Information seeking by geoscientists: an update on Bichteler and Ward (1989)
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-07-2017-0114 |
| Published date | 12 March 2018 |
| Pages | 447-460 |
| Date | 12 March 2018 |
| Author | Knut Alstad,Morten Hertzum |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Information seeking by
geoscientists: an update on
Bichteler and Ward (1989)
Knut Alstad
Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim, Norway, and
Morten Hertzum
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate how often geoscientists use different information
sources and how this pattern of source use balances their perceptions of the quality and ease of use of the
information sources.
Design/methodology/approach –The geoscientists at the Geological Survey of Norway were surveyed
about their information-seeking behavior. The response rate was 70 percent.
Findings –The geoscientists primarily relied on web search and colleagues for information. These two
information sources were perceived as easy to use, more so than bibliographic databases (GeoRef, Web of
Science, and the library database). Bibliographic databases were used infrequently and perceived as yielding
poorer quality results than consulting a colleague. The likelihood of using web search and colleagues to find
information about a new topic was determined by the ease of using these sources. In contrast, the quality of
the resulting information did not determine the frequency with which any of the information sources were
used. The geoscientists who spent more time looking for information searched the web more often, had more
reservations toward the quality of information obtained from colleagues, and read more journal articles and
conference papers.
Research limitations/implications –Geoscientists’use of an information source is self-reinforcing and
unlikely to increase through improving its quality alone. It should be noted that the study is restricted to one
geoscience organization.
Originality/value –The main reference about the information-seeking behavior of geoscientists is almost
three decades old. This study provides an update.
Keywords User studies, Information seeking, Information studies, Information behaviour, Geoscience,
Source selection
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Scientists, engineers, and various other professionals are constantly looking for information
to get their work done (King et al., 1994; Case and Given, 2016; Leckie et al., 1996). Some
studies find that professionals spend as much as 56-65 percent of their working time
communicating to obtain and supply information (e.g. Pinelli et al., 1991; Robinson, 2010),
thereby making information seeking one of their main activities. Knowing where and how to
find needed information is a prerequisite for competent performance. In this study, we focus
on geoscientists. They need –and create –information about the history, nature, materials,
and processes of the Earth.
Almost three decades ago, Bichteler and Ward (1989) published what has become the
main reference about the information-seeking behavior of geoscientists. They concluded
that “for the most part, geoscientists are pressed for time, depend heavily on colleagues,
do not use bibliographic services as effectively as they should, are not interested in end-user
searching, read relatively little foreign material, value journals highly, and do not employ
computer-based shortcuts such as e-mail”(p. 176). While Bichteler and Ward considered
these findings unsurprising, some of them appear anachronistic today. In addition, they
merely hinted at how competing factors in the geoscientists’perceptions of different
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 74 No. 2, 2018
pp. 447-460
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-07-2017-0114
Received 28 July 2017
Revised 3 October 2017
Accepted 17 October 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
447
Information
seeking by
geoscientists
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