Searching scientific information on the Internet: A Dutch academic user survey

✍ Scribed by Voorbij, Henk J.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 526 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-8231
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4571(1999)50:7<598::aid-asi5>3.0.co;2-6

✦ Synopsis

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.