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Connecting with Faculty Perceptions and Behaviors

Dr. Karla HahnCollection Management Team Leader

University of Maryland Libraries

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The issueWhat are they thinking?

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Research at the University of Maryland

Improving our understanding of faculty perceptions, behaviors, and needs

What do we experience at the digital crossroads? Why do we care what faculty think and do? How do we get into their heads?

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Research at the University of Maryland

Developing the survey

1. Decide how we want to use the data2. Determine what questions have answers that

would affect our behavior as collection managers3. Test whether we are asking questions that will

allow users to tell us what we want to know4. Gather the data

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Research at the University of Maryland

The results: Faculty use of library journals

At least monthly

Never

Use library print journals 58% 12%Use e-versions of library print jnls 51% 31%Use electronic-only journals 29% 42%

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Research at the University of Maryland

The results: Preferred formats for journals

Core journals

Non-core titles

Print 8% 16%Electronic 20% 70%Both Print and Electronic 70% 7%

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Research at the University of Maryland The results: Issues created by conversion to e-only

Positive

impactNegative impact

Very important

Convenience of use 64% 9% 62%Obtaining a copy of article 63% 16% 62%Timely release of article 58% 2% 37%Access to back issues 49% 18% 63%Browsing 48% 26% 47%Reliable access 42% 13% 61%Access to full content 35% 16% 59%Cost of subscription 29% 5% 18%Image quality 20% 30% 30%Layout 17% 24% 14%

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Interpreting the Maryland research

How do the findings affect collection management?

We need to think differently about this issues We need to make decisions differently We need to deal with two problems, converting too

fast and converting too slow

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Research at the University of Maryland

What did we learn about connecting?

“What do we want to ask?” vs “What will influence our actions?”

The challenge of avoiding monumental thinking The importance of creating a context of print and

electronic We need to challenge our thinking of our role

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Other research Getting into their heads

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Connecting with the Sci Tech Community

Carol Tenopir and Don King

Oak Ridge National Laboratory University of Tennessee, Knoxville Survey research

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Sci Tech (Tenopir and King)

Research Questions:

How much are scientists using electronic journals and other electronic sources of article?

Scientists’ relative use of print and electronic sources of journal articles?

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Sci Tech (Tenopir and King)Table 1 Average article readings and the time spent

reading by workfield per year per scientist

Article readings

Time spent reading (hours

per year)UT medical faculty 322 ~118UT all faculty 240 ~139Engineers 72 ~92Physicists 204 ~153Chemists 276 ~198

Extracted from Tenopir and King, 2002, Reading behaviour and electronic journals. Learned Publishing. 15(4):259-266.

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Sci Tech (Tenopir and King)Table 2 Average number of readings of articles per

person by age of article read, ORNL 1984 and 2000

1984 20001 59.4 80.22 12.9 10.23 5.9 4.54-5 11.9 6.86-10 4.0 4.511-15 3.0 2.3over 15 4.0 4.5Note: Readings for 2000 adjusted from 8 months to a year

Age of article (years) Readings per person

Tenopir and King, 2002, Reading behaviour and electronic journals. Learned Publishing. 15(4):259-266.

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Sci Tech (Tenopir and King)Table 3 Sources of articles read, UT 2000-2001

Tenopir and King, 2002, Reading behaviour and electronic journals. Learned Publishing. 15(4):259-266.

Source PercentPersonal print subscription 41Library print subscr. 24Library electronic subscr. 8Separate copy/reprint 6Separate copy/colleague 5Free web journal 4Other 3Personal electronic subscr. 3Separate copy/author's web pg 2Separate copy/preprint 2Separate copy/ILL 1Separate copy/personal copy 1

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Sci Tech (Tenopir and King)Finding articles (extracted from text)

How scientists find articlesSearching electronic indexes or citations 25%Searching print indexes 0%Citations in other publications 12%Browsing 45%

Browsing as a way of finding articlesBrowsing of personal subscriptions 20%Browsing digital journals 20%Browsing of print collection at library 4%

Extracted from Tenopir and King, 2002, Reading behaviour and electronic journals. Learned Publishing. 15(4):259-266.

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Connecting with Humanists

Brockman, Neumann, Palmer, Tidline

Humanists at the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago

Qualitative interviews of 33 humanists In depth case studies of 5 humanists

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Humanists (Brockman et al.)

Research questions:

How do humanities scholars think about, organize, and perform their research?

How are information sources used throughout the research process?

How do electronic information sources affect work practices?

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Humanists (Brockman et al.)

Findings

Humanists scholars read broadly and often interact deeply with texts.

Emphasize the diversity of information sources used from journals to books to primary source materials in various forms.

Books are not preferred to journals as is typically asserted, instead they are used in different ways.

Summarized from Brockman et al., 2001, Scholarly work in the humanities and the evolving information environment. DLF and CLIR.

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Humanists (Brockman et al.)

Findings (cont.)

Wide adoption of information technology. Where electronic resources are available, scholars

are using them with the exception of finding aids. Extensive and sophisticated use was made of

online catalogs and indexing and abstracting resources.

Summarized from Brockman et al., 2001, Scholarly work in the humanities and the evolving information environment. DLF and CLIR.

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Focus on teaching

Digital Library Federation contract with Outsell

Survey of Faculty and Students Research Institutions and Liberal Arts Colleges

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Focus on teaching (Outsell Survey)Faculty use of print and electronic resources

Extracted from Friedlander, 2002, Dimensions and Use of the Scholarly Information Environment. DLF.

Use print "all or most of the time"

Use print "None of the time"

Use electronic "All or most of the time"

Use electronic "None of the time"

For Research, Teaching and CourseworkAll Faculty 67.8% 0.1% 34.7% 3.1%Arts and Hum 78.4% 0.0% 24.9% 3.8%Biol Sci 58.8% 0.7% 48.4% 1.6%Phys Sci and Math 62.2% 0.6% 46.6% 1.6%

For TeachingAll Faculty 73.5% 0.9% 22.7% 7.7%Arts and Hum 80.0% 0.9% 13.5% 12.6%Biol Sci 77.7% 2.1% 21.8% 6.8%Phys Sci and Math 63.7% 1.4% 17.7% 17.7%

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Connecting faculty with a new vision for collection management

Connecting behavior, attitudes, and perceptions Connecting (and disconnecting) print and electronic Acknowledging the complexity of decision-making

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Questions and Discussion