Expert selection of marketing databases
The selection of online sources to answer marketing queries was investigated by interviewing fifteen professional intermediary searchers. Results indicate an overall performance ranking for the hosts which were most used by these intermediaries. Selection of databases was influenced by cost, type and level of coverage, and the geographical focus of a database. The features and services offered by a host had little influence on database selection. Frequently-used databases were assessed for particular types of marketing information. The results were used to build a prototype expert system which recommends databases for marketing queries. The approach seems feasible, but more research into intermediaries’ expertise is needed.
Starting end-users
Online access for end‐users in a library and information service poses problems of organisational procedure, presentation and training, and cost (reallocation), as well as system ‘friendliness’, ease of access and usage, and levels of success in searching. In a controlled environment, two periods of end‐user searching were performed to give the user direct hands‐on contact with an online host, to gain a measure of evaluation for such problems posed, and, to gain a notion of user‐impressions of actual and future (potential) usage.
End-users: Dreams or dollars
Aspect economique de l'interrogation en ligne: comportement de l'utilisateur final et emergence des «nouveaux intermediaires» (consultants, analystes, conseillers, etc.) qui ont les memes fonctions que les specialistes de l'information mais sans formation speciale en bibliotheconomie