Information needs and information seeking behaviour of environmental scientists in universities in Sri Lanka: major issues and concerns

Abstract

The paper is based on a survey to assess information needs and information seeking behaviour of environmental scientists in universities in Sri Lanka with a view to identify the major issues and concerns which affect their access and retrieval of information. It also examines the feasibility of building up an up to date information resource collection on environmental sciences including print and electronic media and facilitating improved library services beyond the physical boundaries. The major findings of the survey are as follows: Majority of the scientists have pointed out that the library collections of environmental sciences are not up-to-date, collections are not properly stored, available collections are not organized, journals are inadequate and incomplete. The environmental scientists have recommended short term and long term solutions to improve access to environmental information. The environmental scientists have totally agreed that upto-dateness of the collections is as the major issue. Access to electronic resources is also recommended by the respondents. The respondents recommended to organize special environmental collection in main university libraries rather than having separate buildings for environmental sciences. Respondents showed a positive response to establish an environmental information network for university libraries in Sri Lanka.

The use of libraries and information centres by agricultural researchers and extension workers in Zimbabwe

“…This finding corroborates observations by Gamage (2006: 20) that scientific information is communicated by scientists through scientific reports, research articles, papers presented at conferences, dialogues with colleagues, and through workshops. Gamage (2006) adds that the continued evolution of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and the internet has also enhanced the availability of information in scientific disciplines. The internet provides access to the most current information, particularly research publications and online journals, explaining why the majority of researchers consider the internet and journals to be important.…”

“…The internet provides access to the most current information, particularly research publications and online journals, explaining why the majority of researchers consider the internet and journals to be important. Majid, Anwar and Eisenschitz (2000) and Gamage (2006) observe that, besides the formal communication platforms described above, informal channels, like e-mail and conversations between colleagues, play a significant role in the communication of agricultural information. It can be deduced from this analysis that a variety of sources are consulted by the respondents when faced with an information need, and the preference for print or electronic sources is also influenced by connectivity.…”

Information‐seeking behavior of management and commerce faculty in Sri Lankan universities

“…see Anuradha and Usha, 2006;Yadamsuren and Raber, 2007;Moghaddam and Talawar, 2008;Tahir et al, 2009). When concerning the documented literature in the context of Sri Lanka, there have been some studies on the information needs, information seeking, information gathering behavior or library use (Ileperuma, 2002;Gamage, 2006;Wickramanayake, 2006). The LR 59,8 626 above studies themselves have paid attention to evaluate library use of academics in agriculture, environmental science, pure science, humanities and social science or comparative studies among these groups.…”

Information Needs and Information Seeking Behavior of Students at Higher Educational Institutes: With Special Reference to CINEC Maritime Campus

“…This situation is different from the period of 90's. Environmental Scientists in Sri Lanka normally used their own libraries or personal libraries for their research work because of the lack of services and resources provided by the institutional library (Gamage, 1990) (4).…”

“…Gamage (4) has done a research to fulfill the necessity of MSSc degree programme of University of Kelaniya on the topic of Information needs and information seeking behavior of Environmental Scientists in Sri Lanka. Ninety three (93) Environmental Scientists from academic, government and non-government institutions were selected as the sample.…”