Reasons for the use and non‐use of electronic journals and databases

Digital information literacy skills and use of electronic resources by humanities graduate students at Kenneth Dike Library, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the level of digital information literacy (DIL) skill and use of electronic resources by humanities graduate students at Kenneth Dike Library, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses the survey research design and 200 graduate students from the 12 departments that made up the Faculty of Arts in the University of Ibadan participated in the study. A self-devised structured questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. A pilot questionnaire was first sent to a small random sample of the respondents, with feedback used to fine-tune the final questionnaire. Respondents were requested to rate their level of proficiency in the use of digital devices, web-based tasks, information finding, evaluation and utilisation of available e-resources and challenges encountered. Ethical consideration of informed consent, institutional permission, confidentiality and anonymity of participants was strictly followed. Data collected were analysed and result presented using descriptive statistics including frequencies, percentage, mean and inferential statistics such as regression analysis and Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient were used to test the research question and hypothesis, respectively.

Findings

Humanities graduate students at the University of Ibadan possessed high level of DIL skills in respect of digital devices usage, web-based tasks, information finding and evaluation, but low in e-resources utilisation. This study identified inadequate knowledge of e-resources availability, irregular internet access, inadequate training on e-resources utilisation, inadequate staff assistance, lack of continuity in e-resources subscription and paucity of local contents in the e-resources as main challenges encountered by graduate students in the use of e-resources. To ensure that those who can most benefit from e-resources utilisation are not further marginalised, this study recommends that active steps should be taken to increase e-resources awareness, regular internet access, training/support, continuity of e-resources subscription and increased local content so that all may benefit from the opportunities of the information age.

Originality/value

This paper has demonstrated that DIL skills can enhance effective utilisation of e-resources if users have adequate knowledge of e-resources availability, regular internet access, adequate training and assistance on e-resources utilisation, continuity in database subscription and adequate local contents e-resources.

Thousands of examining eyes: credibility, authority and validity in biodiversity citizen science data production

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to contribute with knowledge about how valid research data in biodiversity citizen science are produced through information practices and how notions of credibility and authority emerge from these practices.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected through an empirical, interview-based study of the information practices of 15 participants active in the vicinity of the Swedish biodiversity citizen science information system Artportalen. Interview transcripts were analysed abductively and qualitatively through a coding scheme by working back and forth between theory and data. Values of credibility, authority and validity of research data were unfolded through a practice-oriented perspective to library and information studies by utilising the theoretical lens of boundary objects.

Findings

Notions of credibility, authority and validity emerge through participant activities of transforming species observations to data, supplementing reports with objects of trust, augmenting identification through authority outreach and assessing credibility via peer monitoring. Credibility, authority and validity of research data are shown to be co-constructed in a distributed fashion by the participants and the information system.

Originality/value

The article extends knowledge about information practices in emerging, heterogeneous scholarly settings by focussing on the complex co-construction of credibility, authority and validity in relation to data production.

A niche of their own: variations of information practices in biodiversity citizen science

Purpose

Information practices become highly complex in biodiversity citizen science projects due to the projects’ large scale, distributed setting and vast inclusion of participants. This study aims to contribute to knowledge concerning what variations of information practices can be found in biodiversity citizen science and what these practices may mean for the overall collaborative biodiversity data production in such projects.

Design/methodology/approach

Fifteen semi-structured interviews were carried out with participants engaged with the Swedish biodiversity citizen science information system Artportalen. The empirical data were analysed through a practice-theoretical lens investigating information practices in general and variations of practices in particular.

Findings

The analysis shows that the nexus of biodiversity citizen science information practices consists of observing, identifying, reporting, collecting, curating and validating species as well as decision-making. Information practices vary depending on participants’ technical know-how; knowledge production and learning; and preservation motivations. The study also found that reporting tools and field guides are significant for the formation of information practices. Competition was found to provide data quantity and knowledge growth but may inflict data bias. Finally, a discrepancy between practices of validating and decision-making have been noted, which could be mitigated by involving intermediary participants for mutual understandings of data.

Originality/value

The study places an empirically grounded information practice-theoretical perspective on citizen science participation, extending previous research seeking to model participant activities. Furthermore, the study nuances previous practice-oriented perspectives on citizen science by emphasising variations of practices.

A study of non-users of digital libraries: the case of the Capes digital library in Brazil

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the reasons that hinder the use of digital libraries.

Design/methodology/approach

This study analyzed data obtained through a web survey sent to 14,763 faculty members in Brazilian universities. Of the 6,689 respondents, 1,075 (16.1%) reported not using the Capes digital library and 1,017 answered the questionnaire for non-users.

Findings

Results showed that the main reasons for non-use are lack of knowledge of the existence of the Capes digital library, use of other resources, preference for printed journals and difficulty of access. Eight factors of non-use were elicited: insufficient dissemination, inadequacies in contents, in infrastructure, in access policy, in training and in the interface, personal constraints and personal attitude. The reasons and factors for non-use were categorized as intrinsic and extrinsic to the digital library. Intrinsic reasons relate to characteristics of the Capes digital library. Extrinsic factors are influenced by user characteristics. The chi-square test demonstrated that the variables: area of knowledge, age, hours dedicated to research and computer skills influence non-use.

Originality/value

This study has contributed to research about non-users of digital libraries, differing from previous research by surveying a large-scale population and by investigating in a single work the reasons for non-use, other electronic sources used by non-users, advantages of using the digital library and intention of non-users to become users if barriers were removed. Qualitative data complemented the quantitative data collected which allowed a more complete picture of the respondent’s positions.

Reading practices in scholarly work: from articles and books to blogs

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of reading in scholarly work among academics in Finland. This study analyzes readings from a variety of publication types including books, conference proceedings, research reports, magazines, newspapers, blogs, non-fiction and fiction.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey was developed and distributed in Finland in 2016–2017 (n=528). Participants were asked their finding and use of scholarly information resources of all types.

Findings

Scholars read from a variety of publications. Different types of publications are read and used differently. Reading also varies between disciplines, ranks, work responsibilities and type of research performed.

Research limitations/implications

The study was a nationwide study of researchers in Finland; therefore, all findings are within the context of researchers in a single country. All results are self-reported; therefore, the authors assume but cannot be sure that respondents accurately recollect the specifics of their use of scholarly information.

Practical implications

The results of this study are relevant to publishers, research librarians, editors and others who serve consumers of scholarly information resources, design information products and services for those scholars, and seek to better understand the information needs and use of a variety of types of scholarly publications.

Originality/value

This study replicates previous studies in a variety of countries and provides a more up-to-date and single-country contextualized overview of how researchers find and use scholarly information in their work.

Exploring the use of electronic resources by humanities scholars during the research process

Purpose

This study aims to examine the types of documents that humanities scholars use in their publications, how humanities scholars use electronic resources during their research, and their opinions are regarding their library’s acquisition policy for electronic and printed resources.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 13 university faculty members from the fields of Chinese literature, history and philosophy participated in this study. The documents cited in their publications were analyzed and in-depth interviews were conducted.

Findings

The results showed that books were the dominant document type cited by the participants. They frequently used electronic resources during the stages of idea generation; document search and collection; and interpretation and writing. If they used an ancient book in an electronic format, they cross-checked it with its printed version to verify the accuracy of the text. Although the participants anticipated that the university library would favour e-journals instead of printed journals, they expected the university library to continue purchasing printed books.

Originality/value

Many university libraries encounter difficulties in choosing between materials in electronic and printed formats, particularly in the humanities field. The study findings provide a clear understanding of how humanities scholars use electronic resources in the digital age.

Exploring attitudes towards information competencies of students and faculty: A disciplinary perspective

Based on the importance related to a number of generic information literacy competencies, as stated by students and faculty members at a single institution, the aim of this paper is a deeper understanding of the structure which underlies this motivation component. From a starting exploratory factor analysis, Structural Equation Modeling statistics provides a model of structural relationships based on three motivational categories, related to seeking, analysis-evaluation and information synthesis-communication. This provisionally accepted Seeking-Analysis-Synthesis model allows for the better knowledge of belief-in-importance differences between groups of students and faculty, as well as among five areas of knowledge. A series of weak points in need of specific motivational interventions has been identified.

Scholarly communication in the age of Google

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the use patterns of scholarly e-journals by academics for teaching, research and keeping themselves up-to-date. The study also looks at differences in the use patterns across 12 disciplines.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted to explore academics’ use patterns of scholarly e-journals in 12 disciplines. The University of the Punjab was used for the sample population. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to all regular and contractual academics of Lahore campuses of the University. After follow up, 457 questionnaires were received with a response rate of 54 per cent. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric statistics were used to analyse data.

Findings

The results showed that the academics made more frequent use of e-journals, online reference sources and discussion with colleagues for scholarly activities. E-journals were used predominantly for research-related activities rather than for teaching and instruction. Academics obtained e-journal articles primarily from open access sources, i.e. general search engines and Google Scholar as compared to subscribed and other sources of e-journal articles. Disciplinary differences were also found in academics’ use patterns of e-journals. However, academics showed just satisfactory skills regarding use of advanced searching techniques and evaluation of the quality of e-journals.

Practical implications

Findings will be helpful for information professionals to review their policies and practices in relation to e-journal services for academic community. The needs for e-literacy skills to use e-journals will also be identified and findings will be significant for information professionals in arranging information literacy instruction programmes for targeted disciplines.

Originality/value

Most of e-journals use studies focused on specific disciplines – Sciences, Life Sciences, Engineering and Technology and Social Sciences. This research study is valuable that investigated use patterns of e-journals across 12 different disciplines at the University of the Punjab.

Modes of information seeking

Persona is increasingly used to create a model that represents user behaviour. This requires a thorough understanding of users’ information-seeking behaviour, their goals, their expectations, their needs, and their forms of action. The objective of this study is to use personas to gain insight into the information seeking activities of humanities scholars. The humanities scholars at Yarmouk University Jordan, which is situated in an ICT-enriched setting, are selected as a case. Five models of information seeking behaviour are integrated to be the conceptual model of this study. Seven modes of active information seeking emerged from the research findings: a) decision to seek information by the scholars or intermediary, b) exploration, c) monitoring, d) accessing, e) categorization, f) purification, and g) satisfaction. The four personas uncovered in this study had different judgments of information seeking, depending on their computer literacy and the types and formats of information sources needed. Similarly, the personas had different priority lists on exploring, monitoring, accessing, categorizing and purifying information. However, the reaction of satisfaction after the search closure was similar in all personas. Using personas as a precise description of a typical library user and what he or she wishes to accomplish provides a clear picture of humanities scholars’ information seeking behaviour. This may lead to a better understanding of the information seeking activities and strategies they believe can address their information needs. Knowing users’ information seeking behaviour is crucial for librarians in order to provide suitable information sources and desirable library services. The library management can use the personas to focus on the unique goals of a specific person to develop a product and service that satisfies the needs of various library users.

Information Seeking Behavior of Health Sciences Faculty at the College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana

Reports on a survey of convenient access to, and use of, electronic databases (CD-ROM and online) including full text journals and their effect on information seeking behavior of health sciences faculty at the College of Health Sciences of the University of Ghana Medical School. The survey documented preferences between print and electronic resource use, and the specific databases and full text journals that faculty have particularly found useful. The results showed faculty lack of awareness and use of the two most resourceful full text journal databases available at the library (HINARI and PERI), hence they resorted to PUBMED as their source of access to full text articles. Concludes that most faculty now prefer using electronic access to information (CD-ROM/online) than traditional print indexes and abstracts. Includes recommendations for more functional and effective use of these electronic databases and full text journals that are available at the library.

A practice-based exploration of the enactment of information literacy among PhD students in an interdisciplinary research field

Purpose

– The study aims to explore the interaction between the students, the material objects surrounding them, and their social site. The purpose of this paper is to identify and elucidate information literacy as it is being enacted within a complex and heterogeneous community of PhD students.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study is conducted from a practice-based perspective, according to which information literacy is conceived as learnt through interaction within the socio-material practice where the learner is active. In order to produce empirical material, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten doctoral students in an interdisciplinary research network, and their workplaces were visited.

Findings

– The PhD students in this interdisciplinary network are more or less constantly engaged in the enactment of information literacy. It takes place in dialogue with others who can be both co-located and distantly located, and occurs through discussions about work in progress, through processes of evaluation and assessment of texts and authors, and through mundane everyday activities such as participating in meetings, which offer insights into how to navigate, in the broadest sense, the world of academia. A crucial part of the enactment of information literacy, which in practice is inseparable from interaction with others, is to pay attention to physical surroundings and material objects.

Practical implications

– The findings have implications for prospective PhD students in interdisciplinary fields, for their supervisors, and potentially also for librarians who are supposed to serve these groups.

Originality/value

– Research on the information literacies of PhD students in interdisciplinary fields is scarce. The practice-based approach applied in this study offers an extended and deepened understanding of the enactment of information literacy among PhD students in one interdisciplinary research practice.

Replacing the ideology of information by exploring domains of knowledge

Purpose

– This paper examines the structure of Philippine historiography as viewed by Filipino historians. The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the knowledge domain of Philippine history and in particular how its practitioners organize their field of study in terms of periodization. At the end of the paper an application of this analysis is proposed, the development of an online encyclopaedia of Philippine history.

Design/methodology/approach

– Interviews were arranged with willing historians at two of the premier institutions of higher learning in the Philippines: the Ateneo de Manila and University of the Philippines. The historians were asked three general questions: what in their opinion, are the key defining events in Philippine history? What are the key historians for each of those events? And what are the key debates regarding these events? For the purpose of this paper it is the results of the first question that are in focus as it deals with one of the fundamental tools of historical analysis, periodization.

Findings

– Philippine history was found to be periodized in a variety of ways, from the traditional to other approaches that stress either Filipino rather than colonial agency or the uneven trajectories of historical development that depend on region, class, or language group. A final approach viewed Filipino history as a network of relations spanning space and time. Wikis designed around the results of domain analysis make it possible to provide information on topics of importance to a discipline as well as reveal something of its deeper structure. Combined with traditional concerns, such as use of appropriate sources, this would serve to help develop a deeper awareness of the nature of knowledge production.

Originality/value

– This paper represents both a contribution to the study of knowledge domains, as well as an application of that study to the work of information professionals. Putting the spotlight on Philippine historians and history also helps the LIS discipline to move away from its traditional North American and European focus. Studies of knowledge producing bodies in the rest of the world are important and overdue.

Scaffolding in information search: Effects on less experienced searchers

This study aims to investigate how expert scaffolded training could help, from novice postgraduate students’ point of view, and foster development of information search ability among postgraduate students. Using a quasiexperimental design over a year and a half, eight doctoral students (novice searchers) participated in a series of five sessions with an expert searcher who was an information professional. A novice-expert comparison examined the differences between novices and experts in information searching; and the effect of scaffolding sessions in which the expert information searcher helped novice information searchers was examined. Findings showed differences existed between the novice and the expert searchers in use of complex formulation of query statements, choice of keywords, and operators. Scaffolding sessions with the expert searcher resulted in self-reported and observable improvement in information searching among the novice searchers. The paper concludes with a discussion of the design of information retrieval systems and recommendations for library programmes to support the continued development of research students’ information literacy skills.

Scholarly uses of TV content: bibliometric and content analysis of the information use environment

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of television (TV) content for scholarly purposes. It focuses on: profile of scholars using TV content; the structure of their need for TV content; the situations in which scholars need TV content; and their patterns of use of TV content in each research stage.

Design/methodology/approach

– Taylor’s four components of the information use environment has contributed to the development of a conceptual framework. The data from the use of TV content by 668 scholars were profiled using correspondence analysis and co-word analysis. Additionally, the data from 15 interviews and content from 240 journal articles were analysed.

Findings

– The authors determined that the environment of the scholarly use of TV content is unique in terms of the scholars’ academic domains, research topics, motivation, and patterns of use. Six academic domains were identified as having used TV content to a meaningful degree, and their knowledge structure was presented as a map depicting the scholars’ needs for TV content. Scholars are likely to use TV content when they deal with timely social and cultural topics, or human behaviour. The scholars also showed different patterns of use of TV content at each stage of research.

Originality/value

– In this study, TV content was newly examined from the perspective of an information source for scholarly purposes, and it was found to be a meaningful source in several domains. This result extends the knowledge of information sources in scholarly communication and information services.

Medical scientists' information practices in the research work context

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to investigate the information practices of medical scientists in the research work context.

METHODS

This is a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews. The interviews were transcribed and analysed in a web tool for qualitative analysis. Activity theory was used as the theoretical framework.

RESULTS

The generating motives for the information related activity come from the core activity, research work. The motives result in actions such as searching and using information. Usability, accessibility and ease of use are the most important conditions that determine information related operations. Medical scientists search and use information most of all in the beginning and at the end of the research work.

CONCLUSIONS

Information practices appear as an instrument producing activity to the central activity. Information services should be embedded in this core activity and in practice libraries should follow researchers' workflow and embed their tools and services in it.

Webometrics as a method for identifying the most accredited free electronic journals

Purpose

– The present study aims at determining the most accredited free English electronic journals (EJs) in Medical Sciences, as finding free scholarly EJs including medical ones is difficult in the web environment.

Design/methodology/approach

– The research population consisted of 700 free EJs of Medical Sciences, which were collected from two reputable websites, namely, Directory of Open Access Journals and Free Medical Journals. After first screening, 269 free EJs including 76 journals in health, 4 journals in nursing, 175 journals in medicine and 14 free EJs in dentistry remained for final investigation […].

Findings

– The most accredited journals in four medical disciplines studied here are health: New South Wales Public Health Bulletin, PLoS Biology and Environmental Health Perspectives – National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; nursing: Online Journal of Rural Nursing and Health Care and Online Journal of Nursing Informatics […].

Originality/value

– This research can be treated as an addition to the webometrics literature.

Chen S. Cognitive styles and the use of electronic journals in a mobile context

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine how different cognitive style groups use electronic journals via mobile devices, with an emphasis on the use of search mechanisms, the approaches to judge the relevance and to refine the results, the use of horizontal screens, and on the influence of negative emotions.

Design/methodology/approach

– Participants’ cognitive styles were identified as Holists and Serialists with Ford's Study Preference Questionnaire. The behaviour of the participants interacting with the ScienceDirect was observed and was analysed with both traditional statistics and data mining.

Findings

– Holists prefer to use multiple searches when undertaking the Expert Search only, which is a complex search mechanism. Conversely, Serialists have a tendency to use multiple searches, irrespective of the complexity of search mechanisms. Additionally, the Expert Search may be helpful for Serialists while the Basic Search seems beneficial to Holists. Regarding the judgement of relevance, Holists tend to use a variety of approaches while Serialists prefer to use a single approach. In general, the major results of this study confirm those of Vilar and Žumer (2008).

Originality/value

– The novelty of this study covers two aspects. One is to examine the behaviour of Holists and Serialists in the mobile context of electronic journals and the other is to analyse data with an integrative approach that combines both traditional statistics and data mining. The former contributes to the understandings of how to design mobile electronic journals that can accommodate the needs of different cognitive style groups. The latter can not only strengthen the reliability of the results obtained from traditional statistics, but also discover findings neglected by traditional statistics.

Uncovering information literacy’s disciplinary differences through students’ attitudes: An empirical study

This paper uses a self-assessment questionnaire (IL-HUMASS) with a wide sample of university students. The questionnaire puts forward a scale of attitudes that aim to measure ‘belief in importance’ and ‘skills self-assessment’ regarding diverse information competences. We use a group of 26 information sub-competences gathered in four categories (searching, evaluation, processing and communication-dissemination). The results show some considerable differences in these categories when statistically comparing 17 university degrees related to five branches of knowledge. It is proved that attitudes appreciably vary between branches, in reverse relation to the interdisciplinary differences we have found. An improvement regarding students’ informational attitudes will help reduce the interdisciplinary differences. The results of this study suggest the feasibility of shared training actions for some information competences in the branches of Sciences, Engineering & Architecture, and Health Sciences. The branches of Arts & Humanities and Social & Legal Sciences show considerable widespread attitudinal differences that advise against that shared training.

How Twitter Is Studied in the Medical Professions: A Classification of Twitter Papers Indexed in PubMed

Background

Since their inception, Twitter and related microblogging systems have provided a rich source of information for researchers and have attracted interest in their affordances and use. Since 2009 PubMed has included 123 journal articles on medicine and Twitter, but no overview exists as to how the field uses Twitter in research.

Objective

This paper aims to identify published work relating to Twitter within the fields indexed by PubMed, and then to classify it. This classification will provide a framework in which future researchers will be able to position their work, and to provide an understanding of the current reach of research using Twitter in medical disciplines.

Methods

Papers on Twitter and related topics were identified and reviewed. The papers were then qualitatively classified based on the paper’s title and abstract to determine their focus. The work that was Twitter focused was studied in detail to determine what data, if any, it was based on, and from this a categorization of the data set size used in the studies was developed. Using open coded content analysis additional important categories were also identified, relating to the primary methodology, domain, and aspect.

Results

As of 2012, PubMed comprises more than 21 million citations from biomedical literature, and from these a corpus of 134 potentially Twitter related papers were identified, eleven of which were subsequently found not to be relevant. There were no papers prior to 2009 relating to microblogging, a term first used in 2006. Of the remaining 123 papers which mentioned Twitter, thirty were focused on Twitter (the others referring to it tangentially). The early Twitter focused papers introduced the topic and highlighted the potential, not carrying out any form of data analysis. The majority of published papers used analytic techniques to sort through thousands, if not millions, of individual tweets, often depending on automated tools to do so. Our analysis demonstrates that researchers are starting to use knowledge discovery methods and data mining techniques to understand vast quantities of tweets: the study of Twitter is becoming quantitative research.

Conclusions

This work is to the best of our knowledge the first overview study of medical related research based on Twitter and related microblogging. We have used 5 dimensions to categorize published medical related research on Twitter. This classification provides a framework within which researchers studying development and use of Twitter within medical related research, and those undertaking comparative studies of research, relating to Twitter in the area of medicine and beyond, can position and ground their work.

Psychologists’ research activities and professional information-seeking behaviour: Empirical analyses with reference to the theory of the Intellectual and Social Organization of the Sciences

Five facets of professional information-seeking behaviour were analysed in a sample of 298 psychology researchers from the German-speaking countries. In an online survey data were gathered on (1) information-processing behaviour during research project development, research implementation, results publication, use of citation databases, and preferred publication language, (2) scientists’ functional dependence, strategic dependence, technical uncertainty, and strategic uncertainty with reference to the theory of the Intellectual and Social Organization of the Sciences, (3) scientists’ engagement in Big vs Little Science and (4) in psychological subdisciplines, and (5) scientists’ personal characteristics (age, job position, sex, information competence, cognitive style). Empirical results refer to (1) the construction of economical psychometric Scales on Perceived Mutual Dependence and Task Uncertainty in the Sciences (S-DUS) and (2) the prediction of information behaviour by the DUS-scales, research engagement in Big vs Little Sciences and in subdisciplines, as well as age in hierarchical regression analyses. The paper discusses the broad usability of the S-DUS and the result that different facets of scientists’ information behaviour require differential predictors.