Showing papers in "Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology in 1999"
1,065 citations
TL;DR: An effort to visualize these data using advanced virtual reality software is described, and the creation of document pathways through the map is seen as a realization of Bush's (1945) associative trails.
Abstract: Science mapping is discussed in the general context of information visualization. Attempts to construct maps of science using citation data are reviewed, focusing on the use of co-citation clusters. New work is reported on a dataset of about 36,000 documents using simplified methods for ordination, and nesting maps hierarchically. An overall map of the dataset shows the multidisciplinary breadth of the document sample, and submaps allow drilling down to the document level. An effort to visualize these data using advanced virtual reality software is described, and the creation of document pathways through the map is seen as a realization of Bush's (1945) associative trails.
658 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed Web searching behavior for homework assignments of high school students through field observations in class and at the terminal with students thinking aloud, and through interviews with various participants, including the teacher and librarian.
Abstract: This article analyzes Web searching behavior for homework assignments of high school students through field observations in class and at the terminal with students thinking aloud, and through interviews with various participants, including the teacher and librarian. Students performed focused searching and progressed through a search swiftly and flexibly. They used landmarks and assumed that one can always start a new search and ask for help. They were satisfied with their searches and the results, but impatient with slow response. The students enjoyed searching the Web because it had a variety of formats, it showed pictures, it covered a multitude of subjects and it provided easy access to information. Difficulties and problems students encountered emphasize the need for training to all involved, and for a system design that is based on user seeking and searching behavior.
387 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a study of women at the only maximum-security prison for women in Neuse City (in the northeastern United States) in order to survive incarceration is presented.
Abstract: This study addresses ways in which inmates at the only maximum-security prison for women in Neuse City (in the northeastern United States) redefine their social world in order to survive incarceration. An aim of the project is to engage in theory building in order to examine the experiences of a world that is “lived in the round.” A life in the round is a public form of life. It is a lifestyle with an enormous degree of imprecision. Yet, it is this inexactitude that provides an acceptable level of certainty. This way of life sets standards by which one constructs everyday meaning from reality. It is a “takenfor-granted,” “business-as-usual” style of being. Relying on ethnographic research and interviews with 80 women at the prison, the findings revealed that a life in the round was sustaining a “normative” existence.
348 citations
TL;DR: The above-the-water-line paradigm of information science is well known and widely discussed as mentioned in this paper, but every disciplinary paradigm contains elements that are less conscious and explicit in the thinking of its practitioners.
Abstract: The explicit, above-the-water-line paradigm of information science is well known and widely discussed. Every disciplinary paradigm, however, contains elements that are less conscious and explicit in the thinking of its practitioners. The purpose of this article is to elucidate key elements of the below-the-water-line portion of the information science paradigm. Particular emphasis is given to information science’s role as a meta-science—conducting research and developing theory around the documentary products of other disciplines and activities. The mental activities of the professional practice of the field are seen to center around representation and organization of information rather than knowing information. It is argued that such representation engages fundamentally different talents and skills from those required in other professions and intellectual disciplines. Methodological approaches and values of information science are also considered.
325 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the relevance criteria and search strategies elementary school children applied when searching for information related to a class assignment in a school library setting and found that children exhibited little concern for the authority of the textual and graphical information they found.
Abstract: This study explores the relevance criteria and search strategies elementary school children applied when searching for information related to a class assignment in a school library setting. Students were interviewed on two occasions at different stages of the research process ; field observations involved students thinking aloud to explain their search processes and shadowing as students moved around the school library. Students performed searches on an on-line catalog, an electronic encyclopedia, an electronic magazine index, and the World Wide Web. Results are presented for children selecting the topic, conducting the search, examining the results, and extracting relevant results. A total of 254 mentions of relevance criteria were identified, including 197 references to textual relevance criteria that were coded into nine categories and 57 references to graphical relevance criteria that were coded into five categories. Students exhibited little concern for the authority of the textual and graphical information they found, based the majority of their relevance decisions for textual material on topicality, and identified information they found interesting. Students devoted a large portion of their research time to finding pictures. Understanding the ways that children use electronic resources and the relevance criteria they apply has implications for information literacy training and for systems design.
289 citations
TL;DR: The combined method is applied in an evaluation of the research scope and performance of the Inter‐university Centre for Micro‐Electronics (IMEC) in Leuven, Belgium and it is found that the results of each of the two parts are an added value to the other.
Abstract: The general aim of the article is to demonstrate how the results both of a structural analysis, and of a research performance assessment of a research field, can be enriched by combining elements of both into one integrated analysis. In addition, a procedure is discussed to select and analyse candidate benchmark institutes to assess the position of a particular research institute, in terms of both its cognitive orientation and its scientific production and impact at the international research front. The combined method is applied in an evaluation of the research scope and performance of the Inter-university Centre for Micro-Electronics (IMEC) in Leuven, Belgium. On the basis of the comments of an international panel of experts in micro-electronics, the method was discussed in detail. We concluded that the method provides a detailed and useful picture of the position of the institute from an international perspective. Moreover, we found that the results of each of the two parts are an added value to the other.
267 citations
223 citations
TL;DR: The data suggest that a primary goal of science libraries is to obtain access to as many appropriate electronic bibliographic finding aids and databases possible and underscore the continued importance to scientists of the printed peer-reviewed journal article.
Abstract: The information seeking behavior of astronomers, chemists, mathematicians, and physicists at the University of Oklahoma was assessed using an electronically distributed questionnaire. All of the scientists surveyed relied greatly on the journal literature to support their research and creative activities. The mathematicians surveyed indicated an additional reliance on monographs, preprints, and attendance at conferences and personal communication to support their research activities. Similarly, all scientists responding scanned the latest issues of journals to keep abreast of current developments in their fields, with the mathematicians again reporting attendance at conferences and personal communication. Despite an expression by the scientists for more electronic services, the majority preferred access to journal articles in a print, rather than an electronic, form. The primary deficit in library services appeared to be in access to electronic bibliographic databases. The data suggest that a primary goal of science libraries is to obtain access to as many appropriate electronic bibliographic finding aids and databases possible. Although the results imply the ultimate demise of the printed bibliographic reference tool, they underscore the continued importance to scientists of the printed peer-reviewed journal article.
196 citations
TL;DR: The SPIRE text visualization system, which images information from free text documents as natural terrains, serves as an example of the “ecological approach” in its visual metaphor, its text analysis, and its spatializing procedures.
Abstract: This article presents both theoretical and technical bases on which to build a ‘‘science of text visualization.’’ These conceptually produce ‘‘the ecological approach,’’ which is rooted in ecological and evolutionary psychology. The basic idea is that humans are genetically selected from their species history to perceptually interpret certain informational aspects of natural environments. If information from text documents is visually spatialized in a manner conformal with these predilections, its meaningful interpretation to the user of a text visualization system becomes relatively intuitive and accurate. The SPIRE text visualization system, which images information from free text documents as natural terrains, serves as an example of the ‘‘ecological approach’’ in its visual metaphor, its text analysis, and its spatializing procedures.
188 citations
TL;DR: Experiments that use lexical statistics, such as word frequency counts, to discover hidden connections in the medical literature are reported.
Abstract: We report experiments that use lexical statistics, such as word frequency counts, to discover hidden connections in the medical literature. Hidden connections are those that are unlikely to be found by examination of bibliographic citations or the use of standard indexing methods and yet establish a relationship between topics that might profitably be explored by scientific research. Our experiments were conducted with the MEDLINE medical literature database and follow and extend the work of Swanson.
TL;DR: Analysis shows that Alta Vista, Excite and Infoseek are the top three services, with their relative rank changing depending on how one operationally defines the concept of relevance.
Abstract: Five search engines, Alta Vista, Excite, HotBot, Infoseek, and Lycos, are compared for precision on the first 20 results returned for 15 queries, adding weight for ranking effectiveness. All searching was done from January 31 to March 12, 1997. In the study, steps are taken to ensure that bias has not unduly influenced the evaluation. Friedmann’s randomized block design is used to perform multiple comparisons for significance. Analysis shows that Alta Vista, Excite and Infoseek are the top three services, with their relative rank changing depending on how one operationally defines the concept of relevance. Correspondence analysis shows that Lycos performed better on short, unstructured queries, whereas HotBot performed better on structured queries.
TL;DR: In this paper, a longitudinal case study investigates changes in perceptions of the information search process of an early career information worker as he becomes more experienced and proficient at his work, and comparisons of the user's perceptions of uncertainty, complexity, construction, and sources in information tasks were made over a 5-year period.
Abstract: Information workers center on seeking, gathering, and interpreting information in order to provide value-added information as a basis for making decisions and judgments critical to the function of an enterprise. This longitudinal case study investigates changes in perceptions of the information search process of an early career information worker as he becomes more experienced and proficient at his work. Building on Kuhlthau's earlier research, comparisons of the user's perceptions of uncertainty, complexity, construction, and sources in information tasks were made over a 5-year period. This is a case study, but it provides insight into issues raised in prior quantitative studies of securities analysts.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors characterize three dimensions of scholarly publishing as a communicative practice: publicity, access, and trustworthiness, and examine several forms of paper and electronic publications in this framework.
Abstract: Electronic publishing opportunities, manifested today in a variety of electronic journals and Web-based compendia, have captured the imagination of many scholars. These opportunities have also destabilized norms about the character of legitimate scholarly publishing in some fields. Unfortunately, much of the literature about scholarly e-publishing homogenizes the character of publishing. This article provides an analytical approach for evaluating disciplinary conventions and for proposing policies about scholarly e-publishing. We characterize three dimensions of scholarly publishing as a communicative practice—publicity, access, and trustworthiness—and examine several forms of paper and electronic publications in this framework. This analysis shows how the common claim that e-publishing “substantially expands access” is oversimplified. It also indicates how peer reviewing (whether in paper or electronically) provides valuable functions for scholarly communication that are not effectively replaced by self-posting articles in electronic media.
TL;DR: For instance, this article found that 40% of youth do not know where to go for help in their decision making, and 38% feel that they need to go to too many different places for the information they require, while trustworthiness of information sources is critical to the ultimate usefulness of the help received.
Abstract: Nearly 400 Canadian adolescents were surveyed about their information seeking for career decision making. A written questionnaire gathered data on degree of helpfulness of various information sources and the ways in which these sources have helped and asked about some of the barriers to information seeking faced by adolescents. Thirty semistructured interviews with participants drawn from the same sample asked participants about their decision-making and information-search processes, their concerns about these processes, and the barriers they face in accessing helpful information for career decision making. This article focuses on the data related specifically to the barriers faced by the participants, revealing myriad difficulties that can hinder adolescent career decision makers. Forty percent of youth do not know where to go for help in their decision making, and 38% feel that they need to go to too many different places for the information they require. As well, the respondents revealed that trustworthiness of information sources is critical to the ultimate usefulness of the help received. The discussion suggests some avenues for further research which would advance understanding of these barriers, and makes suggestions for improved delivery of information services to adolescents making career decisions.
TL;DR: This study is first a preliminary exploration into Web page and Web site mortality rates, then considers two types of change: Content and structural, and explores the “short memory” and “mind changing” of the World Wide Web.
Abstract: We recognize that documents on the World Wide Web are ephemeral and changing. We also recognize that Web documents can be categorized along a number of dimensions, including “publisher,” size, object mix, as well as purpose, meaning, and content. This study is first a preliminary exploration into Web page and Web site mortality rates. It then considers two types of change: Content and structural. Finally, the study is concerned with understanding those constancy and permanence phenomena for different Web document classes. It is suggested that, from the perspective of information maintenance and retrieval, the WWW does not represent revolutionary change. In fact, in some ways the Web is a less sophisticated form than traditional publication practices. Finally, this study explores the “short memory” and “mind changing” of the World Wide Web.
TL;DR: The tools needed to establish a general stopword list and a stemming procedure in the French language databases are presented and some retrieval experiments that have been carried out using two medium-sized French language test collections are evaluated.
Abstract: Due to the increasing use of network-based systems, there is a growing interest in access to and search mechanisms for text databases in languages other than English. To adapt searching systems to those foreign languages with characteristics similar to the English language, all we need to do for the most part is to establish a general stopword list and a stemming procedure. This article presents the tools needed to establish these in the French language databases and some retrieval experiments that have been carried out using two medium-sized French language test collections. These experiments were conducted to evaluate the retrieval effectiveness of the propositions described.
TL;DR: The follow-up study of a two-part project designed to study the decision-making process underlying how academic researchers select documents retrieved from online databases, consult or read, and cite documents during a research project found that all but one of the criteria identified in selection re-occur in connection with reading and citing decisions, but also identified 14 new criteria.
Abstract: This article reports on the follow-up study of a two-part project designed to study the decision-making process underlying how academic researchers select documents retrieved from online databases, consult or read, and cite documents during a research project. The participants are 15 of the 25 agricultural economics users who participated in the original study of document-selection conducted in 1992. They were interviewed about subsequent decisions on documents considered relevant and selected in 1992, as well as documents cited in their written products but not in the original searches. Of particular interest in this article are the decision criteria and rules they apply to documents as they progress through the project. The first study in 1992 emphasized the selection processes and resulted in a document selection model; the 1995 study concentrates on the reading and citing decisions. The model derived from this project shows document use as a decision-making process with decisions occurring at three points or stages during a research project: selecting, reading, and citing. It is an expansion of the document selection model developed in the 1992 study, identifies more criteria, and clarifies the criteria and rules that are in use at each stage. The follow-up study not only found that all but one of the criteria identified in selection re-occur in connection with reading and citing decisions, but also identified 14 new criteria. It also found that decision rules applied in selection decisions are applied throughout the project.
TL;DR: The most prevalent information needs experience related to race relations, crime and family, and their sources of unmet needs were lack of awareness of or access to existing information or resources as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: This article describes the information use environment (IUE) of African-American gatekeepers in Harambee, an inner-city neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In-depth one-on-one interviews were held with a purposive sample of 20 gatekeepers identified through community-based organizations between April and May 1997. Findings indicated that the gatekeepers were slightly better educated and earned more than the average Harambee resident. The most prevalent information needs experience related to race relations, crime and family, and their sources of unmet needs were lack of awareness of or access to existing information or resources. Interpersonal sources were preferred over all other sources because of concerns about trustworthiness and credibility of information. The implications of these findings for professional information services are discussed.
TL;DR: There are significant relationships between site traffic and home‐page structure for Web sites in the commercial (.com) as well as educational (.edu) domains and it is argued that a site's information packaging will become increasingly important in gaining users' attention and interest.
Abstract: Although the Internet is not without its critics, many popular and academic writers are particularly effusive in their praise of the World Wide Web's interactive features. A content analysis of the formal features of 496 Web sites, drawn randomly from a sample of the top 5,000 most visited sites determined by 100hot.com, was performed to explore whether the capabilities of the World Wide Web are being exploited by Web page designers to the extent that the literature suggests they are. Specifically, the study examines the differences between the formal features of commercial versus non-commercial sites as well as the relationship between Web page complexity and the amount of traffic a site receives. Findings indicate that, although most pages in this stage of the Web's development remain technologically simple and noninteractive, there are significant relationships between site traffic and home-page structure for Web sites in the commercial (.com) as well as educational (.edu) domains. As the Web continues to expand and the amount of information redundancy increases, it is argued that a site's information packaging will become increasingly important in gaining users' attention and interest.
TL;DR: The authors explored the information processes and work situations of interdisciplinary scientists and found that scientists undertake individual and cooperative boundary-crossing research, and four research modes are identified and associated with different approaches to seeking information and knowledge base development.
Abstract: This study explores the information processes and work situations of interdisciplinary scientists. The analysis focuses on structural and strategic elements of information exchange between intellectual domains. Interview data reveal that scientists undertake individual and cooperative boundary-crossing research. Four research modes are identified and associated with different approaches to seeking information and knowledge base development. Probing for information, consultation, and learning are among the scientists' central interdisciplinary research practices. In spite of these work strategies, research progress is complicated by the tension between researchers' efforts to maintain a broad perspective and a high level of productivity. Information initiatives can provide “leeway” to help researchers shift their efforts away from their core specialization to the peripheral domains that infuse their interdisciplinary work.
TL;DR: This note summarizes the functions of ontologies, thesauri, and dictionaries, which serve many functions, and describes how they are developed in many communities of research and practice.
Abstract: Classifications/ontologies, thesauri, and dictionaries serve many functions, which are summarized in this note As a result of this multiplicity of functions, classifications-often called ontologies-are developed in many communities of research and practice Unfortunately, there is little communication and mutual learning; thus, efforts are fragmented, resulting in considerable reinvention and less than optimal products
TL;DR: The authors identified 199 articles with first authors from other disciplines published between 1971 and 1990, and found that these articles had single authors and only one in six had coauthors from the discipline of the journal in which they were published.
Abstract: Contemporary models of interdisciplinary information transfer treat disciplines as such sharply bounded groups that boundary-crossing publication (contributions to disciplinary literatures authored by researchers from other disciplines) should be very difficult, if not impossible. Yet boundary-crossing authors can be identified in many disciplinary literatures. A study of four core journals in political science and sociology identified 199 articles with first authors from other disciplines published between 1971 and 1990. Two-thirds of these articles had single authors, and only one in six had coauthors from the discipline of the journal in which they were published. Readership and use of these articles, as measured by citation rates, was only slightly below normal. The articles were judged successful in interdisciplinary information transfer in that they received more citations from the disciplines in which they were published than from the disciplines with which their first authors were affiliated, and more citations from other disciplines than from either the discipline of publication or the first author's discipline. Results suggest that disciplinary boundaries are less restrictive than the literature suggests, and that boundary-crossing publications are involved in complex patterns of interdisciplinary information transfer.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated how older adolescents cognitively utilize information on the drug, heroin, and found that there was coherence between the effects and how these effects were manifested in changes to the girls' knowledge structures.
Abstract: This article reports on a study that investigates how older adolescents cognitively utilize information on the drug, heroin. With a small group of four girls in their final year of secondary education, the study sought to: (a) establish the perceived effects of exposures to information ; (b) establish how the perceived effects are associated with changes to the girls' knowledge structures; and (c) establish any patterns in relation to changes in knowledge structures and perceived effects. The study employed a quasi-experimental, repeated-phase approach. The girls' existing knowledge structures about the drug, heroin, were elicited and mapped, as were knowledge structures after each of three exposures to different information on heroin. The knowledge structures after each exposure were shown to change by cognitive strategies of appending, inserting, and deleting. Five types of effects, as types of cognitive information utilization, were identified, these being: Get a complete picture, get a changed picture, get a clearer picture, get a verified picture, and get a position in a picture. The study also showed that there was coherence between the effects and how these effects were manifested in changes to the girls' knowledge structures. This article also discusses important implications for information practice and instructional design.
TL;DR: The Journal of the American Society for Information Science (JASIS) is completing 50 years of publication as discussed by the authors, and the authorship of papers in JASIS were studied by examining one volume from each decade of its existence, for each substantial paper, data were collected regarding number of authors, type of affiliation of each author, author's gender, and author's country if it was not the United States.
Abstract: The Journal of the American Society for Information Science (JASIS) is completing 50 years of publication. Aspects of authorship of papers in JASIS were studied by examining one volume from each decade of JASIS's existence. For each substantial paper in these volumes, data were collected regarding number of authors, type of affiliation of each author, author's gender, and author's country if it was not the United States. Also noted were data on length, content, and “colonicity” of the title, and data on the extent of citing and self-citing in the paper. Findings are presented, and are compared with findings of other studies of JASIS and related publications. Based on this survey of JASIS, the literature of information science has grown exponentially, as would be expected in a new or developing discipline. Authorship has been growing even a little faster, because multiple authorship of information science papers has become much more common. Representation of authors from different countries has increased greatly. But, compared to various library journals, JASIS is not outstanding in either multiple authorship or degree of foreign representation. Individual authors, at least in JASIS, are increasingly likely to produce multiple papers; the extent, explanation, and significance of this phenomenon warrant further inquiry. The percentage of authors who are female has grown, but is higher in many related journals than it is in JASIS. Trends in the titling of papers suggest that writings have become more informative, but also considerably wordier. “Scholarliness” of papers has increased on the basis of a rapid rise in use of colons in titles. More importantly, scholarship has increased greatly on the basis of the disappearance of papers that lack citations and the exponential growth in the average number of references per paper. It appears that the field of information science underwent an important transition in authorship characteristics after the 1950s. The proportion of authors with academic affiliations has grown so large that other types of affiliations, although significant in the 1950s, are now hardly represented at all. Contributions by authors whose professional concerns are primarily with applied aspects of information science have thus become rarer. Such changes may have serious implications for information science and for JASIS, and deserve study.
TL;DR: This article investigates how to improve the performance of an Arabic Information Retrieval System (Arabic-IRS) by imposing the retrieval method over individual words of a query depending on the importance of the WORD, the STEM, or the ROOT of the query terms in the database.
Abstract: Stemming is one of the most important factors that affect the performance of information retrieval systems. This article investigates how to improve the performance of an Arabic Information Retrieval System (Arabic-IRS) by imposing the retrieval method over individual words of a query depending on the importance of the WORD, the STEM, or the ROOT of the query terms in the database. This method, called Mixed Stemming, computes term importance using a weighting scheme that uses the Term Frequency (TF) and the Inverse Document-Frequency (IDF), called TFxIDF. An extended version of the Arabic-IRS system is designed, implemented, and evaluated to reduce the number of irrelevant documents retrieved. The results of the experiment suggest that the proposed method outperforms the Word index method using the Binary scheme and the Word index method using the TFxIDF weighting scheme. It also outperforms the Stem index method using the Binary weighting scheme but does not outperform the Stem index method using the TFxIDF weighting scheme, and again it outperforms the Root index method using the Binary weighting scheme but does not outperform the Root index method using the TFxIDF weighting scheme.
TL;DR: A review of LIS journal rankings of the last half-century identifies 178 published between 1952 and 1997 as mentioned in this paper, and the majority of these used some type of citation measure, followed by rankings based on production, subjective judgment, and reading, respectively.
Abstract: The concept of journal ranking is explained along with the theoretical and practical significance of ranking journals. An eight-variable model for classifying journal-ranking studies is outlined. A review of LIS journal rankings of the last half-century identifies 178 published between 1952 and 1997. The majority of these used some type of citation measure, followed by rankings based on production, subjective judgment, and reading, respectively. Analysis of JASIS's, and its immediate predecessor, American Documentation's, position in these rankings, found that they were logically excluded from 18. In the remaining 160, they ranked first in 20 and in the top five in 88. It is noted that JASIS also appears on many lists of “core” LIS journals, and that it has been the object of investigation in numerous studies.
TL;DR: The Alexandria Digital Library (ADL) Project has designed and implemented collection metadata for several purposes, and it is used for internal collection management, including mapping the object metadata attributes to the common search parameters of the system.
Abstract: Within a digital library, collections may range from an ad hoc set of objects that serve a temporary purpose to established library collections intended to persist through time. The objects in these collections vary widely, from library and data center holdings to pointers to real-world objects, such as geographic places, and the various metadata schemas that describe them. The key to integrated use of such a variety of collections in a digital library is collection metadata that represents the inherent and contextual characteristics of a collection. The Alexandria Digital Library (ADL) Project has designed and implemented collection metadata for several purposes: in XML form, the collection metadata "registers" the collection with the user interface client; in HTML form, it is used for user documentation; eventually, it will be used to describe the collection to network search agents; and it is used for internal collection management, including mapping the object metadata attributes to the common search parameters of the system.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the relationship between confidence in bibliographic records and the number of categories available in a relevance rating scale, and find that the optimal scale for maximizing confidence in relevance judgments has approximately seven points.
Abstract: In this paper, we are concerned with participants' confidence in their judgments of the relevance of bibliographic records to particular research questions. We describe an empirical investigation of the association between judges' confidence and the number of categories for a relevance rating scale. Participants rated the relevance of bibliographic records, and recorded their confidence in the relevance ratings. We hypothesize that confidence in relevance judgments is a function of the number of relevance categories that are available in the rating scale. We consider scales ranging from 2 to 11 points, and define the optimal scale as the one for which participants express a maximum level of confidence. A pilot study finds no optimal number of points (because confidence continues to improve slightly through the 11-point scale); nevertheless, the study shows little added benefit associated with scales that have more than six points. On the basis of the findings in that study, we adjusted our experimental procedures and found, in our principal study, that the optimal scale for maximizing confidence in relevance judgments has approximately seven points. We also present exploratory results involving gender effects, and the comparison of scales that have an odd number of points (for which a neutral judgment is possible) with scales that have an even number of points.
TL;DR: In this paper, a detailed questionnaire was distributed among 1,000 members of the academic community and three focus group interviews were held with faculty members to examine the use and perceived importance of the Internet amongst students and academics in the Netherlands.
Abstract: This study examines the use and perceived importance of the Internet amongst students and academics in the Netherlands. A detailed questionnaire was distributed among 1,000 members of the academic community and three focus group interviews were held with faculty members. Among other findings, the study revealed that searching the World Wide Web (WWW) is not without difficulty. Libraries should support the users by performing traditional tasks, such as selection, bibliographical description, controlled subject indexing, current awareness, courses, and individual assistance. The WWW is being used primarily to search general, factual, ephemeral, or very specific information. At this moment, full text resources play only a minor role in the academic research process. The Internet may have conquered a place for itself, but it has not pushed aside traditional printed and other information resources.