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Internet Use in Israeli Universities: a case study

This paper presents the results of a survey conducted in 2005—2006 regarding the extent of use of digital resources by students and researchers in five universities in Israel and the ratio of use between authorized electronic information resources provided by academic libraries, and the Surface Web. About 80 percent of respondents reported a high or very high frequency of use of the Surface Web for seeking information for their study or research. In contrast, only about 28 percent of the respondents reported high or very high use of academic e-journals, 40 percent high or very high use of digital databases, and only about 13 percent high or very high use of e-books. A situation in which academics use the Surface Web two or three times more frequently than more authoritative digital information sources provided by their library indicates a severe problem related to the quality of information used, which may severely harm the quality and credibility of research based upon it. The survey findings are worrying since much Surface Web information is not reliable or authoritative. The current research does not indicate what causes students and researchers to depend so heavily on Surface Web information for their research, but it is reasonable to assume that it derives mainly from the ease and convenience of using Internet search engines.