This paper presents the results of an empirical survey conducted in the winter of 1995-96 among 413 Danish Internet users (business people, higher education/research and students). Data from a recent Danish Mediacenter Internet survey (n=2981) are also included. Findings indicate that women tend to use the Internet to solve well-defined problems, while men are inclined to serf the net (called "net watching" by serious users). In terms of information retrieval, female Internet users seem to be more goal-directed and convergent; in most cases they stop when the information has been found, while male Internet users have adopted a more divergent/explorative attitude. In this survey, the average user sent 13.3 messages per week (ranging from 0 to 170) and received 21.3 messages per week (ranging from 0 to 1000). Survey respondents subscribed to 5.2 electronic conferences on the average; 59%, however, did not subscribe at all and 24.3% had limited themselves to fewer than six conferences. Most of the respondents were using Internet resources for information retrieval, which, in their opinion has improved the quality of their reference work to some extent; very few respondents expressed negative expectations in terms of the quality of Internet information sources. A recent survey among British business librarians revealed some disadvantages, including a lack of: organized information, information quality, relevant information, and reliable information, as well as too much information. The inevitable "virtualization" of libraries will necessarily include: the replacement of printed matter by electronic information; increasing use of computer-mediated communications; and universal access to information. (Contains 19 references.) (AEF)