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Information-Seeking Behavior in the Digital Age: a Multidisciplinary Study of Academic Researchers

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Information-Seeking Behavior in the Digital Age: a Multidisciplinary Study of Academic Researchers Information-Seeking Behavior in the Digital Age: A Multidisciplinary Study of Academic Researchers Xuemei Ge This article focuses on how electronic information resources influence the information-seeking process in the social sciences and humanities. It examines the information-seeking behavior of scholars in these fields, and extends the David Ellis model of information-seeking behavior for social scientists, which includes six characteristics: starting, chaining, brows- ing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting. The study was conducted at Tennessee State University (TSU). Thirty active social sciences and humanities faculty, as well as doctoral students, were interviewed about their use of electronic information resources for research purposes, their perception of electronic and print materials, their opinions concerning the Ellis model, and ways the model might apply to them. Based on the interview results, the researcher provides suggestions on how current information services and products can be improved to better serve social sciences and humanities researchers. The author makes recommenda- tions for improving library services and technologies to better meet the needs of social sciences and humanities scholars. odern modes of technology 4. FTP (file transfer protocol) have changed the information 5. Online catalogs environment in which social 6. Electronic journals sciences and humanities re- 7. Databases searchers work. The pursuit of knowledge 8. Web portals has been revolutionized, mainly through David Ellis proposed a behavior model the vast expansion of data accessible via of information-seeking behavior based the Internet. Increased knowledge of the on observations of social scientists. The information-seeking behaviors of social model includes six fundamental charac- sciences and humanities researchers is teristics of information seeking: starting, crucial to meeting their information needs. chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitor- The electronic information resources ing, and extracting.1 examined in this study include: This study seeks to understand how 1. Electronic mail electronic information resources affect 2. Listservs the information-seeking processes in the 3. Web sites social sciences and humanities. It also Xuemei Ge is Metadata Librarian in Brown-Daniel Library at Tennessee State University; e-mail: xge@ tnstate.edu. © Xuemei Ge 435 crl-34r2 436 College & Research Libraries September 2010 endeavors to discover how technology ing.4 Stephen E. Wiberley, Jr. and William contributes to and perhaps alters the infor- G. Jones revealed that temporal factors mation-seeking process and explores the have a significant impact on humanists’ applicability of Ellis’s model in the digital adoption of electronic information tech- information environment. The findings of nology and identified and described four this study provide suggestions on how types of time intervals that influence hu- current information services and systems manists’ behavior. Three are types of time can be improved to better serve social sci- spent: anticipated start-up time, actual ences and humanities researchers as they start-up time, and use time; the fourth is navigate this new data-rich environment. time of life: that is, the stage or trajectory The study addresses the following of a scholar’s project or career.5 Margaret specific research questions: Stieg Dalton and Laurie Charnigo studied 1. What roles do electronic informa- historians’ attitudes toward and use of tion resources play in social sciences and electronic materials and found that the humanities researchers’ information seek- application of electronic resources have ing behavior? increased historians’ use of online cata- 2. How do social sciences and humani- logs and indexes in their efforts to iden- ties researchers use electronic information tify appropriate primary and secondary resources in their information seeking? sources of information.6 Susana Romanos 3. What factors affect these researchers’ de Tiratel investigated the information- use of electronic information resources? seeking behavior of Argentine humanities 4. To what extent is Ellis’s behavior and social sciences scholars in 2000, and model applicable to the digital informa- found no substantial differences between tion environment? them, concluding they share similar infor- mation-seeking behaviors.7 Peiling Wang Literature Review wrote about disciplinary and cultural Research findings concerning the use of differences among information seekers in electronic resources by social scientists the Internet age, concluding that there are and humanities scholars vary, but recent differences across disciplines and cultures studies show an increase in the use of in terms of how they rank the importance electronic resources. A study of Brazilian of these resources and how much they social sciences researchers found that, use them.8 In her 2007 paper about the although print resources are still the most information-seeking behaviors of aca- frequently used, electronic resources are demic researchers in the Internet age, a becoming increasingly popular. Access to user study in the United States, China, networked computers is the main obstacle and Greece, Wang further discussed the to the use of databases and other elec- information needs, information-seeking tronic resources.2 Hannah Francis focused behaviors, and resource use of selected on a study that described the information- special interest groups.9 In their review seeking behavior of social sciences faculty of scholarly information practices in the at the University of the West Indies (UWI). online environment, Carole L. Palmer, One of this 2005 study’s findings was that Lauren C. Teffeau, and Carrie M. Pirmann social scientists prefer journal articles in began to address the problem by report- electronic format over print.3 David Ellis ing on the state of knowledge on scholarly and Hanna Oldman’s study explored the information behavior, focusing on the information-seeking behavior of research- information-seeking activities involved in ers in the field of English literature at the research process and how they differ British universities. The article concluded across disciplines. The report found that with recommendations for further study information practices may be enhanced of the use of electronic resources in rela- or advanced by new information re- tion to information literacy and brows- sources and tools. What has changed in Information-Seeking Behavior in the Digital Age 437 the digital environment is not the value Most of the information-seeking be- of these kinds of sources, but rather how havior categories in Ellis’s model are sup- they are searched, accessed, and used ported by capabilities available in com- in the scholarly process.10 Clara M. Chu mon Web browsers. Thus, an individual studied the information needs of literary could initiate surfing the Web from one of critics while producing literary criticism a few favorite Web sites (starting); follow and developed a six-stage model of pro- hypertext links to related information ducing literary criticism, which includes resources in both backward- and forward- ideas, preparation, elaboration, analysis linking directions (chaining); scan the Web and writing, dissemination, and further pages of the sources selected (browsing); writing and dissemination.11 bookmark useful sources for future refer- The study of electronic information- ence and visits (differentiating); subscribe seeking behavior in the social sciences and to e-mail-based services that alert the humanities dates back to the 1980s, but user of new information or development David Ellis was the first to model the pro- (monitoring); and search a particular cess of information-seeking behavior of source or site for all information on that social scientists: how they search for and site on a particular topic (extracting).14,15 interact with the materials, as opposed In the book, Looking for Information, to the sources they use and the manner Donald O. Case indicates that the Ellis in which the materials are obtained. Ellis model makes no claim of considering described six fundamental characteristics the many factors and variables gener- of information seeking practiced by social ally involved in information seeking. scientists: starting, chaining, browsing, For example, the type of need and what differentiating, monitoring, and extracting. sort of information or “help” might Starting refers to the information-seeking satisfy it, or the availability of sources patterns of researchers beginning work in and their characteristics.16 Lokman I. a new area. Chaining describes the process Meho and Stephanie W. Haas’s study of following chains of citations or other on information-seeking behavior of forms of referential connection between social sciences faculty studying state- materials or sources identified during less nations revealed a frequent use of “starting” activities. Browsing is defined information technology, with 88 percent as “semi-directed or semi-structured of participants responding that they use searching in an area of potential inter- electronic resources.17 Access problems est.” Differentiating involves “identifying were a major issue for selected materials, different sets of sources in terms of the with 83 percent of faculty reporting they differing probability of their containing travel to special collections or archives to useful material.” Monitoring is an activity locate historical documents. In another limited
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