Children over age 11 usually have more success searching, but still experience problems because of lack of knowledge base and spelling skills. Children like computers, but they have problems with online catalogs for several reason. The volume of information is overwhelming. Both adult and juvenile materials are integrated together in the catalog. Viewing the holdings of other libraries in addition to theirs can be confusing.
Children often have problems scanning.
They don't know how to skip entries, and will often read every entry. Sometimes, they have problems with spelling, typing, spacing, and determining proper word order. Children not only have problems coming up with the search terms, but they are often unable to come up with alternatives when they have a failed search. Many children do not like to use the catalog at all. They would rather to go directly to the shelves.