Use of the on-line catalogue at the university of Santiago do Chile: A statistical study

AN ANALYSIS OF THE USE OF THE PUBLIC -ACCESS ON-LINE CATALOGUE (OPAC) OF THE LIBRARY SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSIDAD DE SANTIAGO DE CHILE (USACH). BASIC STATISTICAL ANALYSIS IS USED TO STUDY THE INFORMATION SEARCH PROCESSES USE IN OPAC. TRANSACTIONS EFFECTUATED OVER A PROBABILISTIC SAMPLE OF SEARCHES BY OF CAMPUS-BASED USERS IS THE METHODOLOGY EMPLOYED. THE SEARCH OPTIONS MOST WIDELY EMPLOYED BY USERS ARE: AUTHOR, YIELDING A 62.4% SUCCES RATE; AND TITLE, WHICH YIELDED A SUCCES RATE OF 60.9%. EIGHT-SEVEN PERCENT OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF SEARCHES WERE CARRIED OUT IN THE LOCAL OPAC LOCATED IN THE CENTRAL LIBRARY AND 13% WERE REALIZED FROM REMOTE LOCATIONS BY ACCESING THE CORPORATE NETWORK OF USACH.