performance requires the combination of 
the two types of expertise, specific strategies directly related to
Web experience or domain knowledge can be identified. 

From: Online Information Review
February 2002, vol. 26, no. 2,   pp. 108-117
Perspectives on children's navigation of the World Wide Web: does the type of search task make a difference?
Bilal, D.
Abstract: 
Reports the key findings of a three-part research project that examined the information seeking behaviour and success of 22 seventh grade science students in using the Web. Children used the Yahooligans! search engine/directory to locate information for three different types of search tasks: one assigned fact-finding task, one assigned research-oriented task, and one fully self-generated task. Children's information-seeking behaviour was studied from the cognitive, affective, and physical perspectives. Both quantitative and qualitative inquiry methods were employed to collect the data. Children's behaviour and success were compared on the three tasks. Children were more successful on the fully self-generated task than the fact-based and the research-oriented tasks. Children experienced difficulty in using Yahooligans! Their inadequate knowledge of how to use the engine, their poor level of research skills, as well as the poor structure of Yahooligans! keyword searching all surfaced as problems. Implications for Web training and system design improvements are provided.

Information Seeking Behavior Study
Identifying and Categorizing Information Seeking Strategies in the Networked Environment: 
An Exploratory Study
conducted by:
Janet R. Walker, MLS,LRE and William E. Moen, Ph.D.
Funding through the Faculty/Ph.D. Student Research Grant 
Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Information Science 
School of Library and Information Sciences 
University of North Texas
http://home.swbell.net/walkerjr/ISBS/pubpres.html

Information Seeking Behavior - A Bibliography 
A. Coleman 
Originally created: 6 February 2000 
Last updated: 29 Oct. 2001
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~asc/isbbib.html

RELATED information website see:
How Users Read on the Web
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for October 1, 1997

Interesting Project - Re: "Information Overload"
How Much Information Is Produced Each Year?
Quoted from site
www.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info/
This study is an attempt to measure how much information is produced in the world each year. We look at several media and estimate yearly production, accumulated stock, rates of growth, and other variables of interest.

The University of Arizona, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 
and University of Minnesota Libraries employ a variety of usability methodologies
that inform the design of library home pages and web tutorials. 
At this program you will learn about the range of usability methods 
these libraries use such as online user surveys, focus groups, and usability tests. 
There will be discussion on major findings and on issues that arise 
when trying to analyze and make use of such findings in subsequent web site revisions. 
A live demonstration of a usability test can serve as a model for 
other libraries embarking on building a usable web site designed by users. 

After this program you will be able to conduct inexpensive usability evaluations
to inform your web design and redesign process. 
This will ensure that your library gateways and tutorials are based 
on actual user thinking and search behavior.  Equally important,
these evaluation tools will also give you a way of assessing when 
and how your site should be redesigned as the environment and the user change over time. 

Cyber Behavior Research Center
Behavior & The Web
Articles
http://www.cio.com/research/behavior/webbehavior.html

Sample Article
CIO Magazine - May 2001
Go Ahead, Insult my Intelligence
What do women want? Not the websites designed for them. 
http://www.cio.com/archive/050101/reality.html

SEARCHING THE WEB: THE PUBLIC AND THEIR QUERIES 
http://jimjansen.tripod.com/academic/pubs/jasist2001/jasist2001.html
VOX POPULI: THE PUBLIC SEARCHING OF THE WEB 
http://jimjansen.tripod.com/academic/pubs/jasist2001/jasist2001a.html

Information Seeking Behavior in New Searching Environments
Colleen Cool, Soyeon Park, Nicholas Belkin, Jurgen Koenemann
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~sypark/colis.html

A Review of the Literature on Dissemination and Knowledge Utilization
http://www.ncddr.org/du/products/review/review3.html

InformationR.net
The quality source for research on Information Management,
Information Science, and Information Systems
http://informationr.net
Information Research: an international electronic journal
http://informationr.net/ir/

Digital information in the Information Research field
http://informationr.net/fr/freejnls.html
The journals and newsletters listed here all include at least a sample of 
papers or news items that are freely accessible. 
Sites that simply provide the contents lists of journals that are not
freely accessible are not listed. Note that only journals that 
still appear to be 'live' at the time this list was compiled are included

Electronic Resources for Information Research Methods
http://informationr.net/rm/

Information Seeking and User-Intermediary Interactions:
Informing the Design of Digital Reference Services 
Carol A. Hert 
http://www.vrd.org/conferences/VRD2000/proceedings/Hert12-14.shtml
Abstract 
Understanding how users seek information on Web sites and interact 
with intermediaries1 can inform the design of digital reference services. 
More specifically, the ways that users frame their questions and intermediaries
conduct reference interviews can provide valuable guidance for 
designing and supporting these functions in digital reference services. 
This paper reports on research on the users of statistical information
and their interactions with intermediaries and translates
findings into design guidelines. Data-gathering methodology is also discussed. 

Interface Issues and Interaction Strategies for Information Retrieval Systems
Scott Henninger ; Nicholas J. Belkin 
http://www.acm.org/sigs/sigchi/chi96/proceedings/tutorial/Henninger/njb_txt.htm
ABSTRACT
The need for effective information retrieval systems becomes increasingly
important as computer-based information repositories grow larger and more diverse. 
In this tutorial, we present the key issues involved in the use and design of effective interfaces
to information retrieval systems. The process of satisfying information needs
is analyzed as a problem solving activity in which users learn and refine their needs 
as they interact with a repository. Current systems are analyzed in terms of
key interface and interaction techniques such as querying, browsing, 
and relevance feedback. We discuss the impact of information 
seeking strategies on the search process and what is needed 
to more effectively support the search process.
Retrieval system evaluation techniques is discussed
in terms of its implications for users.
We close by outlining some user-centered design strategies for retrieval systems. 

Information Seeking Behaviors of Healthcare Professionals: 
Selected Readings
http://www.dochzi.com/bibs/hcpro.html

Baker, L.M. (1995)
A new method for studying patient information needs and information seeking patterns. in: 
International Symposium on Health Information Research. 
Sheffield. 5-7 April 1995. Proceedings. Sheffield:
University of Sheffield, Department of Information Studies, 
Centre for Health Information Management Research. pp. 67-75.

van Zuuren, F.J. and Wolfs, H.M. (1991) 
Styles of information seeking under threat: 
personal and situational aspects of monitoring and blunting. 
Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 141-149

Pelzer, Nancy L. et al.
Library use and information-seeking behavior of 
veterinary medical students
revisited in the electronic environment. 
Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1998 Jul;86(3):346–55. 

Health information-seeking behavior and older African American women
By Claudia J. Gollop, Ph.D.
Bull Med Libr Assoc. Volume 85,Number 2,April 1997

Theories for practitioners: two frameworks for studying 
consumer health information-seeking behavior
Baker LM, Pettigrew KE
Bull Med Libr Assoc 1999 Oct;87(4):444-50. 
Consumer health information studies in library and information science (LIS) 
are typically not grounded within a theoretical framework. 
This article explains the importance of theory to LIS research in general, 
and the specific value of using theories from other disciplines to 
study consumers' health information-seeking behavior. 
The argument is supported with two examples:
Miller's psychological theory of blunting and monitoring behavior 
and Granovetter's sociological theory of the strength of weak ties.
These theories can be applied by practitioner- researchers to 
investigate a variety of research problems

Wu G, Li J. Comparing Web search engine performance in searching
consumer health information: evaluation and recommendations. 
Bull Med Libr Assoc 1999 Oct;87(4):456­61.
Identifying and accessing reliable, relevant consumer health information 
rapidly on the Internet may challenge the health sciences librarian and layperson alike.
In this study, seven search engines are compared using
representative consumer health topics for their content relevancy, system features, and attributes. 
The paper discusses evaluation criteria; systematically compares relevant results; 
analyzes performance in terms of the strengths 
and weaknesses of the search engines; and
illustrates effective search engine selection, search formulation, and strategies

***FYI*** The Bulletin of the Medical Library Association is available online with full text acess
starting with V. 88 2000-
Note Name change: to Journal of the Medical Library Association (2002)

End-user Searching Behavior:
Considering Methodologies 
The Katharine Sharp Review ISSN 1083-5261, No. 4, Winter 1997
Abstract:
Rapid technological developments in the higher-education sector have resulted
in a greater reliance on end-user searching. It is important that those conducting
literature searches for research purposes are making the most 
effective use of the databases. In order to measure searching behavior,
a number of methods can be employed, and these can be quantitative
or qualitative in nature. All techniques have merit, but the researcher 
must understand the theories about knowledge upon which the 
various methodologies rest, and must take care to choose 
those techniques that are most suited to the investigation. 
http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/review/winter1997/bains.html

Information Seeking Behavior of Art Historians
A Resource Guide
http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~heatherb/arthistorians_guide.html

Information Needs and Seeking of 
Scholars and Artists in Relation 
to Multimedia Materials 
by Marcia J. Bates 
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/bates/scholars.html

INFORMATION SEEKING PATTERNS IN DIABETIC PATIENTS 
(IS THE INTERNET A SIGNIFICANT PLAYER?) 
Karen L. Rascati, P.Ph., Ph.D. 
http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~vingab/info.htm

More Research Needed: Informal Information-Seeking Behavior of Youth on the Internet
Journal of the American Society for Information Science V. 50 1999
Eliza Dresang
**NOTE This is a PDF File**
http://www.teacherlib.org/articles/dresang2.pdf

Information need and information seeking behavior of scholars at a Turkish university
64th IFLA General Conference 
   August 16 - August 21, 1998
http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla64/041-112e.htm
Information-seeking behavior and use of social science faculty studying stateless nations: a case study
Meho, Lokman I.   Haas, Stephanie W. 
Library & information science research V. 23 (1)5-25  2001

Information needs and information-seeking behavior of Agricultural scientists in Malaysia
Library & information science research V. 18 (1)145-164  2000

Information Seeking in a Multimedia Environment by Primary School Students
Library & information science research   V. 20 (4)343-376  1998

Effects of cognitive and problem-solving styles on information-seeking behavior in the WWW: A case study
http://www.edb.utexas.edu/mmresearch/Students97/Kim/
Abstract:
This study investigated how students with different cognitive and problem-solving styles navigate the WWW (World-Wide Web) differently for searching information. Five undergraduate students were selected as subjects. The subjects were: (1) Field-dependent person with emotion-focused problem solving style, (2) field-mixed person with emotion-focused style, (3) field-mixed person with problem-focused style, (4) field-independent person with emotion-focused style, and (5) field-independent person with problem-focused style. They were asked to complete two different kinds of information search tasks: search for specific (factual) information and search for topical information. While searching information on the Web, the subjects' information-seeking behaviors were recorded. Their navigation patterns and information search strategies were examined in order to find relations between cognitive and problem-solving styles and the information-seeking behavior on the Web. --- by K.S. Kim
http://www.edb.utexas.edu/mmresearch/Students97/Kim/

Help-Seeking Behavior in the Research Process of College Students
Edgar C. Bailey, Jr.
http://www.ala.org/acrl/paperhtm/d35.html
ABSTRACT
Studies by Carol Kuhlthau and Constance Mellon of the research process of college students
indicate that librarians are less frequently used as sources of help than might be expected.
Neither researcher, however, has extensively explored the reasons for this failure to seek assistance. 
The findings of some recent studies by Stuart Karabenick of the help seeking behavior of 
college students may be usefully applied to students needing help with library research assignments. 
This paper describes a study of 326 undergraduates in twenty-two courses 
which required a library research project. 
Students were surveyed to determine the extent of their need for help,
the sources from which they sought assistance, and the reasons for 
any reluctance to approach librarians or professors. 
Results confirm some previous findings but also reveal considerable 
willingness to seek help from librarians.

Excerpt from:
Ex Libris -  by Marylaine Block
GURU INTERVIEW: SEARCH ENGINE EXPERT GREG NOTESS
Marylaine: How much time are you able to spend working the reference desk these days? 
Do you think it's important to keep on spending time with real live students? 

Greg: This semester I'm on the desk about 12 hours a week, plus the occasional weekend 
and other times that I help out in passing. For understanding current information seeking patterns, 
it is essential to keep in touch with patrons and their information needs. 
It has been fascinating watching how patterns have changed in recent years. 
Certainly the Internet has greatly changed how some students search for information.
It also has been teaching them new techniques which they then bring to the library electronic realm.
For example, they try to use a + or quotes in the library catalog.
On the other hand, the majority that I see are as unsophisticated 
about their information seeking behavior as they have always been. 
They may or may not be more computer literate, 
but I have not noticed any great increase in information literacy 
(despite our continuing efforts). There is still plenty of work for us to do. 
Ex Libris: an E-Zine for Librarians and Other Information Junkies. 
http://marylaine.com/exlibris/ 
Copyright, Marylaine Block, 1999. 

Interesting User Survey for UC Library Website
University of California, Irvine Libraries
USER Project
ANTPAC Related Feedback from Survey, Summer 2001 - 
Preliminary Draft Report
USER Survey: Linked from ICI Libraries Homepage 
May 21 through June 8, 2001; 380 Total Respondents
http://wow.lib.uci.edu/web_services/projects/user/antpachotspots.html

Detecting 'Broke': Usability Testing of Library Web Sites (1999)
Usability studies can provide a detailed portrait of library users, their information seeking behavior, and their information needs. The Yale University Library recently completed two usability studies of its Research Workstation web site, which is the primary gateway for researchers and the homepage on most public workstations in the Library. This presentation will focus on the methods used to plan and conduct the studies, and discuss several ways of evaluating the data for long and short-term Web site planning.
http://www.library.yale.edu/~prowns/nebic/nebictalk.html

Summary of the British Library Website User Survey
http://www.bl.uk/information/netsum.html

Results from an ongoing/current survey of a Library website
RMIT University Library - Melbourne  AUSTRALIA
http://www.lib.rmit.edu.au/survey/results.html

Public Library & Knox County
 Website Survey Results
http://www.knox.net/knox/results.htm

National Library of Australia
Email Reference User Satisfaction Survey
http://www.nla.gov.au/survey/emailruss.html

ARTICLE:
Users' perceptions of the Web as revealed by transaction log analysis
Online Information Review,   28 November 2001, vol. 25, no. 6,   pp. 349-358
Moukdad H.; Large A.
 Abstract: 
When information seekers use an information retrieval system their strategy is based, 
at least in part, on the perceptions they have formed about that environment.
A random sample was gathered of more than 2,000 actual search queries submitted by 
users to one Web search engine, WebCrawler, in two separate capture sessions.
The results suggest that a high proportion of users do not employ advanced search features, 
and those who do frequently misunderstand them. 
Furthermore, many users seem to have formed a model of the Web that imbues 
it with the intelligence found in a reference librarian, for example, but not a retrieval system. 
The linguistic structure of many queries resembles a typical human-human communication
model that is unlikely to produce satisfactory results in a human-computer communication
environment such as that offered currently by the Web. Design of more intuitive systems is dependent upon a more complete understanding of user behaviour at the intellectual and emotional as well as the technical levels.

SPEC Kit 226/Transforming Libraries 
After the User Survey, What Then?
September 1997 
http://www.arl.org/spec/226fly.html

RELATED - See my resources for placing Surveys & Polls on your library site

For interesting reports, research news, 
and statistics about Americans usage of the Internet: 
Visit http://www.pewinternet.org/ 
Pew Internet & American Life Project 

More interesting "stats" on Net usage 
See : Nua Internet Surveys - Resources for "Internet Trends" 
http://www.nua.com/surveys/

and Yahoo's Net Directory on "Stats" 
http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/Statistics_and_Demographics/
 

Article of interest: 
Farber, Miriam, and Shoham, Snunith 
"Users, End-Users, and End-User Searchers of Online Information:
A Historical Overview". 
Online Information Review, V.  26 (2) pp. 92-100 2002
Abstract:  
Discusses the changing relationships between information professionals -
vendors, database producers, searchers - and end-users, during the last three decades. 
Most of the time, the industry was quite vague as to who exactly the end-users were, 
and consequently several different definitions were used to describe the target audience
of online information systems. The needs and capabilities of the end-user were 
measured conveniently through the reactions of libraries' and information centres' 
personnel who were not always the most suitable sources. 
The concept of the "end-user" is examined from the beginning of the online industry
in the 1970s through the menu driven systems of the 1980s and the role 
of the compact disk in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 
 

Cyber Behavior Research Center - Behavior & The Web
http://www.cio.com/research/behavior/webbehavior.html

An Investigation Into the Use of Simple Queries On Web IR Systems
http://jimjansen.tripod.com/academic/pubs/ir2000/ir2000.html

Articles from SearchEngineWatch.com

Search engines are the top way consumers find new web
sites online, used by 73.4% of those surveyed.
http://www.forrester.com/ER/Research/Brief/Excerpt/0,1317,12053,FF.html
Driving Customers, Not Just Site Traffic
Forrester, March 28, 2001
(Data from October 2000) 

Search engines are the top information resource
Americans use when seeking answers, used 32 percent of
the time, more than any other option.
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/sereport/01/02-keen.html
A study that monitored 74 people over four days during
the Fall of 2000 shows that Americans need answers to
four questions per day, spend nearly 9 hours per week
looking for those answers, online or off, and that the
Internet has become their top information resource --
a remarkable change, considering it has only been
widely available for about six years.

Consumer Daily Question Study, Fall 2000

Survey Reveals Search Habits
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/sereport/00/06-realnames.html
From The Search Engine Report
June 2, 2000

Searches Per Day
How many searches are performed each day? Here's a
look at available figures, gathered from industry
press releases or interviews.
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/reports/perday.html

NPD Search and Portal Site Study
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/reports/npd.html
By Danny Sullivan
Editor, SearchEngineWatch.com
July 6, 2000

What People Search For
By Danny Sullivan, Editor
SearchEngineWatch.com
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/facts/searches.html
 

60 percent of web user sessions involve portals;
1/3 of these sessions involve searching, and portals
generate 6 percent of a typical web site's traffic.
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/sereport/01/05-gap.html
Booz-Allen Hamilton, July/August 2000 
 

The most popular portal feature is search,
used in 49 percent of visits.
Booz-Allen Hamilton, July/August 2000
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/sereport/01/05-gap.html
website same as above

PROJECTS:

The Clever Project
Quoted from site:
http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/k53/clever.html
Project Overview
The tremendous growth in the price-performance of networking and storage has fueled the explosive growth of the web. The amount of information easily accessible from the desktop has dramatically increased by several orders of magnitude in the last few years, and shows no signs of abating. Users of the web are being confronted with the consequent information overload problem. It can be exceedingly difficult to locate resources that are both high-quality and relevant to their information needs. Traditional automated methods for locating information are easily overwhelmed by low-quality and unrelated content. Thus, the second generation of search engines will have to have effective methods for focusing on the most authoritative among these documents. The rich structure implicit in the hyperlinks among Web documents offers a simple, and effective, means to deal with many of these problems. The CLEVER search engine incorporates several algorithms that make use of hyperlink structure for discovering high-quality information on the Web. 
 

Searcher: The Magazine for Database Professionals
is a unique publication that explores and deliberates 
on a comprehensive range of issues important to the professional database searcher. 
The magazine is targeted to experienced, knowledgeable searchers and 
combines evaluations of data content with discussions of delivery media. 
Searcher includes evaluated online news, searching tips 
and techniques, reviews of searchaid software and database documentation,
revealing interviews with leaders and entrepreneurs of the industry,
and trenchant editorials. 
Whatever the experienced searcher needs to know
to get the job done is covered in Searcher.

Article:  
My Rules of Information  
by Marylaine Block • Editor, ExLibris, the weekly e-zine 
Marylaine Block shares her seven "codified" rules for  
information professionals to live by. 
Searcher v. 10 (1) 2002 
http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jan02/block.htm

Pandia, Your Guide to Web Searching & Search Engine Optimization
http://www.pandia.com/index.html

Powering Your Search for Information with the Right Engine 
Webwriter  Fall 2000 (California Dept. of Education)
http://www.cde.ca.gov/cilbranch/webwriter/searchengine.html 

SearchEngineWatch.com

Super Searcher Net Secrets
http://websearch.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa010899.htm

Menu based Web searching
http://pandia.com/goalgetter/menu.html

For those folks less experienced:
Directory of Online "Search Tutorials/Hints/How To's"
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Searching/Help_and_Tutorials/

• Smart Computing's How the Internet Works
• Anatomy of a "URL"
• Sink or Swim: Online Tutorial

Internet Search Tools & Techniques
• Learn from the Web Teacher

Your source for Web Knowledge.
• Learn The Net.com
• Learn what Internet "Error" Messages Mean
• Everything Email
• UC Berkeley's Finding Information on the Net Online Tutorial
• Web Searching, Sleuthing & Sifting Online Tutorial
• Power Searching for Anyone from SearchEngine Watch.

 

From Refdesk.com Journalists' Tools

Visit Traffick - The Guide to Portals & Search Engines
Quoted from site:
Traffick covers portals, search engines, internet marketing, 
SEO, browsers & vortals. We offer feature articles, 
a portal directory, news, SEO & web design services & more!
http://www.traffick.com/

Argus Center for Information Architecture
Peter Morville's bi-weekly column on the evolving definition of information architecture

Educating the Information Architect 
http://argus-acia.com/strange_connections/strange005.html

Software for Information Architects 
http://argus-acia.com/strange_connections/current_article.html

to top of page
 

Looking for Information:
A Survey of Research on Information Seeking,Needs,and Behavior
Donald O. Case
ISBN: 012150381X
Publisher: Academic Press, Incorporated
Pub. Date: April  2002
From the Publisher
Information seeking is a ubiquitous human activity. Whether gathering data for work or merely making sense of everyday life, looking for information is a basic behavior that shapes our lives. This book focuses on decades of research into how people both find and think about information related to their problems and interests. Covering a broad range of concepts and empirical studies, Looking for Information explains the major ideas, methods, and research findings from hundreds of studies of occupations, roles and demographic groups, including managers, doctors, nurses, patients, consumers, voters, scientists, engineers, scholars, journalists, lawyers, children, and the elderly. A bibliography listing more than 700 works makes this book a must for scholarly work and reference on information related behaviors.

Web Work: Information Seeking and Knowledge Work on the World Wide Web
Chun Wei Choo;  Brian Detlor;  Don Turnbull
ISBN: 0792364600
Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers
Pub. Date: August  2000
 

Searching the Invisible Net:

 The Invisible Web
CyberAge Books
0-910965-51-X/softbound
By Chris Sherman and Gary Price
c. 2001

Many people are unaware that most of the authoritative information accessible over the Internet is invisible to search engines like AltaVista, HotBot, and Google. This invaluable material resides on "The Invisible Web," which is largely comprised of content-rich databases from universities, libraries, associations, businesses, and government agencies around the world.

Authors Chris Sherman and Gary Price—two of the world’s leading Invisible Web experts—are on a mission to save you time and aggravation, and help you succeed in your information quest. In this unique book, they introduce you to top sites and sources, and offer tips, techniques and analysis that will let you pull needles out of haystacks every time. 
 

Book Review:
What's the use? Internet and information behaviour in everyday life.
Hektor, Anders
http://informationr.net/ir/reviews/revs049.html
Quoted from site:
   What's the use? Internet and information behaviour in everyday life. 
Linköping: Linkoping University, Tema. 2001.  
ISBN: 91-7373-113-7  
The aim of the thesis
Hektor wishes to contribute to a larger project: that of understanding information behaviour in relation to computers and the Internet. He recognises the need to limit the scope of his work and achieves this by studying Internet use in daily life as opposed to working life and by concentrating on relatively computer-literate individuals
 

See the resources I have for Searching the Hidden Web

Internet Searching and Indexing: The Subject Approach
James R. Shearer (Editor)  Alan R. Thomas
Format: Paperback, 217pp.
ISBN: 0789010313
Publisher: Haworth Press, Incorporated, The
Pub. Date: August  2000

• Teaching Information Literacy
• Teaching Online
• Creating Online/Offline Presentations & Tutorials
• Signage in Libraries
• Marketing Your Library Using the Internet
• Resources for Library Webmasters (learn how to design "usable" websites)
• Training & Resources : How to Conduct a Reference Interview
• Reference Resources on the Internet

Contact, Me ~ Mary Niederlander
via e-mail, write to: mary@librarysupportstaff.com
THANK YOU!!