Information seeking behavior of scientists in the electronic information age: Astronomers, chemists, mathematicians, and physicists

The information seeking behavior of astronomers, chemists, mathematicians, and physicists at the University of Oklahoma was assessed using an electronically distributed questionnaire. All of the scientists surveyed relied greatly on the journal literature to support their research and creative activities. The mathematicians surveyed indicated an additional reliance on monographs, preprints, and attendance at conferences and personal communication to support their research activities. Similarly, all scientists responding scanned the latest issues of journals to keep abreast of current developments in their fields, with the mathematicians again reporting attendance at conferences and personal communication. Despite an expression by the scientists for more electronic services, the majority preferred access to journal articles in a print, rather than an electronic, form. The primary deficit in library services appeared to be in access to electronic bibliographic databases. The data suggest that a primary goal of science libraries is to obtain access to as many appropriate electronic bibliographic finding aids and databases possible. Although the results imply the ultimate demise of the printed bibliographic reference tool, they underscore the continued importance to scientists of the printed peer-reviewed journal article.