Transcript Use of Digital Information Resources and Internet Communication

Use of Digital Information Resources
& Internet Tools by Academic Researchers in
the U.S., Greece & China
Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA) 2007
May 28- June 2, Dubrovnik & Mljet, Croatia
Peiling Wang
Dimitris A. Dervos
Why this study?
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Scholarly communication and information
seeking have always been topics of
interest in the field
Information environment has changed
rapidly as a result of the Internet
Researchers’ information seeking (IS)
behaviors
Two-dimensional Framework
Guiding Research Design
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Dimension A: IS activities
A.1. General, pertaining to long-term research
needs
A.2. Task-based, corresponding to project
lifecycle
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Dimension B: Internet Information &
Communication Technology/Resources
(IICT)
B.1. Internet communication tools
B.2. Internet-enabled information resources
IS activities
A.1. General IS Behaviors
Pertaining to Long-term
Research Needs
A.2. Task-based IS Behaviors
Corresponding to Project
Lifecycle
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Monitoring
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Browsing
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Managing
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Archiving
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Starting
Searching
Accessing
Chaining
Ending
Internet Information &
Communication Tools
B.1. Internet Communication B.2. Internet-enabled
Information Resources
Tools
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Email
Web
FTP
Listserv
Blog
Wiki
Instant messaging
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Database
Digital library
E-Journal
Online library catalog
Relating Research Questions
to Framework
General IS activities
Internet
Communication
Tools
Internet
Information
Resources
Task-based IS activities
How do researchers engage in two types of IS
activities in today’s digital environment?
What IICTs do researchers use/not use for
IS?
Are there any differences in IS activities and
the use of IICTs in the US, China, and Greece?
Research Design
Semi-structured interviews
Part I: checklist of 9 IICTs
Part II: paired questions (length & frequency)
Part III: sorting from most to least important
Part IV: How do researchers engage in IS
activities? Which IICTs do they use to support
specific IS activities?
Disciplines Considered
Productive and active researchers (faculty and
doctoral students) from following fields:
Computer Science
Engineering
Information Science
Journalism
Humanities
Data Collection in Progress
Summer 2005: Started in the US at a
research intensive state university
December 2005: Extended to China in
three national universities
September 2006: Extended to Greece in
three higher level institutions
Participants in CS and Engineering as
Reported in This Paper
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28
R&D Expenditure (% GDP) in 2004
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19
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Researchers (per million people) 2004
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35
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US is 3.4 times of Greece
US is 6.8 times of China
Internet users (per thousand people)
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∑ = 82
US is 4.6 times of Greece
US is 1.9 times of China
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US is 3.6 times of Greece in 2004
US is 2.3 times of Greece in 2006
US is 8.6 times of China in 2004
US is 5.3 times of China in 2006
IICT Usage: Communication Tools
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email, Web, FTP, and Listserv are the
four IICTs used by more than 50%
participants in at least one country
(Listserv is used only by 14%
participants in China)
Blogs, Wiki, Instant messaging: not in
our original lists, mentioned by some
participants. Most CS and Eng
researchers do not use
IICT Usage: Information Resources
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All participants in the US and Greece use
at least one of the four resources
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The most used is digital library and the
least used is e-journal
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terminological confusion about e-journal
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overlapping in access to different resources
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converging and integrating resource access
Perceived IICT Importance
Rank
All (N=82)
US (N=28)
Greece (N=19)
China (N=35)
1st
Web
Email
Web
Email
2nd
Email
Web
Digital library
E-journal
3rd
Digital library
Digital library
E-journal
Web
4th
E-journal
E-journal
Email
Digital library
5th
Database
OPAC
Database
Database
6th
OPAC
Database
OPAC
OPAC
Note: Based on median; the medians; means are used as tiebreaker.
Information Needs Satisfied by
Digital Resources
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85% in Greece
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81% in the US
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74% in China
Note:
Participants from CS and Engineering
Reasons for Not Using IICTs
Personal
situation &
perceptions
Field or social
context
Resource
characteristics
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time constraints
information overload
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availability
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convenience
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unknown
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nature of projects
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trust
peer-reviewed
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tenure tradition
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disciplinary norm
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network externality
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form or mode
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organization & structure
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focus
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usefulness
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My opinion from the blogs I've
seen so far, they're a lot of
discussion, a lot of information,
and you need a lot of time to
process this discussion, and I
don't have this time. ...
In my project, I used a lot of
drawings and blue prints that will
never be in electronic format. .
Even though we say "that's
referred"[e-journals] ... I think it
takes time for those old people to
recognize the value of them
... large files like several
gigabytes data that ftp couldn't
support
IS Behavior
Conferences continue to be an important
informal channel of communication and
information exchange
In CS and Eng some conferences are rated
higher than journals in determining the value
and impact of a research publication
Challenges to libraries and
librarians
... thanks to the Internet, I don't have to rely on the library
Basically, the only reason I would go to the library is to
get coffee.
I think that the role of the library will have to change.
General IS Activities
monitoring is much easier today with the Web
and various alerts via email; online availability
of conference programs/proceedings is also a
boon
managing information is a big challenge
archiving with institutional repositories or
disciplinary repositories is reported only by
three Greek researchers
China has a university-based registry system
to keep track of research output
Managing Digital Information
A wide range of methods are adopted
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print out (do not save e-files)
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piles, binders, file cabinet
keep e-files for only a period (6 months to 2
years)
personal bibliographic software
multiple copies to folders and subfolders
multiple copies in multiple computers
group server
rely on the Internet (“good stuff will be there.”)
Task-based IS Activities
starting is not a critical stage for senior
researchers; most use the Web as the first
source
searching is often extended by visiting experts’
homepages for publications
accessing appears to be done in the following
order: digital library, inter-library loan, author’s
homepage, email to the author
chaining is made easier now with resources
providing both forward and backward links
(CiteSeer is the most mentioned)
ending
Implications
Active researchers should maintain an
up-to-date research homepage
Librarians and libraries must find new
roles
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the physical library as we know it is being
challenged to transform to something new
institutional repository
a shift from service and user instruction to
user studies and design & redesign of
information resources
Implications (cont’d)
New digital tools and resources must
meet needs and incorporate new behaviors
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incorporate what users know and how they use
information
embed learning in use to facilitate correct
conceptual understanding
revamp current personal bibliographic database
tools with new models that incorporate information
needs and seeking behaviors