The use of online information services are increasing drastically in recent years. As a result, educating and training users of the services has become a quite important area which should be taken into account carefully. This paper reviews the trends, characteristics, and problems of the user-training from several aspects except formal education taught at a library school.
Main points discussed here will be sumarized as follows, 1) There are a lot of user studies are carried out in the world, especially in the US, but quite few in Japan. Thus the recent scene of the online service are not necessary clear. The survey done in 1981 could uncover several aspect of it. 2) As the means for the users to get accustomed to online searching, workshops are the most popular one, and several explanations for them are presented. 3) Users will be categorized into end-users and intermediaries. The difference between two kinds of users in terms of terminal operation; interaction between them; and roles of intermediaries are discussed. User-friendly commands are also analyzed. 4) CAI (Computer Assisted or Aided Instruction) systems are mentioned in terms of their histories, roles, present situation and problems.
Finally, the problems sumarized by Martha Williams are picked up and discussed in general. In addition, the importance of the relationship between subject knowledge and online searching are emphasized.
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