What do we really know about online searchers?

Abstract

Many panel discussions and public presentations and miles of lines of print have been devoted in recent years to the question of what distinguishes a good online searcher from everyone else. Much of this verbiage appears somewhat self-aggrandizing; searchers have been telling other searchers that it requires an extra special sort of person to do this job well. Online searching, it has been claimed, demands the very best people—intelligent, self-confident, but also sympathetic and understanding, creative, and so on. Ordinary librarians cannot hope to excel at this complex and challenging task.