Julia Bauder, Grinnell College & Jenny Emanuel, University of Illinois

Be Where our Faculty Are: Emerging Technology Use and Faculty Information Seeking Workflows

ConclusionsNo statistical differences between schools….

This research is a small step towards determining what online tools will best serve academic library users in our increasingly digital future. Using this data, it is possible to begin investigating where libraries should integrate their content to be in faculty members’ online workflows, and whether libraries need to be in different Web spaces to reach faculty. Additional research can investigate potential methods for integrating library content into these spaces and assess the impact of such integration. An upcoming survey of students will expand on this research, allowing for comparisons of the online habits of students and faculty.

Aim See what tools are faculty are using“Be where our students are” has become a mantra for many academic libraries as they promote library events on Facebook, answer reference questions via text message, and add their digital image collections to Flickr.

But what about faculty? How are professors integrating popular emerging technologies into their scholarly workflows, and how can libraries uses those technologies to support faculty information-seeking?

Big School vs. Small School We studied two very different schools – a small, private liberal arts college and a research I university, both in the Midwest, to see if there are differences between the two campuses. The research I school is well known for it’s engineering and computer science programs, and technology use is encouraged throughout campus for research, teaching, and other uses.

Introduction 

Method

Grinnell College developed a survey titled the “Faculty Reference Preferences Survey” that was administered to faculty in the Spring of 2009. Since Grinnell College is small, the tested sample was small. The researcher sent a call for librarians to repeat the survey at other institutions, to which the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) responded.

UIUC adapted the survey to reflect their campus library environment and surveyed non-library faculty in the spring of 2010. Both surveys were conducted online, utilizing survey software licensed by each institution.

The survey instrument consisted of 38 questions about the strategies and technologies faculty members use to gather information for research and teaching. All responses were anonymous.

Samples of the questions asked:•How do you find out about articles in your field?•How do you find out about new books in your field?•Asked how often individuals used web based tools, including

• The library website• Email• Text messaging• RSS readers• Web portals• Online bookstores• Social networking tools• Google Scholar• Wikipedia

•Asked if faculty would use tools such as• A personalized library homepage• Email/RSS feeds for new books or journal

table of contents• Mobile library services – text messaging,

website, and library catalog•Basic demographic information

Full text of the Grinnell College survey is at http://www.grinnell.edu/node/58631/

Demographics/Results

Results

Not Tenured Tenured0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Participants by Rank and Institution

Grinnell Illinois

At least once a day13%

At least once a week50%

At least once a month22%

Less than once a month/never

12%

I don't know what this is2%

Use of Library Website

Google Google Scholar Google Books0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Google Usage

I don't know what this isLess than once a month/neverAt least once a monthAt least once a weekAt least once a day

Junior

Faculty

29.90%

14.60%

24.10%

17.50%

18.30%

12.90%

25.30%

50.30%

2.30%

4.70%

Social Networking UseAt least once a day At least once a week

At least once a month Less than once a month/never

I don't know what this is

Mobile Web Mobile Email Text Messaging0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Mobile Use

At least once a day At least once a weekAt least once a month Less than once a month/neverI don't know what this is

36%

41%

18%

5%

Faculty Use of Personalized Library Home Page

Definitely UseProbably UseProbably Not UseDefinitely Not Use

Definitely Use Probably Use Probably Not Use Definitely Not Use

79

109

56

21

101 99

51

15

Email Alert ServicesNew Books Email TOC Email

Website

Catalog

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Desire for Mobile Library Services

Definitely Not UseProbably Not UseProbably UseDefinitely Use