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The article presents the results of a study on factors influencing distance-education graduate students' use of information sources. With the phenomenal growth of distance education in the U.S. as of 2004, there is an increasing interest in exploring the information usage by distance-education students. There are several characteristics of distance education, among which the physical separation of distance-education students from their instructors and absence of a learning group during the learning process were very salient. Given these fundamental differences, questions arise on the special information needs and trends in information usage by distance-education students. Convenience has often been cited as the primary reason for choosing other information sources. This phenomenon reflects the principle of least effort, which highlights users' tendency to choose easily available information sources in preference to pursuing higher-quality sources in the use of which requires a greater effort from them. Physical distance makes many distance-education students turn to information sources easily available to them. However, the existing cutting-edge information technology can eliminate the physical distance. Therefore, the underlying factors influencing the library use of distance-education students warrant a further investigation.

This study endeavors to establish a profile of Chinese American librarians working in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) university libraries in the United States. A questionnaire was emailed on November 16, 2016 to 236 Chinese American librarians identified by their names from the websites of 100 research libraries in the United States. 88 Chinese American librarians responded to the survey. The findings of the study show that: 78% of Chinese American librarians working in ARL university libraries were born outside of the United States, 72% are female, 56% received their bachelor's degree in China, 46% are subject librarians, half of them have been promoted in their current libraries, 65% serve on national committees, and 95% are satisfied with their current job. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]