Modelling information‐seeking behaviour of graduate students at Kuwait University

Abstract

PurposeThis paper seeks to report the results of research conducted to model the information‐seeking behaviour of graduate students at Kuwait University and the factors influencing that behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThe research employed a number of different approaches: a questionnaire survey to 800 graduate students studying at Kuwait University; a questionnaire survey to 180 academics at the university; semi‐structured interviews with eight academics; face‐to‐face and online interviews with 11 university library staff, four focus groups with 24 students and three focus groups with ten faculty staff.FindingsSignificant factors influencing students' information‐seeking behaviour were found to be related to library awareness, information literacy, organisational and environmental issues, source characteristics, and demographics (specifically gender and nationality).Research limitations/implicationsThe research focused on graduate students at a Kuwait University which is affiliated to the government sector, however, the information seeking model is more widely applicable, particularly to other developing countries.Originality/valueProposed is an information‐seeking model that extended two other relevant and influential models of information‐seeking behaviour. The extended model shows promise for its intended utility in identifying factors that influence the information behaviour of graduate students.

Factors Underlying Technology Adoption in Academic Libraries in Kuwait

“…Al Muomen et al, 2012). This is also consistent with studies in many other countries which have identified such misperceptions among library users about librarians and libraries, and particularly a lack of awareness of librarians' role, duties and skills (Bickley & Corrall, 2011;Fagan, 2003;Gardner & Eng, 2005;Majid & Haidar, 2008).…”

“…Al-Muomen, Morris and Maynard (2012) are rather more optimistic about lecturers' understanding of the importance of the library, though confirm a lack of collaboration between them and librarians. As regards technology in academic libraries in Kuwait as such, research is still in its infancy, reflecting also the relative recency of the emergence of an academic system.…”

Information seeking behavior in Arabic and English: A case study of scholars at Shaqra University

“…Thus, the study described the information seeking process as consisting of many steps: recognizing information needs, trying to fulfill the need by formulating the problem, expressing the information need using a search system, examining the results, reformulating the problem, and using the results. Al-Muomen et al (2012) proposed a model of the information seeking behavior of Kuwaiti undergraduate students. The model adopted the findings of Rowley and Urquhart (2007) to understand undergraduates' information-seeking behavior and revealed that all the factors adopted, such as "identifying need, locating sources, searching" affected students' information behavior.…”

Exploring the scholarly communication styles of Arab social science and humanities scholars

“…The overarching aim of the study is to establish an understanding of the scholarly communication practices of Arab social science and humanities scholars. Previous studies that explored the scholarly publishing and information‐seeking behaviour of Arab scholars concluded that scholarly practices may differ among them (Al‐Muomen, Morris, & Maynard, ; Al‐Suqri, ; Al‐Wreikat, Rafferty, & Foster, ; Elgllab & Shehata, ). Understanding the scholarly communication behaviour of Arab scholars may lead to a better understanding of research practices in Arab countries.…”