Finding the Answers: Community College Students’ Non-Academic Information Behaviors

Abstract

While limited research on the information behaviors of community college students exists, the theories of Elfreda Chatman have not been used to develop understanding of this population. Community college students are more likely to be people of color and/or lower income than their peers in four-year colleges, making them potentially more likely to experience information poverty. This study explored if and how Chatman’s theories explain the information behaviors of students at a highly diverse, urban community college. Thirteen students were interviewed using open-ended, qualitative prompts to describe their information seeking and use as it pertains to their college experiences, specifically advisement, financial aid, and understanding course requirements. Students indicated that they used interpersonal and online resources in some combination for all of their information needs for school and in everyday life. The students did not describe the information poverty theorized in many of Chatman’s studies. However, it became clear from their responses that the students’ information seeking and use, as well as their understanding of their own information behaviors, support a view of the community college as a small world that privileges information seeking as a normative behavior.

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