Adoption of Internet resource-based value-added processes by faculty in LIS education

In response to the proliferation of digital information accessible over networks, significant changes have taken place in library and information science (LIS) education during the last decade. To understand the changes, the study examined LIS faculty members' innovative behavior toward the end of the decade by applying a model of adoption that purports that material resources, experiential resources, value attributed to the innovation, and communication with adopters influence adoption of an innovation. The particular innovation examined was a complex, digital information-related innovation. It was termed collectively as Internet resource-based value-added processes and included the following set of processes that add value to Internet resources: (1) selection of Internet resources, (2) organization of Internet resources, (3) Internet reference services, (4) interface design in digital libraries, and (5) user analysis in digital libraries. Survey results indicated that the value LIS faculty attached to the innovation was the most influential variable in their decisions in favor of early adoption. However, communication between early adopters and late adopters in LIS education was found to be weak and not influential in the late adopters' decisions. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.