USE OF KEYBOARD MACROS IN ONLINE SEARCHING.

Software packages and general purpose macro processors are considered. One can store a series of search statements prior to the online session and upload the search statements automatically once connection is established with the host computer. One, however, still has to type online to interact with the remote computer because alternative strategies cannot be stored before the online session. This article shows how, using available software, alternative search strategies can be stored for interactive searching. This approach involves anticipating the host computer's range of possible responses to the first query and for each of the possible responses, deciding what search statement to send next. The set of alternative search statements is keyed in before the online session and stored. The searcher chooses which statement from the set to send when online.