Full Text Document Delivery: A Study Understanding User Perceptions and Needs

Abstract

S c o t t R. D i M a r c o ABSTRACT. A full text document delivery system, U M l ' s Pro-Quest@ PowerPages, quickly became popular with our undergraduates. Early observations by some library statf seemed to indicate that uscrs were more concerned with quick access to matcrial than the relevance o f the material to their research. Our concerns about thc possible negative consequences o f ovcr-rcliance upon this and similar systcms Icd us to investigate. We gathered usage data and distributed a survey to users. We explorcd our misgivings and tried to understand uscr nceds and undergraduate affinity for such clcclronic resources. /Arricle copies u~mrrilahle for u fee born The Haworrli Dociuvet~t Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-tnail address: getitifoo@hawor~lipressbic.comjOur undergraduates had, i t seemed, become quite enamored of a n e w document delivery system. In the first year of operation, undergraduates (along w i t h a f e w graduate students and faculty) p r i n t e d 40,000 articles f r o m the UMI P r o q u e s t B PowerPages i m a g e d e l i very system. W e h a d n o t extensively p r o m o t e d the n e w service. For the first f e w months w e considered PowerPages t o b e in a test mode: articles printed f r o m the databases were free-of-charge t o