The storage and retrieval of scientific texts were early applications of computers, and by the early 1960s, schemes for automatic indexing and abstracting had emerged (e.g., Doyle, 1965; Luhn, 1957, 1958; O'Connor, 1964; Tasman, 1957). As online systems emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, more databases and new search features were created to give professional intermediaries more power in searching for information. Searching in online systems was complex, and so intermediaries created systematic strategies for eliciting users' needs; selecting terms, synonyms, and morphological variants appropriate to the need and the system; using Boolean operators to formulate precise queries; restricting those queries to specific database fields; forming intermediate sets of results; manipulating those sets; and selecting appropriate display formats. The strategies and tactics that professional intermediaries use are meant to maximize retrieval effectiveness while minimizing online costs. These strategies are goal oriented and systematic and are termed analytical strategies. In this chapter, we describe several analytical strategies to illustrate how electronic environments have changed information seeking by allowing searchers to systematically manipulate large sets of potentially relevant documents. These strategies in turn influenced subsequent designs of online systems. Next we look at studies of novice users working with various online systems, showing how difficult analytical strategies are to learn and apply, and the need for electronic systems that support informal information-seeking strategies for end users.