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| Format: | Recurso educativo Open Access |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
1989
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED324017 |
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Table of Contents:
- Infotrac at Winona State University. Sullivan, Kathryn Access to Information Bibliographic Databases College Libraries Comparative Analysis Higher Education Indexes Library Surveys News Media Online Searching Online Systems Optical Data Disks Periodicals Search Strategies Undergraduate Students User Satisfaction (Information) Integrating comments from the literature about CD-ROMs, online searching, and information retrieval, this report describes the initial experience of using InfoTrac at Winona State University (WSU). After finding that students did not tend to order fee-based online searches, the WSU library provided access on a trial basis to bibliographic databases via CD-ROM. After evaluating a number of systems, the library chose InfoTrac because it seemed to be user-friendly and it came equipped with its own hardware. Students in English Department courses were alerted about the new system's arrival because it was thought that InfoTrac might be particularly useful to them. A questionnaire designed by InfoTrac was administered to users. The 50 positive responses (out of 51) reflected that the system was easy to use and searches yielded favorable results. The one negative comment remarked on InfoTrac's inability to use Boolean logic. The WSU periodicals department observed that students working on assignments in basic English composition courses tended to rely exclusively on InfoTrac for their research, while upper-level students began their searches with InfoTrac but then moved on to specialized printed indexes for more articles. As a result of the trial, it was decided to keep the system. A copy of the user questionnaire is attached, and an addendum notes that the library has since acquired a reference workstation from InfoTrac that contains the General Periodicals Index (Academic Version) and SilverPlatter ERIC. A reference list provides 36 endnotes. (SD)