This article uses an information processing approach to analyze tbe erasures
of end-users insearcbing online bibliograpbicdatabases. The end-users are 40 students
and 4 faculty. After the classroom or video-taped instruction, subjects search through
the semester, doing 79 searches. Through analyzingthe timed keystroke data, this
studyidentified 191 reasons for erasures. Inthis study, erasures occurred
mostfrequently in connection with functions, moves, and elements of "createand
develop sets" and "display andprint records". In addition, most erasures are
recognized mistakes andsubjects do chunk little informationonline. The results also
indicate endusers spend less time in conducting anerasure as they gain more
experienceand practice, but the numbers oferasures do not decrease overtime.