Remotely familiar: Using computerized monitoring to study remote use

COMPUTERIZED MONITORING HAS BEEN USED for decades to study the behavior of remote users of online library resources. The older method of using transac tion log analysis to study how remote users interact with online catalogs a nd abstracting and indexing services recently has been complemented by the use of Web server log analysis to study how remote users navigate into and through library-created and library-supported Web sites. The technique is p articularly well suited to the task because the behavioral data can be gath ered unobtrusively without interrupting the user's search for information b ecause, compared to in-library use, it is relatively easy to identify discr ete search sessions, and remote users are much more reliant on computerized library systems than are in-library users. For remote library users, conte nt, context, and assistance all are delivered through the same channel and interface. The diffusion of remote access techniques and behavior among the information-seeking population raises some fundamental questions about the nature of access. The two goals of this article are to review what compute rized monitoring has revealed about remote use and to examine some of the l arger issues raised by remote access.