Study title

Electronic Publications User Survey 2011

Dataset ID Number

FSD2683

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2683
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2683

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Finnish National Electronic Library (FinELib)

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• Merimaa, Maija (Finnish National Electronic Library (FinELib))

Abstract

The Finnish National Library, FinELib, conducted an Internet survey on the use of electronic publications. The survey was aimed at researchers working in universities, university hospitals and research institutes cooperating with the FinELib consortium.

First questions focused on the type of research funding received by the respondents during the previous five years, the type of research (theoretical, empirical or planning and development) and the proportion of work time spent on several different tasks (e.g. reading scientific literature or source materials, teaching and guidance). One set of questions covered publications by the respondents, and media and language in which published. The respondents were asked about collaboration in publishing with other researchers in general and researchers from other fields of study, other organisations and abroad. The importance of this collaboration was surveyed.

The respondents estimated what proportion of the publications they needed was in electronic form, how often they read different types of publications, how they read the publications (i.e. what means they used to view them), the age of the publications and whether they read publications outside their own discipline. Information retrieval was examined with questions about the most used sources or channels when initiating a search and which sources or channels they acquired the needed information from.

The respondents were asked about using research funding to acquire electronic publications in their research projects, availability of such publications to other people, and financing of the acquisition of the publications. Views were probed on help and support wished from the library or information services of own organisation and experiences of library services abroad compared to Finnish ones.

Background variables included the respondent's age, gender, organisation, highest passed examination, work experience in research profession, professional status, scientific discipline and field of research.

Keywords

higher education institutions; information retrieval; information sources; information/library resources; libraries; research centres; research work; research workers

Topic Classification

• Natural sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Information society (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Time use (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Use of Electronic Library Resources

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• The Finnish National Electronic Library

Time Period Covered

2011

Collection Dates

2011-09-19 – 2011-10-16

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Researchers working in universities and research institutes

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Availability

An Internet link to a web questionnaire was available on the web pages of the universities and research institutes. People were also invited to participate by e-mail. There were 3,380 respondents.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

2.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

For reasons of privacy, all open-ended variables were removed from the data.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Finnish National Electronic Library (FinELib): Electronic Publications User Survey 2011 [dataset]. Data version 2.0 (2018-09-20). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2683; URN: https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2683

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Merimaa, Maija (2012). Tieto tutkijan työpöydälle. Raportti elektronisten aineistojen käytöstä tutkimustyössä. Helsinki: Helsingin yliopisto. Kansalliskirjasto. Helsingin yliopiston hallinnon julkaisuja 79; Raportit ja selvitykset.