Study of the User's “Natural Queue” of Documents

As part of a field experiment conducted in three military laboratories, 85 scientists and engineers, comprising a sample group, were asked to provide data concerning their use of journals and technical reports. In addition to reporting what they did with respect to nearly one thousand documents over a four-week period, they provided individual data on their facilities for reading, handling, and storing documents; their reading habits; sources they use; the perceived efficiency and accuracy with which they handle documents; and the characteristics (i.e., title, abstract, etc.) of a document which help them in deciding whether or not to read it. These data confirm, in part, the results of prior user studies, but provide, in addition, a more direct evaluation of the interaction of the individual scientist and engineer with the “natural queue” of documents which come across his desk.