Where Do Molecular Biology Graduate Students Find Information?

ABSTRACT

Molecular biology graduate students read the traditional, highly regarded scientific journals, yet do not fully utilize bibliographic databases to find information. Instead, molecular biology graduate students rely on the extensive reservoir of information in bioinformatics databases as well as that within the National Library of Medicine's PubMed. Graduate students learn about bioinformatics databases in their laboratories, not the campus library, thereby bypassing the library and adopting the laboratory as their information community. The data presented suggest that science and technology librarians must expand their knowledge base to include these resources as well as provide instruction that is both palatable and transparent to the next generation of leaders in the field of molecular biology.

Key Words:

• Information seeking
• bioinformatics databases
• digital information
• scientific communication
• information community