Faculty Use of the World Wide Web: Modeling Information Seeking Behavior in a Digital Environment Page: 22

members build information seeking skills in their students. In turn faculty members
should also help students refine their abilities in the evaluation and synthesizing of
information and making judgements on the reliability and usefulness of Web sites. To
build these internet searching skills, faculty members must have workshops and training
sessions especially designed for their own learning needs. For examples of these specially
designed workshops and training sessions, see Cunningham (1994) and Kenny (1995).
Williams (1995) described the existing Intemrnet access to information and other
resources available at a branch campus of the University of Maine System. The Intemrnet
and the existing E-mail system allowed this isolated branch campus to augment its
"underfunded" library collections. Williams also discovered that "... having that ability
and using it are two quite different things. Only ten percent of our faculty are comfortable
with Intemrnet travel, and I fear the number of students is at the same level" (p. 2). The
librarians at Duke University found similar usage patterns. "Faculty on the other hand,
were least oriented toward computerized access, and were most likely to utilize the more
esoteric research publications (e.g., manuscript materials and conference proceedings)"
(Berger & Hines, 1994, p. 308).
A recent survey of faculty members across the United States (Magner, 1999,
September 3) found that many older faculty members reported they were "being more
stressed by information technology even though they aren't using it as much as younger
faculty" (p. Al 8). In another recent research survey on Intemrnet usage at one institution,
Bao (1998) reported on a survey of Intemet users at Seton Hall University. Although the
number of faculty included in the survey respondents was quite low (3.8%), the

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