The Google generation: the information behaviour of the researcher of the future
Abstract
Purpose: This article is an edited version of a report commissioned by the British Library and JISC to identify how the specialist researchers of the future (those born after 1993) are likely to access and interact with digital resources in five to ten years' time. The purpose is to investigate the impact of digital transition on the information behaviour of the Google Generation and to guide library and information services to anticipate and react to any new or emerging behaviours in the most effective way. Design/methodology/approach: The study was virtually longitudinal and is based on a number of extensive reviews of related literature, survey data mining and a deep log analysis of a British Library and a JISC web site intended for younger people. Findings: The study shows that much of the impact of ICTs on the young has been overestimated. The study claims that although young people demonstrate an apparent ease and familiarity with computers, they rely heavily on search engines, view rather than read and do not possess the critical and analytical skills to assess the information that they find on the web. Originality/value: The paper reports on a study that overturns the common assumption that the “Google generation” is the most web‐literate.
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Cites
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Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Search engines function as cognitive gateways rather than epistemic endpoints.
“search engines function as cognitive gateways rather than epistemic endpoints (Head and Eisenberg, 2010; Rowlands et al., 2008).”
From Information competence and critical thinking in digital environments evidence from university students in Kazakhstan (2026) · cites this paper as Rowlands et al., 2008
Librarians affirm the lack of search skills prevalent especially among students and so‐called digital natives.
“Indeed, librarians affirm the lack of search skills prevalent especially among students89, 92 and so‐called digital natives.88, 93”
Students especially seem to have tremendous difficulty in mastering online literature searches.
“Students especially seem to have tremendous difficulty in mastering online literature searches.83, 88, 89, 90, 91”
Cites
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A typology of information and communication technology users
Horrigan, J. B. (2007) · Cited by 153 · see citing works
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Storey, T. (2007) · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Information literacy of teachers and pupils in secondary schools
Merchant, L., & Hepworth, M. E. (2002) · Journal of Librarianship and Information Science · doi:10.1177/096100060203400203 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Children, teenagers, and the Web
Large, A. (2005) · Annual Review of Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/aris.1440390116 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Digital natives: if you aren't one, get to know one
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Gusenbauer, M., & Haddaway, N. R. (2020) · Research Synthesis Methods · doi:10.1002/jrsm.1378 · Cited by 2,379 · see citing works
“88,93 We hope our study helps to create awareness of the importance of search literacy.”
BackgroundThe myths of the digital native and the multitasker
Kirschner, P. A., & De Bruyckere, P. (2017) · Teaching and Teacher Education · doi:10.1016/j.tate.2017.06.001 · Cited by 796 · see citing works
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Tenopir, C., Christian, L., & Kaufman, J. (2019) · Publications · doi:10.3390/publications7010018 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
“This does not mean their digital literacy skills are low, only that they are not the expert researchers that might be expected [27,28].”
BackgroundSelf-citationTask Speed and Accuracy Decrease When Multitasking
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Aboujaoude, E., Gega, L., & Saltarelli, A. J. (2021) · World Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/wps.20828 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Yrymbayeva, N., Yermekova, M., Tezekova, O., Issatayeva, B., Zhubandykova, A., & Tuxanbayev, A. (2026) · Frontiers in Education · doi:10.3389/feduc.2026.1809360 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Rowlands, I., Nicholas, D., Williams, P., Huntington, P., Fieldhouse, M., Gunter, B., Withey, R., Jamali, H. R., Dobrowolski, T., & Tenopir, C.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- University of Leicester (GB)
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (ES)
- Kharazmi University (IR)
- University of Warsaw (PL)
- University of Tennessee at Knoxville (US)
- Venue
- Aslib Proceedings
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 2008-07-06
- Volume
- 60
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 290-310
- ISSN
- 0001-253X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2038624478
- Cited by
- 617
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 37 · 2018: 56 · 2017: 41 · 2016: 55 · 2015: 53 · 2014: 41 · 2013: 48 · 2012: 35
- FWCI
- 170.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Aslib Journal of Information Management (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Leicester Research Archive (University of Leicester) (submittedVersion)
- Northumbria Research Link (Northumbria University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Library and Information Sciences › Library Science and Information Literacy
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Information Retrieval and Search Behavior
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Web and Library Services
- Keywords
- Google generation, information behavior, young researchers, digital transition, search engines, internet literacy, digital resources access, library services, web log analysis
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