Information-seeking behavior of Scientists and their adaptation to electronic journals

Abstract

This paper presents a study that was conducted at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) during the Spring 2001 semester. The study examined the affect of electronic journals on the information-seeking behavior of scientists over the past ten years. The author attempted to prove that the relationship has become stronger at the Institute during this time frame and that it has, in turn, affected the physical usage of the library. An end-user survey, which was distributed to approximately 200 scientists, was employed as the method of evaluation. The main goal of this research was to better inform the librarians at the NIEHS Library about the preferences of their patrons and assist them in making important decisions about the library's physical and electronic collection. Among the results it is revealed that a majority of the scientists have integrated e-journals into their information-seeking routine and considered them an important resource.