The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the British Library have released the first annual report of a major three-year study of doctoral researchers. The report shows substantial overlap between information-seeking habits of Generation Y and older students - challenging initial assumptions that they are more digitally dependent, technology savvy and willing to share their research.
'Researchers of Tomorrow' was commissioned by JISC and the British Library to establish a benchmark for research behaviour against which future generations can be measured. The report also seeks to provide guidance for librarians, information specialists and policy makers on how best to meet the research needs of Generation Y scholars.
The report includes evidence-gathering from three groups of doctoral students in the UK, including: a cohort of 60 Generation Y doctoral students from 36 universities; responses to a national context-setting survey returned by over 2,000 Generation Y scholars; and responses to the same national context-setting survey returned by 3,000 older doctoral students.
Like students of other ages, Generation Y researchers express a desire for an all-embracing, seamless accessible research information network in which restrictions to access does not restrain them. However, the annual report demonstrates that most Generation Y students do not have a clear understanding of what open access means and this negatively impacts their use of open access resources.
Both Generation Y and older students express exasperation regarding restricted access to research resources due to the limitations of institutional licenses. This is born from a sophisticated knowledge of the networked information environment and students regularly speak favourably about sector-wide shared services and resource sharing, the report noted.
Further, the report states that Generation Y scholars are more likely to turn to their supervisors for research resource recommendations than older doctoral students. It was found that 33 percent of Generation Y students have never used library staff for their support in finding 'difficult to' source material.
According to Dr Joanna Newman, the British Library's head of higher education, these emerging findings will ensure that the Researchers of Tomorrow study will focus on critical areas such as the role of supervisors, use of the academic library network, effective research support, open access and the main work base for doctoral students.
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