Engineers' Journal InformationSeeking and Reading Patterns in an Emerging Electronic Era

Since electronic publishing is making a profound impact on information seeking and reading patterns, we devote all of this chapter to survey evidence of these changes. We examine current (2000 to 2003) observations of the use, usefulness, and value of journals; where engineers now obtain their articles; how they learn about the articles they read; the format read (print or electronic); issues concerning the age of articles read; and factors that affect choices from among journals read, sources used, and means of identifying articles.