The Online Searcher: Education and Training
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb047486 |
| Published date | 01 January 1983 |
| Date | 01 January 1983 |
| Pages | 85-87 |
| Author | Carol Tschudi |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
The Online Searcher:
Education and Training
CAROL TSCHUDI
Several years ago, Online magazine described the
necessary qualifications for an Online Search Ana-
lyst.1 They included: massive intellect, above aver-
age mechanical acumen for working with electronic
equipment, self confidence, perseverance, imagina-
tion, online training, good spelling, good skills,
patience, a cheerful disposition, and a sense of
humor. In short, everything but the ability to leap
tall buildings at a single bound. When friends learn
that I am an online searcher, they often ask what that
is.
But they usually aren't satisfied with my answer,
"one who searches online."
In order to set the record straight, let me start
with a definition: an online searcher is one who looks
for something such as knowledge or information
using equipment which is capable of interacting with
a computer. To put it another way: an online search-
er is one who performs a tradition library skill, i.e.,
looking for knowledge or information. But the on-
line searcher does not use traditional library tools.
He or she uses instead computers, remote terminals,
and other alien equipment — tools that library
schools did not teach traditional librarians to use.
Which is more important, the skill or the tool?
Is this searcher a librarian or a computer user? How
and where should the searcher be trained? Why do
we need trained online searchers?
Growth of Online
The online industry is growing at a phenomenal
rate.
From its birth in the 1960s, it has expanded to
the point where there are now over 1,200 databases
of all kinds supplied by 700 database producers.
Some are offered directly to the user; others are mar-
keted through multi-database vendor systems such
as Dialog, SDC, and BRS. Nor are these databases
and vendor systems standardized. They are organized
differently; and they have several different protocols,
commands, and techniques for use. Because of these
many variations, it is difficult for the usual end user
to do his or her own search. Thus we have a new pro-
fessional
—
the search intermediary or trained online
searcher.
Training online searchers is not an easy task, for
several reasons. First of all, new searchers come from
a wide variety of backgrounds with very diverse levels
of skills. They also have vastly different learning rates
as well as different career goals and interests. None of
us will ever use all of the 1,200 plus databases that
now exist or the thousands that are expected to exist
in the near future. Which ones do you teach and to
whom?
Secondly, this field, like so many others, has its
own jargon. The file is up; the system is down; the
word is doubleposted; you stringsearch; you neigh-
bor; you root; you AND, and you OR, and you NOT.
These are ordinary everyday English words which
don't mean what they used to. I am reminded of the
children's books on Amelia Bedelia. Amelia interprets
everything absolutely literally. Can you see her
"executing steps?" Amelia would probably think
someone had a gun and was shooting the stairway to
death. And what would she think about "bound
authors?"
A third reason it is difficult to train online search-
ers is the natural human resistance to the new and un-
familiar. Most people think "change" is a dirty word.
For the vast majority of today's searchers, the com-
puter terminal is formidable, not cuddly. We did not
grow up with a terminal in the house. We did not
sneak a computer and a flashlight under the blankets
at bedtime. Most of us never opened one up and
looked inside. We can't imagine what the computers
to which we are hooked up really look like.
I remember being terribly disappointed three
years ago as a new searcher when Dialog in
Chronolog
gave us a picture tour of their new facilities in Palo
Alto.
It looked like a laundromat. For a while I felt as
if I were accessing Washing Machine Number 8.
The younger generation won't have this particular
problem. A recent Gallup study states: "Our genera-
tion regards computers with awe and has difficulty in
adapting them to past ways and habits. Younger gen-
erations will see computers only as tools, and will use
them in ways we never could because they will neith-
er be awed by them nor be inhibited by our tradi-
tions."2
The study found that 93 percent of today's
teenagers have played video games, and thus have
been exposed to the potential of computers.
Tschudi has been a librarian at the Engineering
Societies Library in New York City since 1978. She
has served as Head of Search Services since 1980.
SUMMER 1983 85
To continue reading
Request your trial