How much does the end user need an intermediary?: Combining the advantages of online and offline media for database services in an international business school

INSEAD, the European Institute for Business Administration, at Fontainebleau, near Paris, offers advanced management education for over 400 students a year, mainly through the MBA course. The Library first set up online access in 1984, and now has extensive online training facilities for students, as well as services for professors, researchers and administrative staff. As demand for online training from students has increased, some professors have encouraged Library online specialists to give brief presentations at the start of courses, helping students to aim their information searching directly towards project needs. In 1987, with pressure on the present three online specialists, we started to explore ways of increasing the participation of staff and student end users in their own searching. More attention was given to existing online menu‐driven systems like Textline, while the growth of professional datafiles on France's Minitel videotex system made it worthwhile to explore their potential as subsidiary search options. In 1988, to develop direct end user searching further, two CD‐ROM workstations were installed, which now offer six disc databases on free access. There has also been an exploration of the role of databases issued on floppy disk as offline alternatives. To help campus users understand the range of database options available, a booklet listing by subject major databases accessible on campus, on both online and offline media, was recently issued. Currently, a prototype simple expert system is being developed from this to help users to move between offline and online searching more easily. The present efforts are aimed at a more user‐oriented information access as the Library prepares to transfer next year to a new building.