Interorganizational relationships and information services: How technical and institutional environments influence data gathering practices As information providers, both public libraries and commercial online information services have lamented the "underutilization" of their collections and databases. They expect that in an Information Age, their information resources will be widely deployed and actively used. However, they find that, although overall demand for online information is increasing, data gathering practices vary widely--especially in the corporate sector--and information resource use projections are often overestimated. Why? What shapes organizational information resource use? In this study of data gathering practices in twenty-six California law firms, biotech companies and real estate brokerages, I sought to answer that question by following a phased, cross-sectional qualitative research strategy. Initial findings showed that data gathering practices are strongly related to the formation and maintenance of interorganizational relationships. By concentrating on a few types of relationships, I further examined how information resources were integrated into organizational activities and where online services were used. I found that the organizations of my study employ a multiplicity of strategies for acquiring and using information resources. However, patterns of use do not appear to vary infinitely--a few are found repeatedly. At the organizational level, pressures identified with technical and institutional environments generate the context in which a firm develops data gathering practices. An organization's relationship with the major institutions of its industry largely determines how much and what kind of data it collects. Firms that interact directly with large regulatory agencies generally collect more data than those that do not. This relationship may also influence the overall data gathering practices of the firm, including the use of online information resources. Through careful examination of these observations and related interorganizational phenomena, my study analysis bridges the sociology of organizations and information science theory. It relates organizational individuals, interorganizational relationships and industry environments to describe the patterns of data gathering practices that influence online information resource use. [TABLE="class: citation"] [TR] [TH]Format:[/TH] [TD]Dissertation[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH]Author(s):[/TH] [TD]Lamb, Roberta Ellen[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH]Published:[/TH] [TD]1997[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH]Language:[/TH] [TD]English[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]