CD‐ROM: an end user training tool? — the experience of using Medline in a small medical school library

Abstract

The arrival of CD‐ROM (compact disc read only memory) databases provides the opportunity for libraries to gain valuable experience in teaching end users how to search for bibliographic information. This paper considers some of the issues, by describing the experiences of one small medical school library (Charing Cross and Westminster), which has introduced the Medline database on CD‐ROM. Such issues include the assessment of training needs, the type of teaching sessions and the documentation. Details are given of the one‐to‐one approach adopted at Charing Cross and Westminster for training end users to search Medline on CD‐ROM. Fourteen references guide the reader to further papers on end user searching and CD‐ROM developments.