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Radovan Vrana , PhD

Libraries in the digital age 2004. Use of electronic information resources among the Croatian scientists in the field of social sciences in a pre-digital library environment: obstacles and opportunities. Radovan Vrana , PhD

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Radovan Vrana , PhD

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  1. Libraries in the digital age 2004 Use of electronic information resources among the Croatian scientists in the field of social sciences in a pre-digital library environment: obstacles and opportunities Radovan Vrana, PhD Department for information sciencesFaculty of philosophy, University of Zagreb rvrana@ffzg.hr

  2. Introduction

  3. Introduction • Digital material scientists use in various forms • ...represents knowledge which production is heavily dependent on the use of information and communication technologies in the process of research • ...is dependent on sources of data and information that are accessed through the use of this information and communication technology

  4. Introduction • Necessity of building digital library effectively on understanding of how users seek and employ digital materials (insight into user behavior, capabilities and preferences) (Marcum 2003)

  5. Introduction • Focus: • Croatian scientists in the field of social sciences and their interaction with printed and electronic information resources for research and teaching • Special focus: • Use of information resources in electronic environment by scientists in the field of social sciences in Croatia ina pre-digital library environment • Insufficient data about scientists' behavior, needs and preferences towards the use printed and/or electronic resources in general

  6. Research

  7. Areas lacking research • Areas of scholarly communication lacking research (Zhang 2001): • Research using the citation analysis approach to examine the impact of Internet-based electronic resources, • Research to explore details of scholars' use of Internet-related resources and factors affecting their use, • Citation behavior regarding e-sources, • Scholars' evaluation of e-sources, • Scholars' perspectives on using e-sources

  8. Research • Social sciences often neglected • Collecting data about • scientists’ use of IT, Internet • use of the existing printed and electronic resources for research and teaching • publishing • scientists' attitudes and expectations about the future of their work and use of electronic information resources in general (and (future) digital libraries – implicitly)

  9. Research • General goal: • Research on prerequisites for development of digital libraries by exploring user needs, capabilities and preferences as well as obstacles they encounter while using existing electronic information resources in a pre-digital environment

  10. Research • 5 Croatian universities (Zagreb, Rijeka, Split, Zadar, Osijek) • 16 faculties in the field of social sciences in Croatia • Research and teaching staff (all academic positions) • Geographically scattered sample • different availability of resources • different use of IT • different information needs...

  11. Research • Survey • 35 questions • Divided in three parts: • Scientific communication and new technologies • Information resources for research and teaching • Publishing

  12. Results

  13. Reading electronic journals

  14. Selection criteria

  15. Preferred type of journals (reading)

  16. Preferred types of journals: reasons • Printed: reading habit,reading on any location, reliability (unchangeable), ability to underline, cheaper, appropriate for citing, computer unrelated • Electronic: practical use, larger quantity of quality journals, ability to search, availability, cheaper than printed journals, easy storage (in computer), less storage space

  17. Access to full-text databases

  18. No access • Don’t access: • In don’t like the Internet as an information source, too much information and too little of them are valuable • My institution doesn’t have access to electronic databases • My faculty doesn’t have access to very expensive legal databases, so i do the searching only of the free part • I don’t need them

  19. Time saving

  20. Searching FTDs: failure

  21. Failure

  22. Publishing on Web

  23. Publishing in electronic journals

  24. Publishing in electronic journals

  25. Conclusion • Frequent and direct communication between scientists – exchange of ideas, research data, opinions, draft papers... • Differences between universities • Motives for use of electronic resources? • Immediate evaluation of electronic resources (question of quality of available information)

  26. Conclusion • IT – cause and means for change • Large capacity of the Croatian academic computer network still unused • Need for more published papers in electronic publications – a critical mass for true paradigm shift + criteria for evaluation of electronic resources • Hesitation towards publishing in electronic form

  27. Conclusion • Now: Pre-conditions for larger dissemination of information in electronic form • Understanding user needs and preferences necessary for development of future digital libraries in Croatia • More research needed – good basis for new projects

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