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Five groups of searchers each performed two of four pre‐selected searches on the DIALOG system using ONTAP, the 1975 subset of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database. The groups were novices, moderately experienced searchers without ERIC experience, moderately experienced searchers with ERIC experience, very experienced searchers without ERIC experience, and very experienced searchers with ERIC experience. Data were collected on the education, online training, online experience, institutional setting, and personal characteristics of the rearchers. Variables that describe the search process (e.g. number of commands used) and variables that describe the outcome of searches (e.g. recall) were measured by examination of the search transcripts. The results showed that, compared to the experienced subjects, the novices performed surprisingly well. Although, as a group, they searched more slowly than the experienced subjects and scored lower on most (but not all) outcome measures, the differences were not as great as might be expected. Three meaningful patterns were identified among the experienced subjects' searches: (1) the group with the greatest overall experience and the greatest ERIC database experience achieved the highest recall and had the highest values of a subset of search process variables designated ‘search effort’ variables (e.g. number of commands and descriptors, connect time); (2) in general, the moderately experienced searchers with ERIC experience performed the briefest, most cost effective searches (when cost effectiveness is measured in terms of time per relevant reference retrieved). This pattern is attributed to the fact that 75 percent of this group work in academic libraries that charge individual users for online connect time. In this situation pressure to keep costs low appears to be great; (3) the subjects with ERIC experience used more thesaurus terms than the subjects without ERIC experience. The subjects without ERIC experience tended to prefer free text to thesaurus terms. In regard to outcome, only slight evidence was found to support the hypothesis that ERIC database experience leads to greater success in searching.

FYI 3000 Plus retrieves information from documents in ASCII format. Ease of input, ability to handle large files, depth of indexing and low cost make this an attractive package, particularly for users who are more interested in locating stored information than in displaying it attractively.

The purpose of this article is to present an overview of the history and development of transaction log analysis (TLA) in library and information science research. Organizing a literature review of the first twenty‐five years of TLA poses some challenges and requires some decisions. The primary organizing principle could be a strict chronology of the published research, the research questions addressed, the automated information retrieval (IR) systems that generated the data, the results gained, or even the researchers themselves. The group of active transaction log analyzers remains fairly small in number, and researchers who use transaction logs tend to use this method more than once, so tracing the development and refinement of individuals' uses of the methodology could provide insight into the progress of the method as a whole. For example, if we examine how researchers like W. David Penniman, John Tolle, Christine Borgman, Ray Larson, and Micheline Hancock‐Beaulieu have modified their own understandings and applications of the method over time, we may get an accurate sense of the development of all applications.

The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:

This paper reviews the history of separate online system interfaces, leading to efforts to develop expert systems for searching databases, particularly for end users, and introduces the research in such expert systems. Appended is a bibliography of sources on interfaces and expert systems for online retrieval.

Just how do Online User Groups provide continuing education in order to cope with all the new and updated information, training, hardware changes, cost and pricing issues, new databases — in total, the entire rapidly escalating online world? Well cope they do indeed, and in a vast variety of ways. But rather than simply list the titles of programs held by user groups I would like to briefly explore and outline how online user groups manage to aid their members in being proficient and up‐to‐date searchers.

Downloading and uploading offer labour‐saving advantages and are now accepted as useful options in online searching. All aspects are here considered, from recent technical advances, applications and legal attitudes. There is also a review of current software for downloading. Recent developments mean a trend to higher internal memory and storage capacity, and greater transmission speeds. Packages now offer access to more than one host, give maximum assistance to the user without being menu‐driven and incorporate the latest developments in artificial intelligence. Disadvantages are in the length of time involved in the process and the fact that the legal issue of copyright has not yet been finalised. Database producers have turned to licensing under contract law, but there is still need to rely on user ethics, and the need for a standard permissions form is highlighted.