CONCEPT FOR AN EXPERT-SYSTEM SUPPORTING E NDUSERS BY PREPARING SEARCHES IN ONLINE DATABASES

Online- and CD-ROM-databases are media of scientific information, whos e real user potential has not been reached by now. Research results sh ow that more successfull searches in reference databases by the potent ial end-users can be obtained by the effective support in search prepa ration. This is the reason why this paper analyses the optimal search preparation by an empirical investigation of the interaction between p rofessional database searchers and their clients with knowledge acquis ition methods. Then, a concept for supporting end-users in preparing d atabase searches is developed. This concept is implemented in the prot otype of an expert system, which is subsequently evaluated using softw are-ergonomic criteria.