Abbreviated Contents Figures and Tables Preface Introduction and Examples Concepts Relevant to Information Behavior Models, Paradigms, and Theories in the Study of Information Behavior Methods for Studying Information Behavior Research Results and Reflections Appendix: Glossary Appendix: Questions for Discussion and Application References Index

Looking for Information: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs and Behavior

This paper revises David Ellis's information-seeking behavior model of social scientists, which includes six generic features: starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting. The paper uses social science faculty researching stateless nations as the study population. The description and analysis of the information-seeking behavior of this group of scholars is based on data collected through structured and semistructured electronic mail interviews. Sixty faculty members from 14 different countries were interviewed by e-mail. For reality check purposes, face-to-face interviews with five faculty members were also conducted. Although the study confirmed Ellis's model, it found that a fuller description of the information-seeking process of social scientists studying stateless nations should include four additional features besides those identified by Ellis. These new features are: accessing, networking, verifying, and information managing. In view of that, the study develops a new model, which, unlike Ellis's, groups all the features into four interrelated stages: searching, accessing, processing, and ending. This new model is fully described and its implications on research and practice are discussed. How and why scholars studied here are different than other academic social scientists is also discussed.

/pdf/modeling-the-information-seeking-behavior-of-social-3g1i646ixu.pdf

Modeling the information-seeking behavior of social scientists: Ellis's study revisited

This article reports on a survey of historians and a citation analysis undertaken to revisit the questions treated in Margaret F. Stieg’s 1981 article published in College & Research Libraries. It examines which materials historians consider to be the most important and how they discover them. Their attitudes toward and use of electronic materials were also studied. Many characteristics of historians’ information needs and use have not changed in a generation: informal means of discovery like book reviews and browsing remain important, as does the need for comprehensive searches. Print continues to be the principal format. What has changed is that the advent of electronic resources has increased historians’ use of catalogs and indexes in their efforts to identify appropriate primary and secondary sources of information.

/pdf/historians-and-their-information-sources-3jqih2m4ls.pdf

Historians and Their Information Sources

In this qualitative study the author examines the information-seeking behavior of older adults and asks whether the information sources used by participants vary with the role they are performing; whether “young” seniors just entering retirement seek information differently than the “oldest” old; and whether seniors living independently seek information differently than those who live in an institutional setting. The twenty-nine participants interviewed indicated that interpersonal sources together with internally-produced print materials were relied on for the information needed for participation in community clubs and organizations; interpersonal sources to find answers to medical and financial questions; and printed resources for hobby-related information seeking. Findings related to computer use indicated that it is important when discussing older adults to distinguish between different stages of older age.

Older Adults and Their Information Seeking

Information access issues for interdisciplinary scholars: Results of a Delphi study on women's studies research

Information needs and gathering patterns of academic social scientists, with special emphasis given to historians and their use of U.S. Government publications

GPO's depository library program : a descriptive analysis

Linking the U.S. National Technical Information Service with Academic and Public Libraries

The quality of academic and public library reference service provided for NTIS products and services: Unobtrusive test results

An introductory perspective on selected issues related to Federal STI policies. Contributors describe aspects of the existing system and suggest possible strategies for improvement. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.An introductory perspective on selected issues related to Federal ST

Peter Hernon

Papers

Information needs and gathering patterns of academic social scientists, with special emphasis given to historians and their use of U.S. Government publications

GPO's depository library program : a descriptive analysis

Linking the U.S. National Technical Information Service with Academic and Public Libraries

The quality of academic and public library reference service provided for NTIS products and services: Unobtrusive test results

U.S. scientific and technical information (STI) policies : views and perspectives