Summary of Findings

In terms of how faculty searched for information, results were consistent with earlier findings reported in the literature. Specifically, a strong majority of the faculty reported relying on citations from related publications, on colleagues, on electronic catalogs, and on browsing library shelves when seeking information. Faculty did not differ dramatically in selection of search strategies, except that Michigan

economists were less likely to browse library shelves and less likely to search card catalogs.

In terms of JSTOR use, Michigan faculty were less likely to know about JSTOR than were the five-college faculty, and Michigan faculty were less likely to use JSTOR than were the five-college faculty. These results probably reflected the delayed rollout and availability of JSTOR at Michigan. Economists were more likely to use JSTOR than historians were. Of the faculty who reported JSTOR use, frequency of use did not differ dramatically from frequency of use of a related, more traditional technology: on-line searching. That is, 58% of the faculty who used JSTOR said they used JSTOR once a month or more, while 69% of the faculty who did on-line searches reported doing searches once a month or more. Note, however, that over twice as many faculty reported doing on-line searches (75%) as reported use of JSTOR (33%).

In terms of journal use, faculty did not vary greatly in their use of journal features, except that Michigan historians were less likely to use article abstracts and that Michigan economists were less likely to use book reviews. Economists and historians did not differ in the total number of journals used; however, there was greater consensus among the economists about core journals. Specifically, two of the five economics titles included in JSTOR (the American Economic Review and the Journal of Political Economy ) were cited among the top 10 most frequently used journals by a majority of the economists, while four of the five titles (the two mentioned above plus the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Review of Economics and Statistics ) were cited among the top 10 most frequently used journals by a majority of the Michigan economists. By contrast, only one of the five history titles included in JSTOR (the American Historical Review ) was cited among the top 10 most frequently used journals by a majority of the historians.

In terms of Internet use, the Michigan historians lagged their colleagues in economics at Michigan and the five-college faculty. For example, the Michigan historians reported less use of e-mail, the World Wide Web, FTP, and on-line databases than did the other faculty. The economists were more likely to use FTP and more likely to use the World Wide Web than the historians were. Faculty used online catalogs at similar rates.

In terms of factors correlated with JSTOR use, the tobit regressions showed that a model including demographic factors, journal use factors, search factors, and Internet use factors offered the best fit to the data on frequency of JSTOR use. The addition of the computer attitude variable did not improve the fit of this model. In the best fit model, gender, article copying, abstract reading, and searching on-line catalogs were all positively and significantly related to frequency of JSTOR use. Also from the best fit model, affiliation with an economics department and greater numbers of journal subscriptions were negatively and significantly related to frequency of JSTOR use.