The aim of this study was to investigate how PhD students discover, choose and use information and literature for their research. Design/methodology/Approach: Eight PhD students at the Norwegian Business School (BI) were interviewed. The interviews were based on a phenomenological approach. Findings: The use of both library databases and Google Scholar is frequent and contextual. The informants ranked the library databases as more useful than Google Scholar. Methods for keeping up to date varied and were contextual. Although, formal information seeking in library databases was seen as more academic than the tracking of references this latter method was more widespread. Students felt they mastered the tools associated with formal information seeking, which constituted a continuous activity in their research practices. Wilson's (1983) theory on cognitive authority may give a better understanding of the findings. Practical implications: Acquiring knowledge about the information practices of PhD students in a specific discipline will help libraries to improve their services and acquire relevant resources for their users. Originality/value: This paper examines PhD students' ranking of information resources, identifies preferred methods for keeping up-to-date and reveals in which contexts the informants use either formal or social information seeking practices.

Our aim with this conceptual analysis is to demonstrate possible expectations put on librarians who are engaged in interdisciplinary courses in higher education programs. We do so by relating views on interdisciplinarity with views on information literacy. We distinguish views on interdisciplinarity by the degree of integration between disciplinary components and views on information literacy by the degree of participation in addressing research problems. The analysis brings forth four cases. The cases entail different professional competencies that range from source-oriented technical skills applicable in multidisciplinary settings to collaborative negotiations of research problems and information needed to address them in inter-disciplinary fields. This conceptual account has a twofold potential: First, it has a capacity of informing academic libraries about alternative paths in developing or revising activities for interdisciplinary education. Second, it also provides a framework for developing future research problems that address current challenges related to information literacy in interdisciplinary settings.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate why users turn to the university library’s reference desk and whether librarians make use of the opportunity to conduct reference interviews to disclose any unexpressed information needs. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents the results from a qualitative exploration study where interactions between librarians and users were observed in authentic situations at the reference desk and analyzed using a modified version of Radford and Connaway’s (2013) categorization of inquiries. Findings Most inquiries were seemingly easy to answer and pertained to collections and procedures in the library. Lending out desk supplies accounted for a high proportion of the activity. Only a small number of requests were subject-oriented and reference interview techniques were only used in 5% of the recorded inquiries. This means that the users’ information needs were not probed in the vast majority of the interactions. Research limitations/implications The study is exploratory and mirrors the activity that takes place in one specific library. The low number of reference interview techniques used may indicate a lack of interest in users’ information needs, which signifies a risk of the reference desk being reduced to an arena for instrumental and superficial interaction between librarians and users. Originality/value This study illustrates current developments in work at a physical library desk. Few recent studies address face-to-face interactions between librarians and users.

As the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world and Norway in 2020, libraries were among the institutions that were impacted. The social mission of libraries to stay open and offer services, cultural experiences and reliable information was put under pressure. In this article we depart from a survey of 843 library workers across public, academic, special, and school libraries in Norway. The survey was conducted in June-August 2020 and contains quantitative and qualitative data on how library workers experienced lockdown and the responses from libraries. The article addresses how the Covid-19 crisis impacted libraries’ social missions and what circumstances contribute to crisis management in Norwegian libraries. We use institutional theories on isomorphism and institutional pressures, as well as general theories on crisis management, to analyse the material. We conclude that the pandemic has shown the potential of digital library services, but also find that closed library premises strongly influenced how libraries were able to fulfil their social missions. Our findings also indicate the need for a sectorial leadership in times of crisis. In our discussion, we describe a situation where structures and plans to manage situations of crises are lacking. For libraries to be part of society’s democratic infrastructure, their roles and social missions need to be considered in crisis management plans.