How Unique Are Our Users? Part 2: Comparing Responses Regarding the Information-Seeking Habits of Education Faculty

ing Tools 12.408 11 0.334 35.5–62.1 Browsing through Older Volumes 12.201 11 0.349 11.4–35.5 Personal Communication 10.394 11 0.495 31.3–58.3 Citations at the End of Journal Articles 9.191 11 0.604 79.2–96.9 456 College & Research Libraries September 2013 How Unique Are Our Users? 457 The researchers were also interested in the factors influencing a faculty member’s choice to use a resource or service and asked three questions related to this. Faculty were asked which factor most influenced their use of a current information source and were given six choices as well as the option to provide their own answer. These choices included: least time to track down the information, convenience, currency, authoritativeness (reliable, complete information), familiarity, and reliably available/no wait or hassle. The faculty members’ responses to this question were not found to be statistically significantly tied to the respondents’ institution (df=66, p=0.436). Respondents were asked to indicate which factors might limit their use of the library’s electronic services and resources and were allowed to select all that applied. Of the seven choices, only two were found to be statistically significantly associated to the respondents’ institutions—hard to find on library website (p=0.022) and unavailability of needed electronic resources/services (p=0.048) (see table 7). It stands to reason that these factors would be influenced by a faculty member’s home institution, given that subscriptions and library websites are specific to the institution whereas access restrictions and lack of time are likely more ubiquitous. Faculty were asked how the library’s electronic resources and services improve finding needed information and were allowed to select all that applied (see table 8). Only one choice—provides access to full text publications (p=0.038)—was found to be statistically significantly associated to the respondents’ institution. While the p value indicates the response variation is statistically significantly tied Table 7 Factors limiting Use of library’s electronic Services/Resources Correlated with Institution