Future of Research

This study was commissioned by the British Library and JISC to identify how the specialist researchers of the future, currently in their school or pre-school years, are likely to access and interact with digital resources in five to ten years' time. This is to help library and information services to anticipate and react to any new or emerging behaviors in the most effective way. In this report the researchers define the "Google generation" as those born after 1993 and explore the world of a cohort of young people with little or no recollection of life before the web. The broad aims of the study are to gather and establish: whether or not, as a result of the digital transition and the vast range of information resources being digitally created, young people, the "Google generation", are searching for and researching content in new ways and whether this is likely to shape their future behavior as mature researchers?

University College, London (2008). Information behaviour of the researcher of the future. London, England: Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research, British Library, & Joint Information Systems Committee. http://www.worldcat.org/title/information-behaviour-of-the-researcher-of-the-future/oclc/191761345