Use and awareness of electronic information services by academic staff at Leeds Metropolitan University - A qualitative study

Abstract

Reports results of an investigation, undertaken at Leeds Metropolitan University, to study the awareness and extent to which university academic staff use and assimilate electronic information services (EISs) into their work. The research was conducted using two methods: a quantitative study involving a questionnaire mailed to a random stratified sample of 200 university staff (of which 101 were returned); and a qualitative study. The present report is based on the findings of the quantitative study, which addressed four specific areas: the characteristics of the respondents (age, gender, faculty); the perceived level of the information technology (IT) literacy of staff; the frequency of use by academic staff of different EISs offered by the university; and academic staff’s perception of student use. The study also investigated a number of further areas, including: how academic staff at the university obtain information for their work; what they do with the information they obtain; how aware are university staff of EISs; how confident are academic staff in using EISs and the barriers that exist to their use; the extent to which academic staff are integrating the use of EISs into students’ educational experience; and what the university can do to support staff better in their use of EISs. It is concluded from the results that the internet is the most popular information source but the factors affecting use at the expense of subscription-based services are complex. University staff, especially those with low level IT skills, frequently use the internet because it is easy to access and provides instant results. However, users who are aware and are confident in using subscription-based services still prefer to use the internet for a variety of reasons. It is clear that for those members of staff who used EISs regularly, the initial impetus had often come from either their own research or after embarking on some form of professional development such as a PhD. Once they have seen the value of these services in their own work, they began to incorporate them into their own teaching.