150 female graduate students at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia were interviewed. Since most students are not proficient in English, they are required to take an ESP course when admitted to the M.A. and Ph. D. programs, as locating information in specialized journals is required for their assignments, term papers and theses. Results indicated that 13% of the students use search engines like Google and AltaVista to locate information and fewer than 1% can search the ERIC database. Although the main library at King Saud University has 28 full-text databases and 30 databases on CD-ROM, no training programs or short courses are offered by the library, Computer or Language Center. Female graduate students have expressed a desire and a need to acquire electronic searching skills. Therefore, this study recommends that a program be especially designed to train ESP students in electronic searching. Components of the training program such as electronic searching course content, training requirements, scheduling, training methods, funding, trainers, and assessment are described.

Prof. Reima Al-jarf
King Saud University
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf