Millennial students' mental models of search: Implications for academic librarians and database developers

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Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2011-01

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Citation of Original Publication

Holman, L. (2011). Millennial students’ mental models of information retrieval. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 37 (1), 19-27. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2010.10.003

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Abstract

Today's college students, with their exposure to new technologies, exhibit generational differences in the way in which they search for information. Observations of first-year college students' research behavior revealed student proclivity for simple keyword or phrases searches with frequent problems with database choices, misspellings and incorrect Boolean logic. Students had difficulty identifying causes of failed searches and solving problems within a search. This may lead database designers to focus on more robust algorithms, and librarians to emphasize problem solving in their instruction.