This thesis is focusing on how global and local search engines retrieve information from the local domain. The three search engines tested are the global search engines Yahoo, Ask.com and the local search engine Web Wombat. The questions we examined were: which search engine has the best retrieval effectiveness? Could there be other reasons than retrieval effectiveness, to choosing a local search engine?For our test we constructed 20 questions related to Australia.We chose to divide the questions into topics like nature, sports and culture. For all questions we evaluated the relevance of the first 20 hits.

The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate two pearl growing methods in ISI Web of Science. The methods tested are Find Related Records FRR, an automatic service that uses bibliographic coupling, and Author Keywords AK, where searches are performed using the two first keywords from this field. Both search methods were used on twenty initial documents and the first twenty hits were evaluated for relevance using a binary scale 0,1. The relevance criteria were based on specific information needs connected to every initial document. The measures used to evaluate the effectiveness of the search methods were Precision at DCV=10, P10, and Uninterpolated Average Precision AP.

The purpose of this MSc thesis is to examine the retrieval effectiveness of two Web search engines with queries from the academic discipline of Classical Studies. The two search engines are chosen to represent two different types Google as a broad general search engine and Argos as a specialised search engine for the subject of Classical Studies. The search engines are compared for precision among the first twenty results returned for thirty queries. In order to avoid bias in the study, the queries are based on real users' information needs. Due to the subjective character of the concept of relevance, the study is performed with five different experiments with five different definitions of relevance.

When patrolling grocery stores, customers engage in a purchase situation where they face great amounts of information, whereof price is one. This paper intends to shed light on the price Information search behavior that customer's exhibit before choosing their products in grocery stores. In order to do so two studies have been conducted, one quantitative and one qualitative, to assemble the data needed to provide statistically significant results. The objective of the quantitative study is to gather data on customer's external price Information search, and it is based on the most recent eye-tracking technology. The second qualitative study is complementary and based on interviews with randomly chosen customers that have responded to several questions regarding their price Information search, shopping knowledge and experiences.

The topic of this essay is information seeking for children and young people in municipal libraries. This is based in the growing need for information seeking skills in the Information Society. Policy documents on the topic are scrutinized and related to a concrete praxis. Data has been collected through two case studies; one carried out in Ronneby and one in Trandared, Borås. These cases where chosen because of the existence of a local policy for library skills and Information search for 6 to 12-year-olds.

Today, one of the foremost tools used by the library staff is the library catalogue search tools. It has come to our understanding that some library staff are dissatisfied with how the search tools works. The aim of this study is to illuminate the library staff's negative experiences of the search tools, and to present a basis for future discussion and development. To our help we have used a quantitative survey which were sent to library staff that used one of the two largest integrated library systems in Sweden, BOOK-IT and Mikromarc. The questions regarded the library staff's perception of a number of features in the search tools.

With the technological development of the last decades, an increasing number of genealogists are carrying out their research online. The purpose of this master?s thesis is to examine how and why genealogists' information behavior has been influenced by the use of online services for genealogy. Using a conceptual model of genealogists' information behavior as theoretical basis for the study, I examine how the use of online services affect genealogists? search process, what information they are looking for and what information resources they use.

This essay is about testing the validity of an article written by Jonas Löwgren, called The use qualities of digital design. The study we have executed is about testing the featured qualities of digital design in the article on two search systems located in the library of Stockholm University and Södertörn University respectively to see how they are able to be applied on search systems. To acquire the information for the study, we handed out a written inquire among users of those systems. The result of this quantitative study shows us that many that five of Löwgrens qualities is likely to be present on the systems. Our conclusion is that five of these are appliable on search systems.

The purpose of this essay is to perform an evaluation regarding retrieval performance of three web search engines. The search engines included are All the Web, Alta Vista and Google. These have been tested using ten queries within different subject areas chosen by the author. The first twenty hits for each question have been analyzed for relevancy. Relevancy is judged on a three-point scale; 0, 0,5 and 1 where 0 goes to irrelevant and inactive or duplicate documents, 0,5 point goes to partially relevant documents and 1 point goes to highly relevant documents.

When in the process of buying a product based high effort behavior, the consumer needs information to decide on which product that best satisfies their need. There is a wide arrange of sources where this could be found. One of the most important, due to the great influence it has on consumer choice, is in-store communications. This is also one of the least developed sources. It is not uncommon that the only facts that can be acquired are found on product packaging and from contact with the store´s staff.

The wide spread of the Internet and new information technologies in recent years has come to effect how libraries manage and disseminate information. Search engines like Google are widely used by people who often find the information retrieval systems of libraries to be too complicated. In 2004 Google announced plans to digitise five major library collections. Organisations representing the publishing industry and authors have since then filed lawsuits against Google claiming that Googles scanning of library books infringe the rights holders copyright. Due to Googles potential impact on libraries this thesis aims to examine how Googles digitisation project, Google Book Search, has been received in the library community.

The purpose of this Master thesis is to examine theinformation use and information seeking behaviour amongpersons who actively work with information. For this study,interviews have been conducted with a group of six personswho work with information in information intensiveorganizations. The aim is to answer the following questions:What kind of information is connected to the respondents?work tasks? What is the purpose of their search forinformation? Which information sources do they use and whatkind of information sources do they demand? The theoreticalframework consists mainly of Wilsons information needs andinformation seeking model.The results of this study show that none of the respondentshad any strategic model for their work with information. Theinformation that the respondents were searching for is ofdifferent content and depends on the organization in which therespondent operates.

This is a master thesis from Uppsala University in collaboration with B Locket AB (more known as www.blocket.se). B Locket AB is a large ad-company from Sweden, located in Stockholm.Search engines on the market today are becoming more and more complex. When they were first introduced, they only had one function and that was to produce search results containing the string that the user had typed. Today, users want it to be able to spellcheck, produce more results and sort search results on specific fields as well. Preferably, all these features should not affect the performance as a whole.The reason to why these demands have come up is that users are getting more and more used to internet services as a whole and they want everything to be as easy as possible.The user ability has become a substantially more important area in the computer industry and this needs to be taken into account when it comes to B Locket AB and its search engine.

Since Internet has become a more important and more certain source of information the user require greater and more demands than ever before on the layout and function of different web pages. When search engines gives us the opportunity to millions of hits in just a fraction of a second it?s essential to optimize the structure and architecture, which forms the foundations of all the content. In a time when a company?s digital footprint plays an important role for the costumer and the transmitter it?s of utmost importance to have a steady, well-structured foundation to build new platforms of information on.But how do you manage to build a good foundation? Some of the most important key elements in Information architecture are Organizing, Navigation, Search and Labeling.The aim of this study was to create guidelines for a user-friendlier interface, by analyzing the principals and gathered data.

My work has resulted in an interactive search engine for plants that can be found at www.plantit.se. In the work process I have searched for which search criteria is most important when doing searches on woodland plants. I have done this by an analysis of existing databases and with an survey where leading plant expertise answered questions about woodland plants. I analyzed three search pages that are on the internet today Havenet.dk, Backyardgardener.com and Den virtuella floran. I concluded that there are several flaws but also many positive aspects that I have used when developing the interface of my page. The survey resulted in the basis for my search criteria the answers listed the most important factors when planting woodland plants. From this information I developed a system with five values on every criteria.