Use of social networks for academic purposes: a case study

Extensive research has tracked how electronic publishing is influencing the informationseeking and reading behaviour of scholars. Tenopir et al. (2009) showed that scholars’ use of electronic information has increased substantially over time as academic libraries transit from print to electronic collections. The adoption of electronic information in academic settings has been extremely successful. Despite minor disciplinary differences — more related to the amount of electronic information available in each field than to substantial differences in scholars’ inclination towards the use electronic resources — electronic databases and journals have been rapidly adopted by scholars. Recent research in the United Kingdom (Nicholas et al., 2010) shows that academic journals are central to all academic fields and that the electronic form is the prime means of access. Similarly, in the United States, Niu et al. (2010) report the predominance of the use of electronic methods for searching and accessing scholarly content.