Library Use and Information-Seeking Behaviour of Academics at Lincoln University

Abstract

Academics are an important user group for their university libraries. Academic libraries are trying very hard to balance limited funding and users’ needs, especially while the information-seeking behaviour of academics is being changed by electronic resources. This study was undertaken to discover the information-seeking behaviour of academics and their use of the library at Lincoln University of New Zealand. The results from this study will be useful to enhance the collection development and prioritise programs and services to meet academics’ needs more effectively. An online survey was used for this study. All academics from the Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Faculty of Commerce and the Faculty of Environment, Society and Design were selected and 49 academics responded. The results indicated that a great number of academics depend on libraries for getting information. Academics are facing a big problem regarding the lack of time to obtain information. They also display great interest in using online journal articles and printed books from Lincoln University Library. However, academics are not interested in using the latest tools, such as smart phones, e-Pads etc. It was also established that academics from different disciplines have a very similar information-seeking behaviours. In addition, academics are satisfied with the library resources and services but they do not use it as much as they recommend it to students. Finally, academics have little contact with library staff. Based on these findings, it was recommended that library resources should continue to have both electronic resources and printed resources. Librarians and library systems must do better to improve the time lost in information-seeking by academics. There is a need to improve the communication and collaboration between librarians and academics to encourage academics to use more library resources in their teaching, and librarians should encourage academics to learn the latest information-seeking tools and skills, as well as promote the library services and resources more.

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