Accessing The Intangible: An Exploratory Qualitative Study Of How Pivotal Sources Affect Doctoral Students’ Research Thinking, Kelly Hangauer

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

Information behavior (IB) is the study of how “individuals perceive, seek, understand, and use information in various life contexts” (Case & Given, 2012, p. 3). One component of IB—information seeking—was popularized by Carol Kuhlthau in the 1980s when she integrated the cognitive, affective, and physical acts involved in conducting a library-based research assignment. In her studies with high-schoolers and later with undergraduates, Kuhlthau developed the information search process (ISP) model. Since then, librarians have continued to draw on the ISP model and conduct information-seeking studies so that libraries may recognize “zones of intervention,” optimize the organization of library resources, and …

"Being Able To Play For A Wider Audience": Student Musician Perspectives On Performing In The Library, Gisele Schierhorst, Christine Fena

Library Faculty Publications

In the United States, the library-as-concert-space has a substantial history and has been a way for libraries of all types to build partnerships and create community, while providing free, educational, and shared experiences for patrons. Less discussed, however, is the impact that informal concerts have on student musicians who perform in academic library spaces. Conventionally, student musicians perform well-rehearsed repertoire in recital halls for an audience that consists of their peers, teachers, family, and friends. These formal performances are often part of the required academic curriculum for music majors. There is little opportunity, however, for them to experience what it …

Digital Searching: A Grounded Theory Study On The Modern Search Experience, Nicolas Armando Parés

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This Grounded theory study explores US adults' modern information search process as they pursue information through digital search user interfaces and tools. To study the current search process, a systematic grounded theory methodology and two data collection methods, a think-aloud protocol and semi-structured interviews, are used to develop the theory. The emerging theory addressed two tightly connected research questions that asked, “What is the process by which humans search and discover information?” and “What is the process by which search and discovery interfaces and tools support the modern search process?”

The study collects participant data from US adults who have …

Storm Warnings: Time Sensitive Proximity, Carrie A. Boettcher, Laurie J. Bonnici, Brian C. O'Connor

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Weather-predictive tasks during high risk severe weather events are carried out for the common good of the community by virtual teams of weather professionals. Severe weather predictors are responsible for producing the early warnings that inform people in harms way and potentially save lives. Should we be concerned with the use of “other-generated” information from social media used by these professionals?

Teams extend understanding of an event by looking to external sources of situationally relevant information such as storm spotters, publicly generated photos and comments posted to online social media (OSM), and communication with community partners. Situationally relevant OSM, specifically …

The Use Of Smart Phones For Information Seeking By Undergraduate Students In Nigerian Specialized University, Atanda S. Sambo, Akanbi Mohammed Lawal, Kikiri Helen

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study aims at establishing the use of smart phones for information seeking by undergraduate students in a Nigerian Specialized University. A descriptive survey design was adopted. Five objectives and five research questions were formulated to guide the study. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select one thousand four hundred and three (1,403) respondents across the two colleges for the study whereas 84% were retrieved. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistical tools such as frequency, percentage and means. The outcome of the study revealed that apple iOS topped the highest types of smart phone used …

Information Behavior Of Children Using Public Libraries In Taiwan And Indonesia, Dessy Harisanty, Nove Anna

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Parents as primary socialization agents have a major influence on the development of children. The facilities that can be used to maximize child development are libraries. Libraries are information centers that help meet information needs. This research aims to identify information behavior of children using public libraries in Taiwan and Indonesia and the role of parents as a child's primary socialization agents for library utilization. This study was conducted in Taichung City-Taiwan and Surabaya-Indonesia. Both cities are cities of literation and the second largest cities in each country. The libraries provided in both cities have special services for children. The …

Senior High School Students’ Use Of Library Resources And Services, Dessy Harisanty

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Purpose – School library plays an important role in meeting the information needs of students. Students of Senior High School require information to support their personal, study, and environmental needs. Therefore, to meet their needs, high school students conduct information seeking. This study aims to determine the information seeking behavior of high school students in Surabaya.

Design/methodology/approach – The method applied in this study is a descriptive quantitative approach. The samples of this study were high school students in Surabaya-East Java-Indonesia, selected by using multistage random sampling. The data collection was conducted through questionnaires. The sample size is 200 …

Information Behavior Of Students Towards The Use Of Library Information Resources In Universities In Oyo State, Nigeria, Mobolaji Tolulope Oladunjoye Mrs, Ojinga Gideon Omiunu Mr., Temitope Olorunwa Yomi-Owojori Mrs

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study investigated the information behavior of students towards the use of library information resources in Universities in Oyo State, Nigeria. The study adapted the Wilson’s model of Information Behavior and adopted a correlational survey research design. A sample size of four hundred respondents was drawn from selected universities in South Western Nigeria, using a simple random sampling technique. Regression analysis and correlation analysis were used to analysis data obtained from the field. The findings of this study revealed that among the information behavior independent variables which include information needs, seeking and sources, only information needs significantly influence information use. …

Researchers' Participation In And Motivations For Engaging With Research Information Management Systems, Besiki Stvilia, Shuheng Wu, Dong Joon Lee

Publications and Research

Researchers’ participation in online RIMSs

This article examined how researchers participated in research information management systems (RIMSs), their motivations for participation, and their priorities for those motivations. Profile maintenance, question-answering, and endorsement activities were used to define three cumulatively increasing levels of participation: Readers, Record Managers, and Community Members. Junior researchers were more engaged in RIMSs than were senior researchers. Postdocs had significantly higher odds of endorsing other researchers for skills and being categorized as Community Members than did full and associate professors. Assistant professors were significantly more likely to be Record Managers than were members of any other seniority …

Survey Of Scholarly Reading (Finland), Carol Tenopir, Lisa Christian, Elina Late

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

An survey of academics and phd students in Finland asked respondents a series of questions based on their scholarly reading behavior. For example, how they accessed scholarly publications and where the obtained them, reading format, and numbers of publications read per month. Respondents were also asked about their social media habits.

Alternate Academy: Investigating The Use Of Open Educational Resources By Students At The University Of Lagos In Nigeria, Daniel Onaifo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Abstract

Open educational resources (OER) are increasingly used to support pedagogical initiatives and learning needs at institutions of higher education across the globe. In this thesis, I examined key issues in the use of OER by students at the University of Lagos in Nigeria. Specifically, I examined how much awareness the students have of OER, their attitudes toward OER, and the benefit they derive from using the resources. I also examined the specific motivations behind their use of the resources as well as the challenges they face in doing so. A mixed methods research design, consisting of two data collection …

Information Behavior In The Mobile Environment: An Overview, Ziming Liu

School of Information Student Research Journal

As smartphones become ubiquitous, they increasingly influence the way in which students seek and use information. It is important to understand emerging information behavior as a result of wide spread use of smartphones. This paper provides an overview of information behavior in the mobile environment. Gender differences in mobile information seeking are discussed. People interact with mobile information in varied and unpredictable locations or while in transit. The mobility of information engagement is an important issue that human information theory should embrace.

Trustworthiness And Authority Of Scholarly Information In A Digital Age: Results Of An International Questionnaire, Carol Tenopir, Kenneth Levine, Suzie Allard, Lisa Christian, Rachel Volentine, Reid Boehm, Frances Nichols, David Nicholas, Hamid R. Jamali, Eti Herman, Anthony Watkinson

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

An international survey of over 3600 researchers examined how trustworthiness and quality are determined for making decisions on scholarly reading, citing, and publishing and how scholars perceive changes in trust with new forms of scholarly communication. Although differences in determining trustworthiness and authority of scholarly resources exist among age groups and fields of study, traditional methods and criteria remain important across the board. Peer review is considered the most important factor for determining the quality and trustworthiness of research. Researchers continue to read abstracts, check content for sound arguments and credible data, and rely on journal rankings when deciding whether …

Beyond Access To Information: Understanding The Use Of Information By Poor Female Mobile Users In Rural India, Devendra Potnis

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Digital inclusion research has focused overwhelmingly on access to information. But access to information by itself is of limited value unless the intended beneficiary has the capacity to use it. It is the use of information that delivers the benefits. However, in ICT for development literature, there is little empirical work on the process by which use of information delivers benefits. This study fills the gap by studying information use by poor female mobile phone users in rural India. It identifies six stages in the information use process and models them.

Exploring Barriers To Ict Use By Middle Class Indian Women, Anindita Paul, Kim M. Thompson, Jannica Heinstrom

Faculty Publications

Nations have made great strides in providing physical access to digital technologies and educational opportunities, yet barriers still exist that prevent those who have strong physical and intellectual access to information and communication technology from taking full advantage of the information and opportunities the technology offers. Women in particular are affected by social barriers which may be quite subtle and are easily excluded from taking an active role in the information society. This study explores how Indian women incorporate information and communication technology (ICT) into their daily lives and what aidsor barriers they face in the process. This study contributes …

Acceptance Of Knowledge Management Concepts In Religious Organizations: The Impacts Of Information And Willful Disengagement From Productive Inquiry, Darin Freeburg

Faculty Publications

This study analyzed how churches create cultures in which the recirculating of the same information is encouraged, or cultures in which new information is introduced regularly. It then analyzed how these cultures impact engagement with important knowledge management (KM) principles. Particular attention was paid to the factors that contribute to a church’s decision to engage in a critical questioning of assumed beliefs—productive inquiry (PI)—shown to be an important behavior in successful organizations. In eight, 90- minute focus groups, 28 congregants from Mainline Protestant churches were asked to discuss the information behavior surrounding their religious beliefs. Qualitative coding and analysis revealed …

Acceptance Of Knowledge Management Concepts In Religious Organizations: The Impacts Of Information And Willful Disengagement From Productive Inquiry, Darin Freeburg

Darin Freeburg

Information Behavior And Japanese Students: How Can An Understanding Of The Research Process Lead To Better Information Literacy?, Yusuke Ishimura

Yusuke Fitzgibbons (Ishimura)

Academic librarians are striving to better serve international students as this emerging population grows on university campuses. Past studies of international students generally focus on linguistic and cultural differences in relation to information literacy skills development. However, it is necessary to go beyond these factors to better serve the population. By using a framework based in information behavior research, the present study investigates the factors that mediate students' behavior and information literacy skills. Practical recommendations based on the findings of an in-depth qualitative study of students' research process are provided.

Meeting The Users’ Needs In The Access To Information: Effective Collaboration For Developing And Delivering New User-Centered Information Services, Ilona Trtíková, Lenka Němečková, Marta Machytková

Proceedings of the IATUL Conferences

University library needs to learn how to work with new models of scholarly communication and react on new challenges in the global knowledge environment within and outside the university community. This paper introduces electronic tools and services based upon a close cooperation and intensive feedback from the researchers and teachers, which have been introduced by the library for the enhancement of the electronic information resources use and for building a digital space for communicating information.

Based on the idea of alerting services and using simple and generally easy-to-setup RSS technology, the Central Library of the Czech Technical University in Prague …

Information Behavior And Japanese Students: How Can An Understanding Of The Research Process Lead To Better Information Literacy?, Yusuke Ishimura

Research outputs 2013

Academic librarians are striving to better serve international students as this emerging population grows on university campuses. Past studies of international students generally focus on linguistic and cultural differences in relation to information literacy skills development. However, it is necessary to go beyond these factors to better serve the population. By using a framework based in information behavior research, the present study investigates the factors that mediate students' behavior and information literacy skills. Practical recommendations based on the findings of an in-depth qualitative study of students' research process are provided.

A Study On The Effects Of Tertiary Education On Open Source Information Gathering Skills, Sara T.K. Cunow

Theses : Honours

Since the introduction of the World Wide Web (WWW), a large amount of information has become available and accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. Where in the past, the art of the intelligence profession was finding scarce information, currently information gathering is more focused on sorting relevant information from the available abundance. The purpose of the current study was to gain a better understanding of how information is gathered on the Web by potential intelligence analysts. Although the WWW is used by many people to search for information daily, relatively little research exists on how this source should be …

Follow The Data: How Astronomers Use And Reuse Data (Poster), Christine L. Borgman, Ashley Sands, Laura Wynholds, Sharon Traweek

Christine L. Borgman

We analyze the people and infrastructure involved in the building, sustaining, and curation of large astronomy sky surveys. Our research assesses what new infrastructures, divisions of labor, knowledge, and expertise are necessary for the proper care of data. Between May 2011- February 2012, we conducted fourteen interviews employing Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data use as the focus. SDSS is a multi-faceted, multi-phased data-driven telescope project with hundreds of collaborators and thousands of users of the open data. The Follow the Data interview protocol identifies a single publication authored by each interviewee and uses it as a lens looking backward …

Follow The Data: How Astronomers Use And Reuse Data, Christine L. Borgman, Ashley Sands, Laura Wynholds, Sharon Traweek

Christine L. Borgman

We analyze the people and infrastructure involved in the building, sustaining, and curation of large astronomy sky surveys. Our research assesses what new infrastructures, divisions of labor, knowledge, and expertise are necessary for the proper care of data. Between May 2011- February 2012, we conducted fourteen interviews employing Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data use as the focus. SDSS is a multi-faceted, multi-phased data-driven telescope project with hundreds of collaborators and thousands of users of the open data. The Follow the Data interview protocol identifies a single publication authored by each interviewee and uses it as a lens looking backward …

Infoliteracy@Adistance: Creating Opportunities To Reach (Instruct) Distance Students, Mirah J. Dow, Mohommed Algarni, Heidi Blackburn, Karen Diller, Abdullahi Musa, Padma Polepeddi, Brian Schwartz, Terri Summey, Sandra Valenti

Criss Library Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

This article offers a theoretical model of online, graduate student information seeking behavior. The qualitative methodology used to gather data for the development of the model included an electronic survey and semi-structured interviews conducted online using Adobe Connect Pro™. Participating in the study were 238 graduate students enrolled in at least one online course at a mid-western university. Data analysis included use of Zoomerang™ reports to interpret survey data, and content analysis of interview transcriptions. The resulting evolution of the Bates’ (2002) theoretical model includes new two modes of information seeking: scrutinizing (directed, dynamic), and being alert (undirected, dynamic). The …

Resource Discovery Tools: Supporting Serendipity, Tammera M. Race

DLTS Faculty Publications

Serendipity, the accidental discovery of something useful, plays an important role in discovery and the acquisition of new knowledge. The process and role of serendipity varies across disciplines. As library collections have become increasingly digital faculty lament the loss of serendipity of browsing library stacks. Resource discovery tools may have features that support serendipity as part of information seeking. A comparison of four commercial Web-scale discovery tools, Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) WorldCat® Local1, Serials Solution2® Summon3™, ExLibris4® Primo Central5™, and EBSCO Discovery Services (EDS)6™, links product features to characteristics that support serendipitous discovery. However, having such features is only …

The Information Behavior Of Public Health Educators Working In Appalachia, Karen Jean Mcclanahan

Doctoral Dissertations

Public health educators serve as a vital interface between medical and public health authorities and community members for the dissemination of important information related to disease prevention and health promotion. Public health educators deliver packaged educational programs, develop their own original programs, field impromptu health questions, and conduct community health assessments. This dissertation research employed a survey in January 2011 to illuminate the information-related attitudes and activities of health educators working in public health departments in Appalachia. The research questions explored how these health educators find and use information, how they perceive their information needs and their abilities to find …

A Model Of The Information Seeking And Decision Making Of Online Coin Buyers, Donald O. Case

Information Science Faculty Publications

Introduction. The Everyday Life Information Seeking approach suggests that much information behaviour takes place in non-work settings, for example in the pursuit of leisure activities such as hobbies. This study focuses on a community of collectors to examine how they gather information to decide whether to purchase an item for their collection when the target item has an ambiguous or deficient description.

Method. Manual scanning of eBay and other online discussion board for coin buyers led to 187 postings indicating an attempt to reach a purchase decision, or to authenticate a purchased coin, through solicitation or posting of advice.

Analysis. …

The Timing Of The Research Question: First-Year Writing Faculty And Instruction Librarians‘ Differing Perspectives, Jennifer E. Nutefall, Phyllis Mentzell Ryder

Staff publications, research, and presentations

Faculty and librarians agree on the qualities of a good research question. However, in an exploratory study, they differed on when students should develop their research question. While librarians stated that students should develop their question early, first-year writing faculty advocated for delaying the development of the research question. The timing of the research question is an important issue because it has implications for the structuring of research assignments and library instruction, as well as having an impact on the students who get differing messages.

Scholarly Use Of Information: Graduate Students' Information Seeking Behaviour, Carole A. George, A. Bright, T Hurlbert, E C. Linke, G St. Clair, J Stein

Carole A. George

Introduction. This study explored graduate students' information behaviour related to their process of inquiry and scholarly activities. Method. In depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with one hundred graduate students representing all disciplines and departments from Carnegie Mellon University. Analysis. Working in pairs, we coded transcripts of interviews into meaningful categories using ATLAS.ti software. The combined use of quantitative and qualitative analysis aimed to reduce subjectivity. Results. Graduate students often begin with a meeting with professors who provide direction, recommend and provide resources. Other students help to shape graduate students' research activities, and university library personnel provide guidance in finding resources. …

Intention To Seek Information On Cancer Genetics, James E. Andrews, J. David Johnson, Donald O. Case, Suzie Allard, Kimberly Kelly

School of Information Faculty Publications

Objective. The public has a high interest in seeking personal genetic information, which holds implications for health information seeking research and health care policy. Rapid advances in cancer genetics research promise early detection, prevention and treatment, yet consumers may have greater difficulty finding and using the information they may need to make informed decisions regarding their personal health and the future of their families.

Design. A statewide telephone survey was conducted of non-institutionalized Kentucky residents 18 years of age or older to investigate factors associated with the intention to seek cancer genetics information, including the need for such information seeking …