Librarians' perceptions on the use of electronic resources at Catalan academic libraries: Results of a focus group

The purpose of this paper is to expand on previous quantitative and qualitative research into the use of electronic information resources and its impact on the information behaviour of academics at Catalan universities.

A focus group was set up, comprising seven members of the staff of five Catalan academic libraries.

Participants confirmed the increase in the amount of journal reading among academics, due to the increase in the number of electronic journals available and the improvement in the tools for locating and accessing this information, especially off‐campus access. Librarians were well aware of the importance of internet search engines as the first information source for academics. They regretted having failed to provide users with a single interface to all information products. Academics' perceptions of the usefulness of bibliographic management software have increased dramatically during the last few years, especially among PhD students. Finally, librarians stated that most of the complaints they receive from users were to do with platform breakdowns, difficulties in accessing resources off‐campus, and discontinued resources.

While a large number of studies have measured the use of electronic journals and databases and have surveyed users, few studies have involved librarians in order to triangulate these results.