Information-seeking Behavior of Physical Science Librarians: Does Research Inform Practice?

Abstract

Physical science librarians rely on personal communication and online discussion groups for information to enlighten their practice. Scholarly journals appear third on the list of resources used to inform daily activities and are used primarily to support information literacy instruction, subscription decisions, and their own research as well as to learn about best practices in other libraries. The preferred library and information studies journals publish virtually equal proportions of research and nonresearch articles, with the majority of research articles being reports of qualitative surveys without statistical analysis. The popular journals were not those most highly cited, nor were the research articles cited to a greater extent than the nonresearch articles. In essence, the experiences and opinions of colleagues and patrons were found to be of greater value to the practice of physical science librarianship than reports of original research.hysical science librarians act as the gatekeepers to the literature of chemistry, physics, astronomy, mathematics, and geosciences. These exceptionally information-literate and technologically savvy information professionals are able to extract even the most esoteric of information from a wide range of print and electronic resources. Not only are physical science librarians able to mine the vast body of physical science information successfully, but they also make daunting decisions about which of the o en exorbitantly priced physical science information resources to acquire for their institutions. Added to these tasks is the charge of instructing physical science students, faculty, and researchers in the use of information resources.Clearly, physical science librarians are required to possess a wide range of abilities, yet how they gain the knowledge to carry out their panoply of charges beyond the a ainment of a master's degree is not well understood or documented. This article presents the results of a study of the information-seeking activities used by physical science librarians to inform their practice. The results are part of a larger investigation that also profiled the level of education and experience and the re- Cecelia M. Brown is an Associate Professor in the

The Face of 21st Century Physical Science Librarianship

“…The survey also inquired about the use of library research literature in the practice of physical science librarianship, the results of which are forthcoming (Brown and Ortega 2005). Participants were asked about their academic degrees and majors and their level of experience in librarianship, including how many years they had been in their current position.…”

“Library users come to a library to find books”

“…Erdelez & Makri, 2011), the outreach work of Cosette, Javert's reading of business journals and other examples of the use of isolated sources of information can be seen as similar boundary spanning activities. The use of scholarly journals by the informants of Brown and Ortega (2005) may be suggested to play a similar role. They all represent strategies to go beyond the boundaries of the system while still being firmly anchored in the magic circle of informational opportunities provided by the (library) system.…”

Effect of Demographic Variables on Information Seeking Behaviour of Company Advertising Strategies in North-Eastern Nigeria

“…The model of information seeking behaviour popularised by Leckie, Pettigrew and Sylvain in 1996 now cut across professions, providing a frontier for further research endeavour in humanities and sciences. This model has been adapted and applied in virtually all field of specialty by scholars, like Kuhlthau and Tama (2001), Brown and Ortega (2007), Hemminger et al (2007), Davies and Harrison (2007), Robinson (2010) and Bamoriya and Singh (2011). Kuhlthau (2006) add that people experience the information search process as interplay of thoughts, feelings and actions.…”

“…An extensive literature search suggests that information-seeking practices cut across various fields of profession including legal, academics, medical, engineering, and marketing among others (Kuhlthau and Tama, 2001;Brown and Ortega, 2007;Hemminger, et al, 2007;Davies and Harrison, 2007;Robinson, 2010 andBamoriya andSingh, 2011). Interestingly, a common strap of the previous studies is built on the model of information seeking behaviour that cut across different professions.…”