Diss. Göteborg : Univ., 2004.

This user study was carried out at the library at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg in the spring of 1999. Chalmers wanted to investigate how much their employees use electronic journals. To facilitate decision-making and be cost effective, the library needed to know about their customers' opinions. The main purpose was to investigate the usage of electronic journals, how the library's choice of these journals affects the frequency of use and what the attitudes towards them are. A questionnaire was sent out to 2 400 employees; 477 replies were received. The result shows that 55% of the respondents use electronic journals at least once a month. The major advantages of electronic journals are, according to the study, the easy access and the option to work from one's own desk. The major disadvantage is the difficulty in scanning them. Two thirds of the respondents are willing to let go of the print journal at the library in favour of the electronic one, but only one fifth are willing to give up their departmental subscriptions. For a majority, conditions such as user friendliness and archiving must be fulfilled before electronic journals can be fully accepted. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to gain insights into students’ usage and attitudes towards electronic articles and electronic books and how students feel about a change from print collections to digital collections at Växjö University Library. The main questions are: How do different groups of students use the library collections of electronic articles and electronic books? What factors influence the usage of the library collections of electronic articles and electronic books among students? What are the students’ experiences of reading electronic books in comparison with reading print books? What would different groups of students think if the literature they need for their studies were purchased in electronic form instead of print? To answer the questions a user study was carried out at Växjö university library. A web survey was sent to students that had a library card and an email address registered at the library. The result shows that a majority of the students had used the electronic articles but only a third had used the electronic books. The most important factor for users of electronic articles and electronic books was the ability to access them at home and around the clock. Many respondents complained about the difficulty of reading text on a computer screen, and 64 percent preferred to read print books, but 62,7 percent could accept to use electronic books instead of print books and 50,9 percent liked the idea of electronic textbooks instead of print textbooks at the library.

The purpose of this study is to find out how and to what extent doctors use the hospital library’s collection of print and electronic medical journals. Major changes have the last years occurred in the journal collection. The journals are very costly and little is known about the user satisfaction with them. Therefore it’s important to examine how satisfied the users are with the collection and how they utilize it. The main questions are: How satisfied are the doctors with the hospital library’s collection of print and electronic medical journals? Is there a difference between how and to what extent the print and electronic medical journals are used? What do the doctors think about the use of electronic journals? The theories used are about marketing, marketing research, library collections and how the collection can be developed to meet researchers need. Five clinics at a Swedish hospital were chosen for the study. A group questionnaire was handed out to the doctors at different kinds of meetings at the clinics, 52 of the 53 respondents answered. The result shows that most of the doctors use the print and electronic journals more seldom than once a month and mostly to read selected articles. The majority of the respondents mean it is important that the library supply a print and an electronic collection of medical journals and they are satisfied with the present collection. Their opinions about electronic journals vary but are mostly positive. / Uppsatsnivå: D