Use made of U.S. government supported technical reports by researchers in water resources

Abstract

This study attempts to determine how and from whom authors of journal articles citing technical reports learned of those reports and how and from whom they obtained copies. There also was an attempt to find out how reports were used in the research reported and what kind and level of use was made of them. A questionnaire was sent to 100 authors of recent research articles appearing in four research journals in the area of water resources in the 10 months ending in April 1992. There was an 82 percent return rate of the research instrument. Colleagues were, as expected, the primary sources of reports and information about reports. Indexing services were used by only two reserachers to identify the cited reports, which consisted of U.S. Geological Survey open-file reports, technical research reports, and reports of water investigations. Libraries and librarians played only minor roles in researchers' awareness of technical reports or their availability. If librarians are to serve the needs of researchers, greater efforts need to be made to ensure the availability and use of this relatively obscure publication type.