Information overload

Unlimited access to the Internet and the widespread availability of both full‐text electronic resources and printed materials in many academic libraries offer almost unrestricted access to users for their research and curriculum needs. Yet the overwhelming availability and supply of information forces users to sort and filter through the wealth of information and sometimes make educated guesses regarding their validity and reliability. In order to determine user priorities and preferences for information resources and their selection criteria, questionnaires were distributed to faculty, graduate, and selected upper‐level undergraduate students of the Departments of Economics, Political Science, and the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. The survey results show that for scholarly research or serious curriculum needs the use of printed materials is still popular among faculty and graduate students, while undergraduates primarily prefer to use Internet services.