The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC ) http://www.oclc.org/default.htm has recently published the report College Students’ Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources. This is an excellent look at how today's Net Generation does research.
I had first discovered this source of data on college students' perceptions of libraries and information resources in the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative October 2006 white paper, How Choice, Co-Creation, and Culture Are Changing What It Means to Be Net Savvy http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3008.pdf
Some of the findings may surprise faculty who as students made the 'real' (as opposed to virtual) university library their first stop for research. Among the findings quoted in the white paper:
72 percent of college students ranked search engines as their first choice for finding information
2 percent use library Web sites as the starting point for an informaiton search
53 percent believe informaiton from search engines is as trustworthy as library information
You can read or download PDFs of the report at http://www.oclc.org/reports/perceptionscollege.htm
