Research in progress: some preliminary and key insights into the information needs of the contemporary academic researcher. Part 1

Abstract

Reports the preliminary conclusions derived from the initial, pathfinder phase of a study devoted to a re‐assessment of the information needs of academic researchers. This exploration of researchers’ current information requirements and information seeking practices has been undertaken with a special emphasis on examining the validity of anything and everything we have customarily been holding true as to the information component of academic research work. The groundwork for the investigation has been laid down in a pilot project of seven in‐depth critical incident method based information needs interviews with faculty at the University of Haifa (Israel). The qualitative data thus obtained as to researchers’ information needs, how they go about meeting these needs, and the barriers they encounter in the process have been analysed within the comprehensive framework proposed for a systematic description of information needs. The ensuing evaluation considers 11 aspects of the present‐day academic researcher’s information needs: subject, function, nature, intellectual level, viewpoint, quantity, quality/authority, date/currency, speed of delivery, place of publication/origin, and processing/packaging.

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