Although information gathering and use patterns in the traditional print environment have been studied for many years, the electronic environment presents a new and relatively unexplored area for such study. This article describes a citation analysis of research articles from scholarly electronic journals published in 1999–2000. The analysis focused on the extent to which scholars are using electronic resources and the types and subject areas of online resources that are being referenced. Results indicate a growing reliance on electronic resources by scholars, a high occurrence of nontraditional types of resources, and a relatively high use of interdisciplinary references.

No abstract

Although undergraduates frequently use the World Wide Web in their class assignments, little research has been done concerning how teaching faculty feel about their students’ use of the Web. This study explores faculty attitudes toward the Web as a research tool for their students’ research; their use of the Web in classroom instruction; and their policies concerning Web use by students. Results show that although faculty members generally feel positive about the Web as a research tool, they question the accuracy and reliability of Web content and are concerned about their students’ ability to evaluate the information found.

Continued development of the Internet requires the development of efficient, easy‐to‐use search engines. Ideally, such development should call upon knowledge and skills from a variety of disciplines, including computer science, information science, psychology, and ergonomics. The current study is intended to determine whether search engine design shows a pattern of interdisciplinarity. Two disciplines were selected as the focus for the study: computer science, and library/information science. A citation analysis was conducted to measure levels of interdisciplinary research and publishing in internet search engine design and development. The results show a higher level of interdisciplinarity among library and information scientists than among computer scientists or among any of those categorized as “other.” This is reflected both in the types of journals in which the authors publish, and in the references they cite to support their work. However, almost no authors published articles or cited references in fields such as cognitive science, ergonomics, or psychology. The results of this study are analyzed in terms of the writings of Patrick Wilson, Bruno Latour, Pierre Bourdieu, Fritz Ringer, and Thomas Pinelli, focusing on cognitive authority within a profession, interaction between disciplines, and information‐gathering habits of professionals. Suggestions for further research are given.

No abstract