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This paper outlines the methods and findings of an Electronic Libraries (eLib) Programme research project: SKIP (Skills for new Information Professionals). The project set out to evaluate the impact of information technology on the skills and roles of staff working in library and information services. The findings indicate that the personal qualities of staff are the key to their success in the networked environment, and that professional and service cultures can inhibit an individual’s professional development and effectiveness in the work place. Information Technology (IT) skills are important, but these can be acquired by those with the desired personal qualities, and who are provided with a working environment which is conducive to personal and professional development.

This multiple case study investigates the impact of technology on organizational change in public libraries. Over the past 12–15 years, public access computers (PACs) have been introduced into public libraries. Once these PACs were connected to the Internet, they attracted patrons who had not previously used public library services. The main themes around which this study was organized relate to the implementation of technology with facilities and services, city government, and people. The main research questions were following: (1) How has public library culture changed since the introduction of computers for patron use? (2) What adjustments were necessary to deal with the influx of computers and other technology in public libraries? (3) Have PACs changed the way the libraries are organized and how they are staffed? The findings of the study included how technology influenced changes in staffing in the public libraries. Each of the libraries has undergone a culture shift due to the introduction of technology. One of the shifts is the change of the reference desk from general reference to the addition of a help desk with reference responsibilities. Another concern of the directors was constantly funding the upgrades necessary for software and hardware that technology requires. As not all of the directors have supportive city government, this can be problematic. Finally, the facilities where the public libraries were housed had undergone changes either through renovations or through new buildings to accommodate technology and the infrastructure needed to support it.

The last detailed study of trends in science communication in the uk was carried out a decade ago. A new study has therefore been made (via interview and questionnaire surveys) to investigate how the handling of information by scientists in the uk has developed during the 1980s. The most obvious changes have occurred in informal communication between scientists, reflecting the rapid expansion of electronic networking in recent years. Automation has also led to an increasing emphasis on the information role of the end‐user. At the same time, the formal communication system has posed an increasing number of problems (e.g. information overload, rapid increases in costs). There was a fair degree of consensus amongst respondents concerning likely communication trends in the immediate future. Interestingly, it was the opportunities, as much as the problems, that were stressed.

The concept and practice of e-services has become essential in business transactions. Yet there are still many organizations that have not developed e-services optimally. This is especially relevant in the context of Indonesian Airline companies. Therefore, many airline customers in Indonesia are still in doubt about it, or even do not use it. To fill this gap, this study attempts to develop a model for e-services adoption and empirically examines the factors influencing the airlines customers in Indonesia in using e-services offered by the Indonesian airline companies. Taking six Indonesian airline companies as a case example, the study investigated the antecedents of e-services usage of Indonesian airlines. This study further examined the impacts of motivation on customers in using e-services in the Indonesian context. Another important aim of this study was to investigate how ages, experiences and geographical areas moderate effects of e-services usage.

The study adopts a positivist research paradigm with a two-phase sequential mixed method design involving qualitative and quantitative approaches. An initial research model was first developed based on an extensive literature review, by combining acceptance and use of information technology theories, expectancy theory and the inter-organizational system motivation models. A qualitative field study via semi-structured interviews was then conducted to explore the present state among 15 respondents. The results of the interviews were analysed using content analysis yielding the final model of e-services usage. Eighteen antecedent factors hypotheses and three moderating factors hypotheses and 52-item questionnaire were developed. A focus group discussion of five respondents and a pilot study of 59 respondents resulted in final version of the questionnaire.

In the second phase, the main survey was conducted nationally to collect the research data among Indonesian airline customers who had already used Indonesian airline e-services. A total of 819 valid questionnaires were obtained. The data was then analysed using a partial least square (PLS) based structural equation modelling (SEM) technique to produce the contributions of links in the e-services model (22% of all the variances in e-services usage, 37.8% in intention to use, 46.6% in motivation, 39.2% in outcome expectancy, and 37.7% in effort expectancy). Meanwhile, path coefficients and t-values demonstrated various different influences of antecedent factors towards e-services usage. Additionally, a multi-group analysis based on PLS is employed with mixed results. In the final findings, 14 hypotheses were supported and 7 hypotheses were not supported.

The major findings of this study have confirmed that motivation has the strongest contribution in e-services usage. In addition, motivation affects e-services usage both directly and indirectly through intention-to-use. This study provides contributions to the existing knowledge of e-services models, and practical applications of IT usage. Most importantly, an understanding of antecedents of e-services adoption will provide guidelines for stakeholders in developing better e-services and strategies in order to promote and encourage more customers to use e-services. Finally, the accomplishment of this study can be expanded through possible adaptations in other industries and other geographical contexts.

This paper addresses the use of the electronic survey method with particular reference to management accounting research.

A total of 222 questionnaires were used, where 182 questionnaires were sent with an accompanying invitation letter to participate in a pre‐paid envelope. There were posted directly to the respondents. The remainder were administered as an email survey.

The results of the email survey have been compared with that of the traditional postal survey and the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two methods are discussed and explored. The findings show that email and Internet facilitated surveys can yield higher returns at a lower cost per returned questionnaire. Moreover, such surveys are also a relatively inexpensive and expedient means of communicating with respondents, while facilitating a convenient way of correcting misunderstandings and following up on missing data.

Drawing on the literature, strategies such as email surveys and other Web‐based activities will enrich the data and increase response rates. The value of the paper is to draw attention to such methods, which will help overcome problem of low response rates associated with traditional postal surveys.

The purpose of this study was to explore human factors as the possible facilitator of cyber-dependent (hacking and malware infection) and cyber-enabled (phishing) crimes victimisation and to test the applicability of lifestyle routine activities theory (LRAT) to cybercrime victimisation.

A mixed methods research paradigm was applied to address the research questions and aims. The data set of Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) 2014/2015 and 42 semi-structured interviews conducted with victims of cybercrime and non-victim control group participants were analysed via binary logistic regression and content analyses methods.

This research illustrated that Internet users facilitated their victimisation through their online activities. Additionally, using insecure Internet connections and public access computers emerged as risk factors for both cyber-enabled and cyber-dependent crime victimisation. Voluntary and involuntary personal information disclosure through social networking sites and online advertisement websites increased the likelihood of being a target of phishing. Deviant online activities such as free streaming or peer-to-peer sharing emerged to increase the risk of cyber-dependent crime victimisation.

The binary logistic regression analysis results suggested LRAT as a more suitable theoretical framework for cyber-dependent crime victimisation. Future research may test this result with models including more macro variables.

Policymakers may consider implementing regulations regarding limiting the type of information required to login to free Wi-Fi connections. Checking trust signs and green padlocks may be effective safeguarding measures to lessen the adverse impacts of impulsive buying.

This study empirically illustrated that, besides individual-level factors, macro-level factors such as electronic devices being utilised to access the Internet and data breaches of large companies also increased the likelihood of becoming the victim of cyber-enabled and cyber-dependent crime.

The objective of this study is to analyse how changes in relevance criteria are related to changes in problem stages during the task performance process. Relevance is understood as a task‐ and process‐oriented user construct. The assessment of relevance is based on both retrieved bibliographical information and the documents acquired and read on the basis of this information. The participants of the study were eleven students who attended a course for one term for preparing a research proposal for the master’s thesis. The students were asked to make an IR search at the beginning, middle and end of the course. Data for describing their understanding of the work task, search goals and tactics as well as relevance assessments were collected during the search sessions. Pre‐ and post‐search interviews were conducted during each session. The students were asked to think aloud during the search session. The transaction logs were captured and the thinking aloud was recorded. Research and search diaries were also collected. The findings support to a certain extent the overall hypotheses that a person’s problem stage during task performance is related to his or her use of relevance criteria in assessing retrieved references and documents. There is a connection between an individual’s changing understanding of his or her task and how the relevance of references and full texts is judged. The more structured the task in the process, the more able the person is to distinguish between relevant and other sources. The relevance criteria of documents changed more than the criteria of references during the process. Moreover, it seems that understanding of topicality varies depending on the phase of the process.

The study explores the role of information and information seeking in the Research and Development Department of an international oil and gas company. The information seeking patterns of engineers and research scientists at Statoil’s Research Centre, in Trondheim, Norway were studied in relation to their research activities in different phases and types of project. The project phases were evaluation of alternative solutions; development and testing; and summary of experiences. The project types were incremental; radical; and fundamental. Eight major characteristics were identified in the patterns: surveying; chaining; monitoring; browsing; distinguishing; filtering; extracting and ending. The study analyses the requirements for different types of information in an environment where the need for internal and external resources are intertwined; it also compares features of the information seeking patterns of engineers and research scientists from this and previous studies. It was found that, although there were differences in the features of the information seeking patterns of the research scientists and engineers, the behavioural characteristics were similar; and the study identified identical or very similar categories of information seeking behaviour to those of previous studies of academic researchers.

This paper reports êndings of a study undertaken in late 1999 which aimed to identify and analyse the differences in use, by gender, of the Internet. A review of the literature of the differences in use, by gender, of computers generally is provided. The study involved students at Loughborough University and members of the public at libraries in Loughborough and Slough. The results of this (fairly limited) study show that female use, interest and conêdence in using the Internet is high but, in comparison with male respondents the females had not taken to the Internet as rapidly.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on age and the digital divide by examining the uses of and attitudes toward information and communication technologies (ICTs) by 26 politically senior citizens.

The approach taken involved in‐depth face‐to‐face interviews.

The majority of the respondents are informed and balanced cyber‐enthusiasts who have embraced the opportunities afforded by ICTs to enhance their lives in general, including their political activities.

These findings destabilize the dominant image of older people and their attitudes to and experiences of ICTs that appears in most of the literature on age and the digital divide. Those aged 65 and over represent the last cohort, in Western societies at least, for whom age as such is likely to be a decisive factor in their relationship to ICTs. It is therefore vital to get some insight into their views.