Starting Out Right: The Effectiveness of Online Catalogs in Providing Bibliographic Access to Youth

Edmonds, M. Leslie

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/1258 Copy

Description

Title

Starting Out Right: The Effectiveness of Online Catalogs in Providing Bibliographic Access to Youth

Author(s)

Edmonds, M. Leslie

Issue Date

1988

Keyword(s)

• Human-computer interaction
• User interfaces (Computer systems)

Abstract

"For most librarians and information scientists, the ability of children to access library material or, indeed, information in general is an abstraction. It is seen as an issue of intellectual freedom, something ""they"" should teach in school or an ability to be taken for granted when helping the young patron in a library setting. For a parent, teacher, or youth services librarian, it may be a source of irritation that kids may not be particularly interested in using the card catalog. The library profession has not looked carefully at how children do use catalogs, nor has it been too honest in its appraisal of just how useable online catalogs are for children. This paper will present the findings of a research project that was designed to ascertain what knowledge children bring to using the catalog, what developmental skills children have that would help them use the catalog, and what success children have with known-item catalog searches. The methodology used in this study may also provide a model for examining the behavior of other user groups for whom interfaces are designed."

Publisher

Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Series/Report Name or Number

Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing (25th : 1988)

ISSN

0069-4789

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1258

Copyright and License Information

Copyright owned by Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1988.

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