World Library and Information Congress, Milan, 2009 - IFLA

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320 David Beno Conclusions The data obtained by the current survey regarding the extent of use of Internet in general and of the Internet for study and research purposes by the academic population in Israel, is somewhat surprising. First, it was found that the overwhelming majority of the academic population (about 94 percent) uses the Internet at least several times a week for browsing, electronic mail, information retrieval, shopping, and other uses. About 80 percent of the respondents reported a high or very high frequency of use of the Surface Web for seeking information for their study or research. The last fi nding should raise concern among the academic community in Israel in general, and information professionals in particular, since the Surface Web is not perceived as qualitative or reliable. In contrast to the use of the Surface Web, only about 28 percent of the survey respondents reported a high or very high use frequency of academic e-journals, 40 percent – a high or very high use frequency of digital databases, and only about 13 percent – a high or very high use frequency of e-books. A situation in which academics use the Surface Web two or three times more frequently than more authoritative electronic information sources provided by their library indicates a severe problem related to the quality of information these scholars opt to use, which may severely harm the quality and credibility of research based upon it. The survey fi ndings are worrying since it is well known that much Surface Web information is not reliable or authoritative. Similar data regarding the academic world’s domination by the Internet is starting to surface from other places in the world. For example, in a study conducted by the ARL in 2004 that included higher education institutions in the United States (Lippincot and Kyrillidou 2004), it was found that 67 percent of undergraduate students reported they search the Surface Web for information every day. This is three times greater than the number of undergraduates reporting that they use the digital information sources of academic libraries on a daily basis. The results of the current study, and similar studies elsewhere, refl ect a strong and worrying tendency for the Internet to dominate the academic world as a leading source of information for study and research purposes. The academic world, with all its diversity and variations, chooses to ignore the common perception that Internet information is inferior; it also ignores other problems related to it, such as its abundance of irrelevant and inaccurate information. The current research does not indicate what causes students and researchers to depend so heavily on Surface Web for their research. But it is reasonable to assume that it derives mainly from the ease and convenience of using Internet search engines. The user needs hardly any professional knowledge when searching for information using a search engine. The ease of use, simplicity of search, and availability, enables the user to access the required information easily and swiftly. The information, although it may not be the best or most authoritative, may be good enough considering the small amount of effort invested. In contrast, digital databases require more effort. Using them is more complicated – the user needs to know which databases to use and how to use them. It is likely that this issue causes a certain repulsion as opposed to the user-friendly search engines in the Internet. This assumption is worth testing and researching further. Notes 1. ‘Invisible Web’– there is no uniform defi nition for the term which was fi rst coined in the mid 90’s and has since undergone a few modifi cations. In practice, it refers to the portion of the information existing in the Web that search engines have not included into their databases, whether due to technical limitations or for cost-benefi t reasons (Sherman and Price, 2001). 2. ‘Surface Web’ – Information on the Web that is available for free and can be found by regular search engines. This content is available to the general public with no need for special authorizations. 3. NetLibrary is a division of OCLC Online Computer Library Center. OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofi t, membership, computer library service and research organization. References Al Harbi, H. (2002) Internet use by graduate students in the Communication Department of the Florida State University and its impact on the use of FSU Academic Library. PhD Dissertation. The Florida State University. (Retrieved 2 February 2004, from ProQuest Database) Falk, H. (2003) Electronic campuses. The Electronic Library, 21(1) 63–66. (Retrieved 11 January 2004 from Emerald Database) Friedlander, A. (2002) Dimensions and use of the scholarly information environment. [Electronic version]. Washington, DC. Digital Library Federation and
Council on Library and Information Resources. (Retrieved 14 May 2004 from: http://www.clir.org/ pubs/reports/pub110/contents.html#preface) Gotsch, C. and Reich, V. (1996) How users, publishers and librarians are responding to e-journal publication. [Electronic version]. Council on Library and Information Resources. (Retrieved 14 May 2004 from: http://www.clir.org/pubs/research/rb1.html) Jones, S. (2002) The Internet goes to college. [Electronic version]. PEW Internet & American Life Project. (Retrieved 22 February 2004 from: http://www. pewinternet.org/reports/reports.asp?Report=71&Se ction=ReportLeve1&Field=Level1ID&ID=316) Liew, C. and Foo, S. (2000) A study of graduate student end-users’ use and perception of electronic journals. Online Information Review, 24(4) 302–317. (Retrieved 2 February 2004, from Emerald Database) Lippincot, S. and Kyrillidou, M. (2004) How ARL university communities access information: highlights from LibQual+Tm. [Electronic version]. ARL Bimonthly Report, 236, October 2004. (Retrieved May 2006 from: http://www.arl.org/newsltr/236/lqaccess.html) Internet Use in Israeli Universities Perry, T.T., Perry, L.A. and Hosack-Curlin, K. (1998) Internet use by university students: an interdisciplinary study on three campuses. [Electronic version]. Internet Research, 8(2) 136–141. (Retrieved 22 January 2004 from Emerald database) Sherman, P. and Price, G. (2001) The invisible web. Medford, New Jersey: Information Today. Tenopir, C. (2003) Use and users of electronic library resources: an overview and analysis of recent research studies. [Electronic version]. Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources. (Retrieved 2 May from: http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/ pub120/pub120.pdf) Troll, D. (2002) How and why libraries are changing: what we know and what we need to know. [Electronic version]. Libraries and the Academy, 2(1) 99–123. (Retrieved 12 May 2005 from: http://www.diglib. org/use/whitepaper.htm) Urquhart, C. et al. (2005). Student use of electronic information services in further education. International Journal of Information Management, 25 (4) 347–362. (Retrieved 10 July 2006 from Elsevier Database) 321
Page 1 and 2: I FLA IFLA JOURNAL Offi cial Journa
Page 3 and 4: EDITORIAL After Milan Stephen Parke
Page 5 and 6: The President’s Page Ellen R. Tis
Page 7 and 8: One of the comments that was made a
Page 9 and 10: Electronic Book Collection Developm
Page 11 and 12: Social Sciences, Maths, Engineering
Page 13 and 14: Findings Electronic Book Collection
Page 15 and 16: that the unwillingness to subscribe
Page 17 and 18: Internet Use in Israeli Universitie
Page 19 and 20: Over and above early socialization,
Page 21 and 22: consisted of two main parts: demogr
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Page 27 and 28: Speaking of libraries in Palestine
Page 29 and 30: Figure 1. COBIAC on the way to Jeru
Page 31 and 32: Figure 4. Kindergarten, Za’ttara.
Page 33 and 34: Figure 6. Librarians at work, Beit
Page 35 and 36: Figure 9. Fifty years of the Ramall
Page 37 and 38: Libraries in Palestine United Natio
Page 39 and 40: Green Gift Plan: building small lib
Page 41 and 42: interesting subjects. It was decide
Page 43 and 44: Figure 2. Inauguration of a small l
Page 45 and 46: Journal of the American Society for
Page 55 and 56: Authorship Year Rank Name Total art
Page 59 and 60: Name (Country) TA AWC CR TCR CPA Ci
Page 63 and 64: REPORTS World Library and Informati
Page 65 and 66: World Library and Information Congr
Page 67 and 68: my wonderful colleagues all around
Page 69 and 70: Patrice Landry - Chair of the IFLA
Page 71 and 72: Grants and Awards Honorary Fellowsh
Page 73 and 74: Other Publications From Research an
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INTERNATIONAL CALENDAR 2010 25-27 J
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et technologies de l’information
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superfi cial. Cerca del 80% de los
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доклад представляе
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World Library and Information Congress, Milan, 2009 - IFLA

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