Community, communication, collaboration: Scholarly practice in transformation

Abstract

This paper reports on the results of a survey and focus groups exploring the use of the Internet by academic staff and research students at Curtin University of Technology for the purposes of scholarly communication. The survey included questions regarding the respondents' formal and informal scholarly communication practices and the way in which these have changed as the result of access to the Internet. The survey also asked a range of questions regarding respondents' use of library services, the frequency of their use of these services, and the manner in which their use of the library had been impacted by the increasing availability of Internet based access to services and collections. Whilst focus group discussions suggested some ambivalence towards the enabling potential of ICTs on scholarly communication, the evidence gathered indicates the extent to which research and communicative practice is changing and the resultant impact on scholarly communities. The paper concludes with some preliminary observations about changes to scholarly communities and the opportunity this offers for academic librarians to enhance their role in the development of research literate communities.