Information seeking behaviour of academics Dr. Roswitha Poll Informationsverhalten von Wissenschaftlern

Evaluation of the German Special Collections Programme from the user perspective The project 23 university libraries 47 special libraries 3 central libraries Special collections (Sondersammelgebiete) Partners: Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Münster infas – Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft GmbH

"Invisibility" of the special collections The project Most-used service: ILL Users do not realize where documents come from Solution:To assess the role of libraries in information seeking behaviour the present role the possible future role

Steps Evaluation of the literature on information seeking behaviour Focus groups in 5 subjects Pre-test of survey Survey in 5 subjects Applied economics Biology English studies History Mechanical engineering

Included: Academics in institutes of higher education or scientific institutes Questionnaires:5.059 (sample of ) Response rate:1581 = 33,3 % Professor28 % Assistent14 % other54 % not identified2 % < 30 years old20 % 31 to 4034 % 41 to 5021 % > 51 years25 % Survey responsesresponse rate English studies10121,5 % biology38241,6 % applied economics32225,7 % history14240,7 mechanics63436, ,3 %

CLIR (2002) Friedlander, Amy: Dimensions and use of the Scholarly Information Environment All subjects Academics and students Telephone interview interviews RSLG (2002)Researchers' Use of Libraries and other Information Sources 5 groups of subjects Academics Questionnaire answers ADL (2002) Zukunft der wissenschaftlichen und technischen Information in Deutschland. Arthur D. Little International All subjects Academics and commercial firms Questionnaire Academics = answers Commercial firms = 832 answers Comparable Studies

Information Overload Evaluation of literature / Focus groups Important aspects of information behaviour especially in interdisciplinary studies Deliberate restriction „information fatigue syndrome“ Direct availability as decisive criterion „now or never“ Information networks „invisible colleges“ Clear differences between subjects

Survey structure Ways of seeking information Ways of procuring information Problems, needs, requirements

several times/week once per week 1-several/ month 1-several/ half year seldomnever Frequency of information channels use (%) Information seeking Finding helps bibliographies current-contents library catalogues publishers' catalogues Contacts personal contacts meetings, events Contents books journals doctoral dissert. etc. full-text databases preprint servers Internet search subject gateway discussion groups/mailing-lists general search

Frequency of information channels use (%) Finding helps bibliographies current-contents library catalogues publishers' catalogues Contacts personal contacts meetings, events Contents books journals doctoral dissert. etc. full-text databases preprint servers Internet search subject gateway discussion groups/mailing-lists general search several times/week once per week 1-several/ month 1-several/ half year seldomnever several times / week Applied economics 22 Biology 6 English studies 39 History 63 Mechanical engineering 4 Information seeking library catalogues

several times/week once per week 1-several/ month 1-several/ half year seldomnever Frequency of information channels use (%) Information seeking Finding helps bibliographies current-contents library catalogues publishers' catalogues Contacts personal contacts meetings, events Contents books journals doctoral dissert. etc. full-text databases preprint servers Internet search subject gateway discussion groups/mailing-lists general search

Frequency of information channels use (%) Finding helps bibliographies current-contents library catalogues publishers' catalogues Contacts personal contacts meetings, events Contents books journals doctoral dissert. etc. full-text databases preprint servers Internet search subject gateway discussion groups/mailing-lists general search several times/week once per week 1-several/ month 1-several/ half year seldomnevernever Applied economics 10 Biology 7 English studies 16 History 18 Mechanical engineering 13 full-text databases Information seeking 1212

% Percentage of information found in groups of information channels Contents 33 books, journals, doctoral dissertations, full-text databases, preprint server Internet Internet search, subject portals, discussion groups, mailing lists Contacts personal contacts, meetings / events Finding instruments library catalogues, bibliographies, databases, current-contents Finding information 29 19

Percentage of problems (rest: no problems) Information seeking Information seeking bibliographies current- contents libr. catalogues books journals doct. diss. etc. full-text datab. preprint servers subject gateway Internet search not up-to- date not complete too general locally not acquired/ accessible too compli- cated never used

Percentage of problems (rest: no problems) bibliographies current- contents libr. catalogues books journals doct. diss. etc. full-text datab. preprint servers subject gateway Internet search not up-to- date not complete too general locally not acquired/ accessible too compli- cated never used locally not acquired/accessible Applied economics 22 Biology 30 English studies 30 History 25 Mech. engineering 20 journalsjournals 2424 Information seeking

Percentage of problems (rest: no problems) Problems in seeking bibliographies current- contents libr. catalogues books journals doct. diss. etc. full-text datab. preprint servers subject gateway Internet search not up-to- date not complete too general locally not acquired/ accessible too compli- cated never used

Percentage of problems (rest: no problems) bibliographies current- contents libr. catalogues books journals doct. diss. etc. full-text datab. preprint servers subject gateway Internet search not up-to- date not complete too general locally not acquired/ accessible too compli- cated never used too complicated up to 30 years old and more 11 Internet search 66 Problems in seeking

Direct (contacts/ purchase) Local library Delivery services Internet Percentage (groups) Procuring information Applied economics Biology English studies History Mech. engineering

too slowtoo expensive too time- consuming technical defects never used Problems in percentage (rest: no problems) Procuring information Local library print collection databases/ E-journals Direct purchase personal contacts institutional contacts Delivery services ILL document delivery of libraries commercial services Internet

ff. hours per week Applied economics Biology English studies History Mech. engineering Expenditure of time

Frequency of delegation in most casessometimesnever Special subject Info. for Teaching Info. for Research ILL Doc. delivery sevices Copying / Printing Literature lists Abstracts of articles

Desired format of delivery Delivery of information Applied economics Biology English studies History Mech. engineering electronic print depends on form and size of information

Journals73 %frequent use Books67 %" Internet71 %" Münster Journals and books are the most frequented sources of information Collections Role of Libraries RSLG Print journals and books are most frequently named important for information Print material93 % Electronic material59 %

Local library38 % Internet31 % Direct contacts/Purchase20 % ILL / Document delivery11 % Münster The local library offers the highest success in procuring information The local library Role of Libraries RSLGInformation providers rated as essential Local library83 % Private collection81 % Local library60 % CLIR What percent of the information that you use for research comes from the...?

Personalized services Needs, wishes How would you define your research profile? Keywords Thesaurus Classi- fication Author Journalother Institution No definition possible Applied economics Biology English studies History Mech. engineering

Selection Rating Structuring Ease of use Access to full texts Search for full texts Personal profiles Alerting-Service Help/Reference service Selection Rating Structuring Ease of use Access to full texts Search for full texts Personal profiles Alerting-Service Help/Reference service 5,2 3,7 5,8 6,2 6,1 6,0 4,6 4,3 4,6 5,2 3,7 5,8 6,2 6,1 6,0 4,6 4,3 4,6 Structuring Ease of use Access to full texts Search for full texts Structuring Ease of use Access to full texts Search for full texts Subject gateways: Important criteria (scale 1 - 7) Needs, wishes

Main results "information waste" quantities exceeding capacities reaction: managing without Information overload – information dropping too many sources too differently organized sources varying technics clumsy ways of delivery no "one-stop-shopping" High expenditure of time Highest effort for interdisciplinary studies

Small circles with the same special subjects Informal, changing quickly Exchange of actual information Exchange of documents Younger academics often "outside" "Invisible colleges" databases "too complicated" Internet search more difficult in older groups Information literacy missing Main results

Human Sciences / Social sciences Clear differences as to subjects Natural Sciences / Engineering Main results Strong bias on "completeness" Higher priority for local library and print collection Tendency to "aimless" seeking, inspiration by the unexpected Immediate accessibility of information is important Tendency to drop what is not immediately available Tendency to selective seeking

The wishes To do E-journals Digitization of relevant print sources More information in electronic format Integrated search ("google for research"), especially for interdisciplinary studies. More advice, schooling Quick and easy ways of document delivery

More of the library / lis („Aktuelle Mitteilungen“)