Information-Seeking Habits of Education Faculty

Abstract

This study explores the information-seeking behavior of academic education faculty from twenty large public research universities. The investigation includes an examination of how frequently education faculty seek or access information, how they stay up-to-date on current developments in the field and identify less recent journal literature, how valuable library resources and services are to their information needs, and the importance of library research to the field of education. The responses from the survey participants emphasize the importance of electronic access to scholarly journals and library databases and the continuing value of books, both print and electronic, for meeting the information and research needs of education faculty.he information-seeking habits and information needs of faculty are of interest and importance to academic librarians. Knowing the information that is desired by faculty, for what purposes, and how it is discovered, can guide an array of academic library services, policies, programmatic offerings, and collection development activities. To this end, studies of faculty in a range of disciplines have been conducted, from engineering and chemistry to social work and art. No studies, however, have been conducted primarily on education faculty. Noting this, the authors set out to learn more about the information-seeking behaviors of education faculty in an effort to begin addressing this gap in the literature.This article seeks to address some aspects of the information-seeking behavior and information needs of education faculty. The researchers explored what tools faculty use to meet their research needs, how frequently information is sought, in what ways currency in the field of education is maintained, and the importance of library resources and services in meeting the information needs of faculty. The article is the second in a series of articles designed to gather data on information-seeking behaviors of faculty in the disciplines.

Electronic versus Print Journals in Academic Libraries in Abu Dhabi: Preference & Problems

“…It is clear that the dependence on electronic journals has become more and more necessary. In a research study done by Rupp-Serrano & Robbins (2013) it is mentioned that participants emphasize the importance of electronic access to scholarly journals and library databases and the continuing value of books, both print and electronic, for meeting the information and research needs of education faculty. This study compares the journal format preferences of academic libraries in Abu Dhabi for the purpose of assisting libraries in determining the journal formats most often selected by their patrons.…”

Now Tell Us What You Want: Information-Seeking Habits of Health Sciences Faculty

“…Several studies have been done to examine the information seeking habits of different library user populations, with some focusing specifically on health sciences populations. [3][4][5][6] Rupp-Serrano and Robbins 4 conducted a series of studies examining the information-seeking habits of faculty in several disciplines at over twenty large institutions using Robbins, Engel, and Kulp as a model. 9 One of the goals was to look at the "generalizability of findings of single institution studies."…”

“…9 One of the goals was to look at the "generalizability of findings of single institution studies." 4 This article focuses on education faculty and contains a lengthy literature review devoted to the information seeking patterns of social sciences faculty and suggests a shift over time from relying on colleagues and journal literature to a mixture of books and journal literature and on to a reliance on electronic databases and resources. They found that 98% of respondents ranked electronic access to journals as important.…”

“Systemic Managerial Constraints”

“…Teaching, service, and administrative work, while part of most academics' jobs, receive less attention, failing to look inclusively at academics' information behaviour. While academics seek information for writing and conducting research for publication, maintaining currency, and for lecture preparation (Rupp-Serrano and Robbins, 2013), the literature focuses on academics' information seeking for research. Much of the information behaviour research with academics is based on Ellis' (1993) categorisations of academics' information-seeking patterns (e.g., Bronstein, 2007;Chu, 1999;Ge, 2010;Meho and Tibbo, 2003;Savolainen, 2017).…”

“…Often, these needs are discussed as the types of sources required and source preferences (e.g., Baruchson-Arbib and Bronstein, 2007;Chu, 1999;Rupp-Serrano and Robbins, 2013;Westbrook, 2003). Information needs change depending on where the researcher is in the research process (e.g., Bronstein, 2007;Meho and Tibbo, 2003).…”