Open AccessNational study of information seeking behavior of academic researchers in the United States
Author(s) -
Niu Xi,
Hemminger Bradley M.,
Lown Cory,
Adams Stephanie,
Brown Cecelia,
Level Allison,
McLure Merinda,
Powers Audrey,
Tennant Michele R.,
Cataldo Tara
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of the american society for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1532-2890
pISSN - 1532-2882
DOI - 10.1002/asi.21307
Subject(s) - information seeking , descriptive statistics , information seeking behavior , information behavior , information system , psychology , information science , world wide web , computer science , knowledge management , public relations , library science , political science , statistics , mathematics , law
Abstract As new technologies and information delivery systems emerge, the way in which individuals search for information to support research, teaching, and creative activities is changing. To understand different aspects of researchers' information‐seeking behavior, this article surveyed 2,063 academic researchers in natural science, engineering, and medical science from five research universities in the United States. A Web‐based, in‐depth questionnaire was designed to quantify researchers' information searching, information use, and information storage behaviors. Descriptive statistics are reported. Additionally, analysis of results is broken out by institutions to compare differences among universities. Significant findings are reported, with the biggest changes because of increased utilization of electronic methods for searching, sharing, and storing scholarly content, as well as for utilizing library services. Generally speaking, researchers in the five universities had similar information‐seeking behavior, with small differences because of varying academic unit structures and myriad library services provided at the individual institutions.