Information seeking behaviour of Greek astronomers
Hara
Brindesi*, Sarantos
Kapidakis*
*Laboratory
on
Digital
Libraries
and
Electronic
Publishing, Archive
and
Library
Sciences
Department, Ionian
University
1st Workshop on Digital Information Management
Contents
Aims of Information seeking behaviour
studies
Aims of the study
Methodology -
Population
Methodology
Main results
Conclusions
Bibliography
Information seeking behaviour
studies Aims
Evaluation of information collections
(Broadus,
1980).
Improvement of Information systems
(Ellis,
1993,
Kuhlthau, 1993,
Marchionini, 1995)
Information literacy seminars
(Hepworth, Μ and
Wema, Ε. 2006, Pinto, María
and Sales, Dora 2007, Walker, J. R., Moen, William E., 2001).
Aims of the study
Our main aims were to investigate three aspects of the Greek astronomers’
information seeking behaviour.
I. The importance they place in keeping up to date with current developments.
II.
The methods they depend on for keeping up to date.
III.
The information sources they mostly use.
Further aims of the study
The study uses an intradisciplinary
approach in order to investigate:
similarities and differences in information seeking behaviour among astronomers with different characteristics, including academic status, age, subfield of astronomy or affiliated institution.
Methodology -
Population
106 astronomers of
the area of Athens
Professors of the Department of Physics and Astronomy of University of Athens
Athens
University PhD and MSc students
Academy of Athens researchers
Athens National Observatory researchers
Methodology
13 face-to-face semi-structured interviews
Analysis of the interviews
Online questionnaire, which was filled in by 73 recipients
Main results I. Interest in keeping up to date with current
developments
The rapid awareness for new papers is absolutely important for the majority of the astronomers
2.8
18.3
26.8
52.1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1
Interest for rapid awareness
A little importantSomewhat importantQuite importantAbsolutely important
The interest for rapid awareness is apparent for the professors and researchers, less for the PHD students and even less for the MSc
students.
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
Professors Researcher MSC PHD
Rapid awareness/Status A little important
Somew hat important
Quite important
Absolutely important
Cosmolo
gy
History
and p
hilos
ophy o
f ...
Space
phys
icsStars
Astrop
hysic
s
Extrag
alacti
c astr
onomy
Dynam
ical a
stron
omy
S1
100%100%90,50%
76,90%70% 66,70%
60%
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Percentage distribution of importance of keeping up-to-date by subfield of astronomy
How many hours per week do astronomers spend for keeping up-to-date?
Astronomers in Greece spend on average 7 hours per week for keeping up-to-date.
Professors and researchers show greater interest in keeping in touch with current developments in comparison to PhD and MSc
students.
Academy of Athens researchers spend more hours per week for keeping up-to-date, in comparison to the scholars of Athens University and The Athens National Observatory.
There are no great differences among various age groups, except for the groups “18-24”
and “25-34”
that seem to show lower interest in
comparison to the rest.
14.33 14.00
7.30 7.00 6.00 5.90 5.08
0.002.004.006.008.00
10.0012.0014.0016.00
Cosmolo
gy
History
and ph
ilosophy
of ...
Space
physi
cs
Dynam
ical as
tronom
y
Extrag
alactic
astro
nomy
Astrop
hysics
Stars
Hours/week (on average) for keeping up-to-date in relation to the subfield of astronomy
University of AthensAcademy of Athens
National Observatoryother
Institution
0
10
20
30
hour
s/w
eek
for s
uppo
rtin
g cu
rren
t aw
aren
ess
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55 and above
Age
0
10
20
30
hour
s/w
eek
for s
uppo
rtin
g cu
rren
t aw
aren
ess
Main results II.
Methods used for keeping up-to-date
63.8% 62.3%
55.1%
17.4%
31.9% 31.9%24.6%
5.8%
68.1%
81.2% 81.2%
71.0%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
Browse ADS
Browse arXiv
Browse e-journals
Browse print journals
ADS email alerts
Journals email alertsNewsletters
Publishers catalogsSeminars
ConferencesColeagues
Online searches
Methods considered important for keeping up with current developments
Methods
Main results III.
Information sources usage
88.20%
29.70%
67.60%64.20%
60.90%
20.60%
58.60%
55.40%
21.70%
54.30%
38.80%31.80%
25.40%22.10%
17.10%11.60%
7.40% 4.30%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Goo
gle
Goo
gle
Scho
lar
ADS
W
ebsi
tes
Elec
troni
c re
fere
nce
mat
e ria
lPr
inte
d re
fere
nce
mat
eria
lAr
Xiv
Elec
troni
c jo
urna
lsPr
inte
d jo
urna
lsC
itatio
nsPr
inte
d bo
oks
Elec
troni
c bo
oks
Col
leag
ues
OPA
Cs
DBs
with
obs
erva
tions
Occ
upat
iona
l mee
tings
ISI W
eb o
f Sci
ence
Web
of K
nowl
edge
Sources usage at least twice a week
Main results concerning usage of information sources
ADS is used by everyone in our sample
Google is used by everyone in our sample.
Google Scholar is not used so much, mainly when it is compared to the use of Google.
Databases such as “ISI Web of Science”
or
“Web of
Knowledge”
are not so popular among the Greek astronomers.
Wikipedia is increasingly used.
The use of printed materials as well as the use of libraries has been decreased to the minimum
With the only exception of the printed books that are more popular than those in an electronic format.
Main results
Information sources usage vs. academic status
Journals and books in printed format, as well as Google Scholar are used mainly by professors.
Books in electronic format are used mainly by PhD and MSc students.
Citations are used heavily by researchers.
Unlike the majority of astronomers, MSc
students don’t use ADS neither do they use arXiv
database heavily.
Main results
Information sources usage vs. subfield of astronomy
Scholars occupied with the subfield of “dynamic astronomy”
don’t use arXiv.org
so heavily.
Cosmologists use ADS less than the scientists of the other subfields.
Observations΄
databases as well as the printed
reference material are used mainly by the scholars of the subfield of “Stars”.
Main results
Information sources usage vs. age
Astronomers of 55 years old and above, rarely use the eprint archive arXiv.org, as well as electronic library catalogs and
electronic books.
The same age category uses mostly "Google Scholar"
and printed journals.
The age category of “18-24”
uses mostly Google, websites, electronic reference material and printed books.
Main resultsMost important sources of information in relation to information
needs
Observation needs: Observations΄
databases, ADS.
Research needs: ADS, ArXiv.org, electronic journals
However, Athens University scholars favour
Google as a source of information.
Current developments needs: ArXiv.org, ADS
However, Athens University scholars as well as Academy of Athens
researchers favour
the use of printed books.
Teaching needs: ArXiv.org, Websites, printed books
However, Academy of Athens
researchers as well as those of The National Observatory
favour
Google as a source of information.
Writing needs (articles, books, e.tc.):
ADS, ArXiv.org, Web of knowledge, OPACs.
Personal information needs: Websites, Google, ArXiv.org, Wikipedia.
Investigation needs for a subject area not well known : Wikipedia, Websites.
However, Academy of Athens researchers favour
printed books.
Conclusions
Statistical results revealed that participants΄
information seeking behaviour is significantly affected by variables such as academic status, age, subfield of astronomy or affiliated institution.
Usage of printed materials as well as usage of libraries have been decreased to the minimum, as astronomers currently use, mainly, electronic resources.
The rapid awareness of new developments is absolutely critical for the majority of them.
As far as the resources and methods participants use for keeping
up to date is concerned, there is high reliance on resources entailing
human
contact (e.g. seminars, colleagues, etc.).
Bibliography 1/3
Broadus, R.N. (1980). "Use studies of library collections". Library Resources & Technical Services, 24(4), 317–324.
Brown, C.M. (1999). Information seeking behavior
of scientists in the electronic information age: Astronomers, chemists, mathematicians, and physicists. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 50 (10), 929-943.
Ellis, D. (1993). "Modeling
the information-seeking patterns of academic researchers: A grounded theory approach". The Library Quarterly, 63(4), 469–486.
Hemminger, B.M., Lu, D., Vaughan, K.T.L., & Adams, S.J. (2007). Information seeking behavior of academic scientists. Journal of the American Society for InformationScience
and Technology, 54 (14),
2205-2225.
Hepworth, Μ
and Wema, Ε. (2006)
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theory
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at: www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/italics/vol5-
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(Date of access: 1/07/08)]
Bibliography 2/3
Hjørland, B. (1995). "Toward a new horizon in information science (I.S.): Domain-analysis", Paper presented at ASIS 56’s Annual Meeting. Columbus, Ohio, 25 October 1993.
Jamali, H.R. and Nicholas, David (2008), "Information-seeking behaviour of physicists and astronomers", Aslib
Proceedings:
New Information Perspectives, Vol. 60 No. 5, pp. 444-462.
Jamali, H. R. and Nicholas, D. (2009). "E-print depositing behavior
of physicists and astronomers: an intradisciplinary
study", Journal of Academic Librarianship, 35, (2), 117-125.
Kuhlthau, C.C. (1993). Seeking meaning: A process approach to library and information services. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Marchionini, G. (1995).
Information seeking in electronic environment. Cambridge:
Cambridge
University Press
Pinto, María
and Sales, Dora (2007). "A research case study for user-centred information literacy instruction: information behaviour of translation trainees". Journal of Information Science, 33 (5) 2007, pp. 531–550
Bibliography 3/3
Tenopir, C., King, D. W., Boyce, P., Grayson, M. and Paulson, K.-L. (2005)."Relying on electronic journals: Reading patterns of astronomers". Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 56:
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Walker, J. R., Moen, William E., (2001)
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at
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http://home.swbell.net/walkerjr/ISBS/internetart.pdf
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: 15/05/08)]
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D, (2000).
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