Human Help at OPAC Terminals Is User Friendly: A Preliminary Study.

Extensive research has been done on the development of OPACs, and significant advances have been made. Al though research has focussed almost exclusively on en hancing OPAC technology, users are experiencing many of the same problems found in studies done ten years ago when online catalogs were new. The research reported here examined the provision of in-person help to users who are seeking information on OPACs. The study iden tified a significant change in the demand for service when there was a change from offering traditional from-the desk service to point-of-use help at the OPAC terminals. The kind of help most given by librarians was procedural. How to deal with information overload was identified as