Investigation of any differences between the way year 1 and year 3 undergraduate nursing students find, search and use print and on-line journals

Abstract

Access to electronic journals is a rapidly changing field. Six years ago electronic access to journals was only possible within Whitireia Community Polytechnic library, and the range of electronically accessed journals was smaller. Most nursing students spent many hours among the stacks browsing journals and consulting books of indexes. Now most students can log-in from anywhere and access their journal articles online through databases, e-journals and the internet. A survey was conducted of journal use by undergraduate nursing students at Whitireia Community Polytechnic, Porirua. Twenty one Year one - (29%) of students present at the time of the survey, and thirteen year three students - (43%) of students present - completed the survey. Year 1 and Year 3 (final year) students' journal searching was compared. Year 1 students are more likely to search the journal shelves than Year 3 students and almost half as likely to use the online databases and e-journals. Surprisingly more Year 3 students than Year 1 's feel that they do not know the best way to search for journal articles, and that they don't know where the databases and e-journals are. More Year 1 students end up with results which are not what they wanted, and feel that they can't get help when they need it. Compared with Year 1 students, more Year 3 students use a computer at home for searching regularly, search more widely across all sources of journal articles and always use keywords both initially and for further searching. They also use references from other articles and tutors and from friends, are better at narrowing their searches by scholarly/refereed articles, and by date, and use a greater range of databases, e-journals and specialised internet resources than Year 1 students. They are also more likely to look for further information in related journals.