Proceedings of the International Conference on Scientific Information Two Volumes (1959) / Chapter Skim
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The Use of Technical Literature by Industrial Technologists
The Use of Technical Literature by Industrial Technologists
Pages 245-266
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From page 245... ...
Though the storage capacity of this organ for technical information is small compared with that of a library, it is extremely well organized for rapid retrieval. The problem therefore becomes that of the optimum allocation of the load between two very different types of system, one mechanical, the other biological.
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From page 246... ...
Thus, the population studied was that of technologists in the British electrical and electronics industry. This industry was chosen as one employing a high proportion of technical personnel and known to have a high consumption of technical literature.
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From page 247... ...
A response bias in favour of the use of technical literature seems a likely result, though the probable eject on the individual interviewee would be small. A random sample of the technologists within each establishment was selected, giving a total sample of 1,082 persons.
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From page 248... ...
Would refer to literature as first step to get technical information 8. Did refer to literature as first step to solve current problem TENDS TO READ JOURNALS WHICH: 9.
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From page 249... ...
Recalls useful ideas or information arising from chance event The existence of a positive relationship between so many variables implies a general factor common to them all,5 and it seems reasonable to regard this as a factor representing the degree of activity of a technologist in his work. If this is so, then it is justifiable to regard a positive position on any of these variables as the desirable position, in the sense of the position characteristic of the more active technologist.
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From page 250... ...
From these data, and by making some further assumptions, it was possible to arrive at a tentative estimate of the importance to the technologist of the journals supplied to him by his firm. Thus, among journals seen, but not paid for by the reader, in about ore-half of the cases he reads at least one article per issue; in about one-sixth he averages less than one article per issue but nevertheless believes that he derives appreciable value from what he does see; and in about one-third he derives little value from the journal and apparently only sees it because he does not have to pay for it.
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From page 251... ...
Secondly we see that nearly one recalled article in three was specifically recommended to the respondent by some other person. It seems to follow that personal contacts between technologists should be encouraged to the maximum, and that the value of these contacts lies not merely in the passing on of technical information itself but in the communication of references to sources of .
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From page 252... ...
Thus, for those engaged in research it was 28~o, in management 24~o and In production supervision 13%. The claim to read abstracts was one of the most diagnostic items in clifferentiating technologists of high and low activity, in the sense defined in Section ~ above.
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From page 253... ...
To assume that because he reads technical literature during working hours his reading must help him in his work would be naive. It is crucial, in fact, to know whether (a)
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From page 254... ...
The problems concerned varied widely—from pure research at one extreme to strictly administrative problems at the other. The fact that this variation had no more effect on reference to the literature than did the variation between people suggests as a possible thesis that the value of the technical literature in the solution of particular problems was by no means self-evident to the technologists themselves.
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From page 255... ...
Of those who did use libraries few were dissatisfied, although by what seem to be reasonable criteria the libraries within British industry are generally regarded as seriously inadequate and very little use is made of external libraries. This suggests that our informants were not really concerned about libraries, and this becomes explicable if they regard the technical literature not as a fund of information to be consulted but as a source of primary stimulation.
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From page 256... ...
Much work remains to be done to clarify, and put into quantitative terms, the relative significance of these two roles. Nevertheless it is already clear that any approach which takes it for granted that the reader of technical literature is typically engaged in a search for some particular piece of information is seriously out of touch with reality.
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From page 257... ...
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From page 258... ...
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From page 259... ...
SCOTT Use of Literature by Industrial Technologists ~ ~ ~ O ~ ~ .
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From page 260... ...
z60 Determining Literature ~ 0 ~ .
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From page 261... ...
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From page 262... ...
262 Determining Literature and Reference Needs of Scientists AREA ~ FIRM S CLASSIFICATION SHEET 30.12.55 (i) Name of Firm Address Code No.
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From page 263... ...
Your OWN Copies Loans or References m = membership, received as a right ot b = bought f =free C = Circulation list F o p rl Firm's Library loans not via circulation list (C) Other Library is source of loan Private inclividual lends copy Reac!
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From page 264... ...
Bell Laboratories Record (U.S.A.) Bell System Technical Journal (U.S.A.)
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From page 265... ...
If so, could you name them? -- D rid ~ ~~ -^ ~~ ^~- ~rr~~ ~ a After the prompt list had been drawn up and used it was determined that "I.P.E.
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From page 266... ...
O CARD C Could you tell me for each of these if you can remember any occasion when you have obtained useful information from: Abstracts Advertisements in trade journals Articles in trade journals Catalogues and other sales literature Conferences Exhibitions Films (general exhibition) Films (special instructional)
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