It is argued that end-users are an ever-increasing and potentially enormous market for online information systems. Yet it is not clear how widespread end-user searching is already; what makes some people do their own searching, but not others; what problems they encounter when conducting online searches; and whether technical developments in the pipeline are likely to make the intermediary redundant.
A review of the literature is undertaken to discover whether researchers are providing us with answers to these and related questions. Their findings—contradictory in places—indicate that: end-user searching flourishes most in fields where users were active searchers of manual/hardcopy services; the prospect of total and unimpeded access to information is not as potent alure as many have thought; and that end-user searching poses little immediate threat to the intermediary.
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