Insights into Information-seeking and Communicating Behaviour of Academics

Intl. Inform. & Libr. Rev. (1999), 31,119^143 doi:10.1006/iilr.2000.0116 Available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on

Insights into Information-seeking and Communicating Behaviour of Academics DENNIS N. OCHOLLA* A B ST R AC T This paper discusses the information-seeking behaviour of academics in relation to the productivity of academics in South African Universities, with particular reference to the University of Zululand, through a survey of 105 academics. It was established that the nature of the discipline and the rank of the academic, which normally corresponds with the academic quali¢cation, experience, exposure and research productivity level, largely determine the information-seeking behaviour. Academics mainly need information for career development, and occupational and professional needs. Furthermore, university libraries, which currently face budget cuts on acquisitions, still play a pivotal role in information access by the academics. It is con¢rmed that the use of ``local environment'' is dominant for intra- and inter-university information access network and system. It is recommended that avenues that work colleagues can use to interact should be supported, and career challenges that stimulate productivity by academics, such as research and publication, should be maintained and sustained. # 1999 Academic Press

I N T RODUC T ION Reports from many countries indicate that enormous public spending is still allocated to education. According to a report by Andrea Useem,1 the world average of public spending on higher education (as a percentage of all education) is estimated to be 21%. In South Africa education consumes 21
3% of budgeted expenditure. *Professor and Head, Department of Library and Information Science, University of Zululand, Private Bag X 1001, KwaDlangezwa 3886, South Africa. 1 Useem, A. (1998) Africa's Intellectual Malaise. Need for de-colonisation of the mind. Development and Cooperation 1, p. 21.

1057^2317/99/090119 + 25 $30.00/0

# 1999 Academic Press

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Outstanding contributions to research in natural and applied sciences, as well as the humanities and social sciences, have been carried out by academics in South Africa. Academics have formed the bastion of fundamental, applied and developmental research work during decades of east^west rivalry, particularly during the cold war. Arguably, some academic research laboratories in the US are closing down as a result of reduced spending on strategic research laboratories, most of which are manned by academics. In South Africa, the role of academics in fundamental research is duly recognized.2 This recognition is reiterated, to some extent, by the support that the private sector is providing to boost research for industrial growth and to sustain the ability of their enterprises through funding research activities at universities, including the creation of research chairs in academic departments at well-established universities. It would be ironic to recognize the contribution of a sector in the economy on the one hand, while on the other deny it of the resources that enable that sector to £ourish. Let us recall a statement made by the well-known Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe. In one of his novels he emphasized that ``proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten''. By equating information to the palm oil that is so essential in a Nigerian menu for eating yam, it is essential to emphasize the importance of information in our daily lives. In this paper, we wish to explain how academics seek``palm oil'' without which they cannot achieve their research and teaching responsibilities. It is our intention to show who, when, why, how and where academics seek information in order to underpin their pivotal role in research and development as well as advise on suitable information systems and services that can support their work.

T E R MINOLO GY The terms information, seeking, communicating, behaviour and academics seem to be very familiar yet also confusing because of the many existing de¢nitions accorded to them. We shall adopt working de¢nitions for this paper. Information is regarded as a collection of raw data, consisting of symbols, signs, signals and surrogates that can be compiled into messages (text, audio, images, or digital) for communication. Seeking is an expression of want, demand, need or requirement that entails looking for or fetching an item or information. Information-seeking behaviour is a means towards reducing uncertainty and solving, in this case, the information needs of an information consumer. Behaviour is normally associated with the psychological and emotional status, dynamics and paradigm of an 2

Mouton, J. (1997) Survey on Scholarship, Research and Development. Pretoria, FRD, pp. 96^131.

INFORMATION^SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OFACADEMICS

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individual or organization in relation or reaction to internal and external stimuli. It is expressed through attitude, beliefs, ideology, emotions, feelings, tastes and values, among other internally or spiritually driven expressions. Communicating is used as a term to describe the transfer of information from a source to a recipient through a channel in a given context, and in most cases with the intention of eliciting a response or feedback from the recipient. It is, in our view, the vehicle for conveying information and messages from the source to the recipient and without which information is valueless. Academics are university teaching and research sta¡ sometimes called ``dons''or scholars that include professors, associate professors, senior lecturers, lecturers, junior/assistant lecturers, tutorial fellows and other research sta¡. T H E S TAT US OF T H E A C A DE MIC S Academics are identi¢ed with scientists, scienti¢c activities and scienti¢c communication apart from other academic activities. They conduct interpersonal dialogue between themselves; register ongoing as well as completed research; visit each other's research stations, units and laboratories; participate at conferences, seminars and workshops; exchange correspondence on publications; conduct research, prepare and report research results; publish and teach. They are given tenure, are promoted to a higher rank, are assigned to teach more advanced classes, receive salary increases, and boost their academic status and prestige because of research and publications that re£ect a high degree of information exploitation and use. In an article on the academic's stance on the slogan ``publish or perish'', Mwamwenda3 reports on a survey that he conducted at the University of Transkei in 1994 on the extent to which academics agree or disagree with this slogan. He found that the number of those who agreed and those who disagreed with the expression was approximately equal. Ironically, this study found that those who agree happen to be active in research and publishing while those who disagree research less and publish less. The latter cite teaching and community service to be vital responsibilities. A good summary to this dichotomy, in our view, is provided by Omari who asserts that: ``Research is the essence of scholarship and a necessary condition for the existence of a university, since without excellence in scholarship there can be no excellence in teaching, training, social re£ection, and service.''4 3 Mwamwendwa, T.S. (1994) Assessment and evaluation in higher education. SAJHE/SATHO 19 (2), p. 99. 4 Omari, I.M. (1991) Innovation and change in higher education in developing countries: Experiences fromTanzania. Comparative Education 27, p. 182.

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Universities expect academics to conduct research, publish, teach, participate in academic administration and be involved in community service. This overwhelming and challenging responsibility involves information creation, processing, storage and dissemination, and in all cases, information is extensively exploited and used. An academic's career growth and credibility, in many cases, still depends on his/her research and publication record. Mwamwenda develops this discussion further in the article Faculties and academics involvement in research and publication activities and notes that ``the advancement of knowledge through scienti¢c research has long been recognized as one of the major goals of universities; one of the major and most important criteria of determining the best academics is by the reputation they command in research and publications and that whether a department in a university is perceived as a success or failure depends on the extent to which it is involved in research''.5 Quoting Garner and Jolly, Mwamwenda6 reports on the number of scholarly publications per academic annually at 16 universities in the UK and compares this with the University of Transkei. He notes that the publication output in the United Kingdom did not exceed three articles per academic per year, predominantly ranging from one to two articles, and that this output was similar to the productivity ratio at the University of Transkei. I suggest that the criteria used for determining this ratio were not uniform. For instance, most recognized indexing institutions use nuclei, core or premier journals identi¢ed through bibliometric studies based on citation analysis such as that used by the Institute of Scienti¢c Information (ISI). Others recognize the SAPSE - accredited journals, as is the case in South Africa, while most use peer-refereed journals for determining the quality of the publishing output. A report published by the Directorate for Science and Technology Policy Foundation for Research Development in 19967 emphasizes that in South Africa, universities are major research contributors notwithstanding the conduct of research under di¤cult circumstances. The fundamental factors that impede research at the universities, as noted in the report, include: shrinking funding, shifting priorities for public spending on education, and increasing teaching demands on academic sta¡ which reduce focus on research. It is noted that the absence of FTE research positions in faculties and departments and the nature of the disciplines (traditionally the number of publications vary substantially between disciplines) in£uence productivity levels at the academic departments. For instance, it is 5

Mwamwenda,T.S. (1997) Faculties and academics involvement in research and publication activities. SAJHE/SATHO 11 (1), p. 93. 6 Ibid., p. 94. 7 South African Science and Technology Indicators 1996 (1996). Pretoria, Directorate for Science and Technology Policy Foundation for Research Development,129 pp.

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INFORMATION^SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OFACADEMICS

noted that the number of publications in social sciences and humanities are substantially lower than in the pure and applied sciences. Studies have found that the aforementioned trend applies to information seeking and communicating behaviour in that the use of information resources by academics depends on their disciplines. Tables I and II are intended to elucidate the productivity of academics in various disciplines and universities. In the science disciplines, high productivity is noted in plant and animal sciences, clinical medicine, biology, biochemistry, chemistry and physics. Computer science, immunology and neuroscience score extremely low in this category. Much less is produced in the social sciences and humanities as compared to the pure and applied sciences. In this category, high productivity is registered in literature, history, political science, psychology, philosophy and library and information science. Communication, languages, linguistics, management, performing arts, religion and theology, and psychiatry score very low. It is likely that the trends exhibited correlate with information-seeking behaviour. However, there are other variables to consider: the proportion of academic sta¡ to all the sta¡, the existence of TABLE I Number of South African publications in various science disciplines and their share as a percentage of publications in each discipline in the country

Agricultural sciences Astrophysics Biology and biochemistry Chemistry Clinical medicine Computer science Ecology/environment Engineering Geosciences Immunology Materials science Mathematics Microbiology Molecular biology & genetics Multidisciplinary Neuroscience Pharmacology Physics Plant & animal science

1993

1994

1994 %

66 59 320 315 658 23 135 147 177 25 91 42 88 61 93 26 52 224 826

68 88 334 308 627 16 160 183 183 31 84 40 72 57 130 32 63 278 659

2 3 10 9 18 0 5 5 5 1 2 1 2 2 4 1 2 8 19

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D.N. OCHOLLA

TABLE II Number of South African publications in various disciplines in the social sciences and humanities* and their share as a percentage of publications in each discipline

Art and architecture Communication Economics Education General History Language and linguistics Library & information science Literature Management Performing arts Philosophy Political science and history Psychiatry Psychology Public health & social medicine Rehabilitation & special education Religion and theology Social issues and philosophy Sociology/anthropology/ Linguistics

1993

1994

1994 %

2 1 17 12 2 30 4 7 41 6 1 14 30 3 31 13 0 9 15 35

1 4 35 16 1 36 5 20 45 6 4 32 32 6 99 13 2 5 15 31

0 1 9 4 0 9 1 5 11 1 1 8 8 1 24 3 0 1 4 8

*Duplication exists as articles are sometimes classi¢ed under more than one discipline. Source: South African Science and Technology Indicators (1996) pp. 135.

FTE research sta¡ that may in£uence publication output, and student and teaching load by discipline. Tables III and IV underscore the research and publishing output of the academics in South African Universities re£ected in the Science Citation Index (SCI) and the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). It may be of interest to note that South Africa is rated ¢rst in terms of research and publications records in Africa according to ISI. The Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) are produced by ISI.We take note of their selection criteria for citation analysis and some of the accusations levelled against them, including elements of bias, particularly with regard to language (mainly journals written in English are indexed) and Anglo-Americanism which can be contested. If, as we know, over 50% of scienti¢c publications are written in English, then ISI would automatically incorporate more English language

125

INFORMATION^SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OFACADEMICS

TABLE III Number of publications from South African universities in the SCI University

1992

1993

1994

CapeTown Durban-Westville FortHare Natal North Orange Free State Port Elizabeth Potchefstroom Pretoria Rand Afrikaans Rhodes Stellenbosch Unisa Western Cape Witwatersrand Zululand

615 33 5 282 12 131 51 51 333 116 83 189 35 15 515 9

638 49 11 299 10 150 40 71 318 83 87 282 36 21 531 13

641 47 5 272 3 140 43 63 296 88 103 266 44 26 604 9

Source: ISI-National Science and Social Science indicators (1994).

TABLE IV Number of South African publications in various disciplines in the social sciences University

1992

1993

1994

CapeTown Durban-Westville Natal North Orange Free State Port Elizabeth Potchefstroom Pretoria Rand Afrikaans Rhodes Stellenbosch Western Cape Witwatersrand Zululand

88 6 38 6 6 7 12 29 9 28 24 19 102 1

103 7 34 3 9 7 6 18 8 20 13 25 121 1

81 7 32 3 13 9 2 16 5 16 18 27 82 1

Source: ISI-National Science and Social Science indicators (1994).

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D.N. OCHOLLA

articles for citation purposes as a matter of logic. However, besides other alleged reasons for bias, it is apparent that most publications appear in journals not indexed by ISI. Productivity from former homeland universities such as Bosuthoswana (north-west), Transkei and Venda are not indexed by ISI. The status of the University of Zululand with regard to research productivity and publications in premier journals seems to be underestimated by ISI. It is reported that in 1996, 81articles, originating from academics, were published in SAPSE - accredited journals (top peer-reviewed journals according to South African standards) emanating from 48 registered research projects. In 1997, the number of registered research projects and publications in SAPSE - accredited journals increased to 61 (for SAPSE accredited articles) and 98 for registered research projects. Table V re£ects the research and publication productivity by academics at the University of Zululand in 1996 and 1997. Although this productivity output may seem lower than those at other universities in South Africa (as re£ected by ISI), it still con¢rms that academics produce and consume information at the university. It seems that the challenges and responsibilities vested upon academics are overwhelming and that their information seeking and communicating behaviour becomes a major concern for research. The indicators re£ected in the tables have a signi¢cant bearing upon the information-seeking and communicating behaviour of academics.

TABLE V Research output at the University of Zululand 1996^97 Description of productivity indicator

1996

Per acad

1997

Per acad

Increase

Number of active research projects Registration of new projects Number of SAPSE articles By faculty: Arts Commerce Education Law Science Theology

367

1
1

428

1
3

61 (14%)

48

0
15

61

0
18

13 (21%)

81

0
25

98

0
3

17 (17%)

40 0 4 1 33 3

0
28 0 0
06 0
07 0
5 0
42

53 0 12 0 28 4

0
4 0 0
2 0 0
45 0
5

13 (24%) 8 (66%) decrease decrease 1 (25%)

INFORMATION^SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OFACADEMICS

127

I N F OR M ATION -S E E K IN G B E H AV IOU R Information-seeking behaviour is closely related to user studies, market analysis, user surveys, information analysis, community analysis and information needs assessment that are widely applied in the study of user needs in library and information science. The focus of user studies and information-seeking behaviour is to gain knowledge on aspects such as who needs information, what is the information, for what purpose are they seeking (why), how is the information sought, when is it needed, and where is information required. The information gathered helps to respond to user needs. Verhoeren in Ojiambo8 identi¢es the following reasons for user studies that relate to information-seeking behaviour: (1) Evaluation for decision making and assessing e¡ectiveness. This includes: Determining whether a library or information system is ful¢lling its purpose. Determination of the level of success of programmes and services. Establishment of priorities among programmes and services. Improvement of information systems, services and facilities. Assessment of adequacy of collections and facilities. Assisting in designing, continuing, modifying, or discontinuing speci¢c programmes and services. Supporting budget requests. Demonstration of accountability and justi¢cation of existence to a parent institution or other user groups supporting the system. Updating goals. Soliciting suggestions. (2) User interaction with system: Determination of level of user satisfaction and attitudes towards and opinions of libraries and information systems. Identi¢cation of user success and failures. Enhancement of public relations, determination of levels of awareness of programmes and services, and assistance in the education of users. Determination of patterns and levels of usage. Determination of the proportion of potential users that are actual users. Facilitation of understanding of information transfer. 8 Ojiambo, J.B. (1993) Information User Studies. In D.N. Ocholla and J.B. Ojiambo (Eds) Issues in Library and Information Studies. Nairobi. Jomo Kenyatta Foundation, pp. 57^58.

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Improvement of the matching of the user and the information; minimization of the number of obstacles between the user and information. Determination of information needs and subject preference. Determination of user priorities. Identi¢cation of user, potential user, or non-user population. (3) User characteristics: Determination of user interests, lifestyles, opinions, activities, attitudes, psychological and demographic characteristics, identi¢cation of new trends and needs, study of information £ow and literature usage habits. Identi¢cation of sources of information to which people turn, both within and without libraries and information systems. (4) Scienti¢c and comparative studies: Testing of hypotheses or the conduct of comparative studies in order to isolate causal variables. A massive amount of research output in library and information science focuses on user studies.This is con¢rmed by the various bibliographical databases that re£ect on library and information science publications such as Library Literature (LA), Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) and Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). Modelling of information-seeking behaviour concerns scholars even in recent years. Wilson9 shows the relationship between communication and information behaviour in general with information seeking and information searching in information retrieval systems by suggesting that these models can be related as they address similar issues in related ways and thus compliment each other rather than con£ict. Burnett and McKinley10 propose three inter-related models to aid in the understanding of information seeking. They include the postmodern model of identity, the rhizomorphic model of information contexts, and the hypertextual model of technology interaction. The two authors view the information-seeking problem as an individual's negotiation of identity through the exploration of the interaction of private ignorance and public knowledge. These models compliment Wilson's model by justifying association foci on the interactive process of communication studies with an approach to modelling information seeking.

9 Wilson, T.D. (1999) Models in information behaviour research. Journal of Documentation 55(3), pp. 249^270. 10 Burnett, K. & McKinley, E.G. (1998) Modelling information seeking. Interacting with Computers 10(13), pp. 285^302.

INFORMATION^SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OFACADEMICS

129

It is argued that high levels of uncertainty cause increases in information-seeking behaviour and that as uncertainty levels decline, information-seeking behaviour decreases. Berger and Calabrese in Teboul and Bruno11 hypothesize by adding ``variety'' and ``novelty'' to uncertainty as major causes of information seeking behaviour. Whereas we concur with these views, we should add that information-seeking behaviour is a process that begins with the challenges (professional, social, occupational, career and educational) that impel the information seeker to look for information. Uncertainties, novelty and variety, in our view, occur when the uses and grati¢cation aspects of information demand have already been de¢ned. Kempson in Thwala12 observed that people in general prefer informal information providers compared to formal, because they are open, unstructured and readily accessible. Soper13 reports that 51% of academics use available information from what is called the ``local environment''and out of this number 39% gain satisfaction with what they obtain. This group of academics consists of senior academics such as professors and senior lecturers that have amassed large amounts of information material from personal publications and home and o¤ce libraries and have formed invisible colleges made up of colleagues in the discipline. This explains the reason why colleagues, and personal/o¤ce collections (what Soper refers to as the local environment) are popular sources of information that some formal information providers such as libraries and the mass media have identi¢ed to be invisible competitors. In recent years, and in modern and well equipped academic libraries for instance, services that support access to electronic databases on-line are highly encouraged, perhaps because they bring information closer to the user and increase exploitation and use of information. In this case, studies on information seeking behaviour must not be con¢ned to the formal information providers alone because academics use other sources such as colleagues, personal/o¤ce collections and the Internet. Even in non-academic environments, it was established in a study conducted on information consultancy and brokerage in Botswana14 that private contacts, o¤ce ¢les and the mass media still dominate the type of information source that people use for information. All these sources can always be found within the ``local environment''. Many factors in£uence information seeking. We may note accessibility, availability, uses, grati¢cation, challenges facing the individual, organization, uncertainty, cost to the user, and searching and retrieval time. The 11 Teboul, B.J.C. (1994) Facing and coping with uncertainty during organizational encounter. Management Communication Quarterly, November, p.1. 12 Op. cit., p. 15. 13 Soper, M.E. (1976) Characteristics and use of personal collection. Library Quarterly 46(4), p. 400. 14 Ocholla, D.N. (1998) Information consultancy and brokerage in Botswana. Journal of Information Science 24(2), p. 24.

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pleasure of accessing and using information is enormous. We have already noted those factors that make academics seek information. There are general reasons as well, mainly applicable to the mass media discussed under the uses and grati¢cation theory by Mcquail in Fiske.15 These include, ¢rst, diversions that enable one to escape from the constraints of routine, escape from the burdens of problems, and cause emotional release. Secondly, personal relationships, companionship and social unity. Thirdly, personal identity, personal reference, reality exploration, value reinforcement, and ¢nally, surveillance that enables opinion-making leaders to perform their social roles. As humans, academics also seek information for general purposes, such as pleasure and curiosity. The scope covered by studies on information-seeking behaviour is wide. For example, they include information-seeking behaviour of academics, civil servants, lawyers, farmers, parliamentarians, engineers, physicians, students, and di¡erent genders, demographic groups and ¢rms. User studies have therefore been designed to help clarify the uncertainties that surround the actual needs of the information seeker. Information-seeking behaviour of academics has drawn a great deal of interest, particularly in the developed world16, 17 where their contribution to knowledge is highly valued. I do not know of much research on this subject in the developing countries, particularly in Africa. However, this omission does not undervalue the contribution that such studies can make towards solving the needs for service and system design and user satisfaction.

A C A SE S T U DY OF T H E U N I V E R SIT Y OF Z U LU L A N D The University of Zululand was founded in 1960 and is situated at KwaDlangezwa, approximately 150 km north of Durban and 30 km from Richards Bay. The student population of almost entirely African-South Africans was approximated 7000 in 1998. The o¤cial university language of communication is English although Zulu and Afrikaans are spoken by most of the sta¡ and student population. The university currently boasts 810 sta¡ members including 327 academics/teaching sta¡.The student/sta¡ ratio in 1997 was approximated 1: 21
5. The university academic programmes are conducted in six faculties and 54 teaching departments/disciplines. The mission of the university is to provide tertiary education and to 15

Fiske, J. (1990) Introduction to communication studies. London. Routlege. Summer¢eld, M. (1995) Online books:What roles will they ¢llfor users of the academic library? http://www. Columbia.edu/cu/libraries/digital/texts/paper/ 17 Siatri, R. (1998) Information seeking in electronic environment: A comparative investigation among computer scientists in Britain and Greek universities. Information Research 4(2) Location: http://www.shef.ac.uk/*is/publications/infres/isic/siatri.html 16

INFORMATION^SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OFACADEMICS

131

pursue knowledge, which serves the needs of the country in general and those of the surrounding communities in particular. Aims Studies conducted on this subject at Moi University in Kenya in 1995,18 the University of Swaziland,19 and the University of Zululand20 in South Africa had more or less similar aims.The survey at the University of Zululand had the following aims: (1) To identify the types of information resources frequently used by academics, whether they di¡er with discipline and how academics learn of the existence of the information sources they use. Knowledge of the information resources, in my view, depends on several variables: the user's knowledge, skills, experience and exposure, and the user's emotional and physical ability to go through the tedious and demanding search and retrieval of information. We noted earlier that search and retrieval time causes major problems to information users. Academics become frustrated when they cannot get what they want, and this leads to less use of a particular collection and of the formal information systems and services. The use of local and external databases that do not provide abstracts, and more recently, full text access is frustrating, as is the case in the library if inter-lending services lead to less recall and precision and long information intervals. It is equally frustrating to identify a source of information from an Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) but fail to ¢nd the item on the shelves of the library. (2) To identify the use of the identi¢ed information resource. It is speculated that the discipline or rank of an academic does determine knowledge of the existence of information resources. (3) To determine how academics generate professional and academic ideas, such as thinking, brainstorming, reading, and attending conferences and seminars. (4) To determine why they look for information.We consider this to be a ``uses and grati¢cation'' criterion that drives active consumption of information resources. In a university environment, we assume the following main reasons for seeking information: career development 18 Thwala, A. (1996) Information seeking behaviour by humanities scholars. A case of the University of Swaziland. Masters dissertation, Gaborone, University of Botswana. 19 Ocholla, D.N. (1996) Information-seeking behavior by academics: A preliminary study. International Information and Library Review 28, pp. 345^358. 20 Ocholla, D.N. (1998) Insights into Information-seeking and communicating behavior ofacademics. Inaugural Address, University of Zululand (Series A, No 57), March.

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that has a relationship with the slogan ``publish or perish'', to enlighten others, for professional and occupational needs, for example for a dissertation or research reports, personal ego and prestige which relate to the quantity of publications and sometimes their quality, to con¢rm or refute an issue, to announce ownership and priority in a publication, invention or innovation, or to justify the existence of, for example, a department or research unit. There are other reasons as well, for instance, for the love of research, pleasure, curiosity and many more. (5) To ¢nd out what sources of information are used by the academics. This item relates to the second objective on how the academics learn about the existence of the information sources they use. (6) To ¢nd out how academics disseminate information once they get it. I assume that the majority of academics disseminate information through teaching and also publication. This item is linked to information communicating behaviour. Methodology Surveys seem to be the dominant research method in information and library studies according to a report on the nature of UK research literature by Patricia Lazell-Ward21 at the Division of Education and Research of IFLA Conference in Copenhagen in September 1997. In the present study, a survey was targeted at academics in the six faculties and 54 teaching departments comprising 327 teaching sta¡ at the University of Zululand. The faculties were: Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Theology, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Commerce and Faculty of Law, located both at the main and Umlazi campuses. There was no sampling done for this study. Questionnaires were used for data collection in all cases. Reported studies con¢rm that questionnaires and interviews are similarly popular for data collection besides content analysis for gathering data in library and information science.22 A questionnaire asking the academics to indicate their faculty, department, academic rank, the information sources they use, how they get to know of the information sources identi¢ed, how they generate professional and scholarly ideas, why they seek information, where they ¢nd the information sources and how they disseminate the information once received, was sent to all the 327 academics at the University of Zululand by means of internal mail boxes. The responses had to be returned through the same 21 Layzell-Ward, P. (1997) The nature of UK research literature: Some thoughts arising from a bibliometric study. 63rd IFLA General Conference, 31 August^6 September 1997, Copenhagen, Denmark (Booklet 7, 9^ 10). Available at http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/i£a/iv/i£a63layp.htm 22 Ibid. (1997), p. 10.

INFORMATION^SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OFACADEMICS

133

means to my internal box or o¤ce or the Dean of Arts O¤ce. The academics located at Umlazi, a satellite campus located in Durban, were to use the Campus Librarian's internal box or the library to return the completed questionnaires. Forty-¢ve days after the questionnaires were distributed,105 (32
1%) responses had been received: Education,14 (21
2%); Law, 3 (23%); Science, 20 (33
3%);Theology, 4 (57
1%); Commerce and Administration, 9 (23
6); and Arts, 55 (39
2%). Data has been scored, collated, analysed and presented in frequencies, percentages, tables and charts by using simple methods and an integrated software program. It was further processed by verbal argumentation to discuss the qualitative information. It was observed that most academics were not readily available to complete the questionnaires and that, although still popular for data gathering, questionnaires are becoming less convenient to the respondents. The respondents or units of the population were su¤cient for generalization. Studies based on large response rates have tended to reach similar conclusions to those presented in this survey, perhaps because of the nature of the target population consisting mainly of well informed respondents. In future questionnaires should include the name of the respondent for reminders to be delivered e¡ectively. Other factors to be included in the independent variables should include gender and age. Results Departments and faculties that academics belong to. The academics came from the six faculties and 53 of the 54 departments. Rank and position of the academics. The responses were received from all the academic ranks as follows: Professors, 22 of 36, 61%; Associate Professors,10 of 13,76%; Senior Lecturers, 29 of 73, 40%; Lecturers,35 of 202,17%; while only one of three (or 33
3%) junior lecturers responded. As noted from these results, the response rate from the lecturers was very poor. The reasons for this poor response rate cannot be ascertained but is certainly considered to be worth ¢nding out. Although we initially hypothesized that the rank of the academic would determine their information-seeking behaviour, this study has not con¢rmed that assumption. Trends in Australia and the USA23 among other academic environments con¢rm the initial hypothesis. All categories of academics tend to seek information resources in a more or less similar pattern. We do believe that it is not the rank that determines the information-seeking behaviour, as far as this study is concerned; rather, it is the 23 Sarros, J., Gmelch, W.H. & Tanewski, G. (1997) The role of department head in Australian Universities: Changes and challenges. Higher Education Research and Development 16(1), pp. 9^24.

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TABLE VI Use of information resources by academics Information Resources Journals Dissertations and theses Conference literature Textbooks Research reports Internet Abstracts Bibliographic literature Abstracts dictionaries Reviews Research in progress Encylopaedia Handbooks Mass media Professional associations On-line databases Annual reports Monographs Casual conversation Indexes Thesauri Manuals Yearbooks Guides Translations Directories Tables Treatise Standard Almanacs Pre-prints Patents Others:

Overall Sci Theol Educ Law Comm Arts N=105 N=20 N=4 N=14 N=3 N=9 N=55 freq. % freq. % freq. % freq. % freq. % freq. % freq. % 93 72

89 69

19 11

95 55

4 2

100 13 50 11

93 79

2 2

66 66

9 6

100 49 67 40

89 73

66

63

10

50

3

42 13

92

2

66

8

88 30

55

64 53

61 50

11 14

55 70

1 2

25 9 50 10

64 71

3 1

100 33

5 3

55 35 33 18

64 33

50 48 45 44 46 44

9 12 6

45 60 30

4 2 2

100 50 50

8 5 5

57 36 36

0 0 1

0 0 3

5 3 3

55 24 44 33 23 41 33 29 53

41

39

6

30

3

75

6

42

2

67

4

44 20

36

40 39

38 37

7 10

35 50

2 2

50 50

6 6

42 42

2 1

67 33

4 3

44 19 33 17

35 31

39 37 35 29

37 36 33 28

3 6 4 5

15 30 20 25

3 2 3 1

75 50 75 25

4 4 5 5

29 29 36 36

2 2 1 0

67 67 33 0

2 3 3 4

22 33 33 44

25 20 19 14

45 36 35 25

25

23

6

30

2

50

4

29

1

33

2

22 14

25

24 24 21

23 23 21

5 3 4

25 15 20

1 2 1

25 50 25

2 1 4

14 7 29

1 1 0

33 33 0

3 0 2

33 12 0 17 22 10

22 31 18

18 2 14 13 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 2 1

18 2 14 13 8 8 7 6 4 4 3 2 2 1

2 2 2 0 3 1 1 2 1 3 2 1 1 0

10 10 10 0 15 5 5 10 5 15 10 5 5 0

1 0 1 2 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0

25 0 25 50 25 0 50 0 0 0 25 25 0 0

2 0 2 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

14 0 14 21 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0

2 2 2 1 1 0 0 4 0 1 0 0 0

22 11 22 10 22 7 11 6 11 6 0 7 0 4 4 0 0 3 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

20 18 13 11 11 13 7 0 5 0 0 0 2

INFORMATION^SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OFACADEMICS

135

TABLE VI. Continued Information Resources Colleagues Databases Law reports Grey literature O¤cial document/ government publications

Overall Sci Theol Educ Law Comm Arts N=105 N=20 N=4 N=14 N=3 N=9 N=55 freq. % freq. % freq. % freq. % freq. % freq. % freq. % 1 1 1 1 1

1 1 1 1 1

uses, grati¢cation and uncertainties that determine the seeking of information. It is noted that the challenges (professional, career-oriented, occupational) that are faced by the academic drive them to seek information. Most academic sta¡ at the University of Zululand are at one stage of their professional career or another.They pursue higher academic quali¢cations such as masters or doctorate degrees that raise uncertainty with regard to the requirement to access current literature besides the need for consulting teaching materials such as textbooks. If the challenges for career growth among the academics are more or less similar, rank will not determine information-seeking habits. High academic quali¢cations, preferably a masters or doctorate degree, and the fact that most of the sta¡ study part-time while they also teach, force them to continue looking for information most of their lives. Without such quali¢cations an academic cannot attain a senior teaching rank in the university, apart from other variables that may also play a role. Information resources used by the academics. The academics were provided with a list of 34 information resources to choose from and asked to rank them in order of priority of up to 10 resources to enable them to choose the resources thoughtfully. Table VI provides a list of the information resources in descending order of how they were chosen by the 105 academics that participated in the survey in the ¢rst column. The resources are also presented in the order by which they were selected by each faculty.We have noted at the beginning of this paper that research productivity and output in terms of publications is higher in pure and applied sciences but lower in the social sciences and the humanities. Some studies on information-seeking behaviour, including two studies that this author has participated in, indicate that the nature of the discipline determines the information usage by the academic. This is an indication that there are di¡erences in these broad

136

D.N. OCHOLLA

areas of knowledge that can in£uence information exploitation and use. There are several variables to account for any possible disparity: the nature of the programmes, the resources available to sta¡, the vision, mission and goal of the faculty/discipline, the nature of the sta¡ and the requirements for growth in the career. For instance, the existence of well-established postgraduate programmes will require more current journals and researchoriented information resources. In Table VII we note that journals, dissertations and theses, conference literature, textbooks and research reports are high in demand overall. The faculty rating is not similar to the overall rating. For instance, the faculties of education and commerce have rated conference literature (92% and 88%, respectively) second to journals (93% for education and 100% for commerce). The few respondents from the law faculty rated textbooks (100%) higher than the journals (66%). Theology has rated Internet (100%) at an equal level to the journals (100%) and dictionaries, encyclopaedias and the mass media (75%) ahead of the other faculties.We expect patents and standards to be rated highly by the applied sciences oriented disciplines that are not well established at the University of Zululand.We note the high rating given to``tables'' by commerce as well. Although this study has not come out with a clear watershed between the use of particular information resources and the speci¢c disciplines, there are indications that the nature of the discipline can indeed in£uence the information resources used by the academics. More important, though, is that the popular information resources for all the disciplines have been identi¢ed for collection development purposes. Gaining knowledge of the existence of information sources. Academics were provided with a list of suggestions appearing on Table VII. The responses are arranged, according to the ratings, in column 1 (overall) in descending order. Ratings by faculty are recorded for comparison. We noted the ¢rst six sources identi¢ed for gaining knowledge of information sources. We found a high rating for a journal subscribed to, from a reference work, from a bibliography, and from a review article, which were quite related which helps to explain the ``local environment'' as a factor in information seeking. The named sources can normally be accessed within reach of the academic, perhaps in the o¤ce or the home library. As opposed to other studies on information-seeking behaviour by academics in developing countries, particularly in Africa, journal subscription is very uncommon because of the expenses involved and for that reason they cannot score high ratings as has happened in this study.We have also noted that the library catalogue and library sta¡ are not popular sources for gaining knowledge of the existence of information. This is either explained by the ``local environment syndrome''or by other speculative variables. It can be speculated that academics browse the shelves, read their own materials in

137

INFORMATION^SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OFACADEMICS

TABLE VII How academics gain knowledge of the existence of information sources Methods

From a journal subscribed to From a reference work From a bibliography From a review article From a booklist From the library catalogue Casual conversation Through the Internet Through correspondence Common knowledge From library sta¡ Through an abstracting service Through an indexing service In a formal discussion group Through a formal report at a meeting From a reprint received from an author By chance Through a current awareness service Others Through conference & seminar attendance

Overall Sci Theol Educ Law Comm Arts N=105 N=20 N=4 N=14 N=3 N=9 N=55 freq. % freq. % freq. % freq. % freq. % freq. % freq. % 69

66

15

75

2

79

3

100

4

44

32

58

68

66

13

65

4

100

8

57

3

100

6

67

30

55

66

63

6

30

4

100 10

71

3

100

5

56

37

67

64

61

10

50

3

75 11

78

3

100

5

56

32

58

53 47

50 45

3 7

15 35

3 2

75 50

8 4

57 28

3 2

100 67

4 5

44 56

30 27

55 49

44

42

8

40

2

50

7

50

1

33

3

33

23

42

41

39

7

35

3

75

6

42

1

33

3

33

21

38

37

35

4

20

2

50

5

36

1

33

3

33

22

40

36

34

6

30

4

100

5

36

1

33

4

44

16

29

35

34

2

10

2

50

3

21

1

33

5

56

19

35

33

31

9

45

2

50

7

50

0

0

1

11

15

27

24

23

5

25

1

25

4

27

2

67

1

11

11

20

24

23

2

10

0

0

3

21

1

33

1

11

31

56

23

21

5

25

2

50

3

21

0

0

2

22

11

20

23

21

6

30

2

50

3

21

1

33

2

22

9

16

22 18

21 17

6 4

30 20

1 1

25 25

3 1

21 25

0 1

0 33

2 3

22 33

10 8

18 15

1

50 11

138

D.N. OCHOLLA

the library, or visit the library to check out new arrivals in the journal collection. It is, however, strange that academics use the library but make lesser use of the catalogue and the sta¡ to obtain information. Generation of professional ideas. Respondents were o¡ered suggestions from the following areas: thinking, brainstorming (conversation), reading, attending seminars and conferences and any other method for generating professional ideas. Fig. 1 illustrates the responses. Reading was rated ¢rst by respondents 98 (93
3%), followed by conferences and seminars by 91 (86
6%), thinking by 90 (85
7%), and brainstorming and conversation by 83 (79%). Correspondence with colleagues, lecturing/teaching and Internet exploitation formed the others (4/3
8%). Reading is still the undisputed major source for gathering information and involves the use of libraries. Attending conferences and seminars and brainstorming and conversation requires discussion avenues. Internet access has also provided a good forum for boosting the generation of professional ideas. Thinking poses a challenge to the intellect and it also requires the reduction of both internal and external noises as much as possible so that the academic can concentrate on scholarly work. Why academics seek information. Several reasons suggested to the academics were responded to in the following descending order: career development (e.g. ``publish or perish''), 93 (88
5%); to enlighten others, 72 (68
5%); professional need and occupation (e.g. masters, Ph.D., theses, research report),

FIGURE 1. How academics generate professional scholarly ideas.

INFORMATION^SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OFACADEMICS

139

66 (62
8%); to con¢rm or refute issues, 63 (60%); personal ego and prestige, 41 (39%); justify the existence (e.g. of a research unit, department, institute), 39 (37
1%); to announce ownership and priority on intellectual property (e.g. publication, play, music, invention), 37 (35
2%). Others reasons mentioned included: pleasure, simple interest in the subject, to improve teaching material, to gain general knowledge, supervision of postgraduate students, to teach, conduct research and publish,13 (12
3%). Fig.2 illustrates the results. Career development dominates the reasons why academics seek information and con¢rms its importance in the development of the academic. Academics enlighten themselves and others through teaching, publications and consulting. Professional and occupational needs are linked to two factors. Firstly, achievement of higher quali¢cations that may enable the academic to gain promotion to a higher rank that is important for professional development. Secondly, supervision of research and production of nondegree research reports are common among the senior academics. These two factors included most academics. Some academics publish for prestige, others to gain priority on intellectual property rights for moral and/or material remuneration. Justi¢cation of the existence of a university, institute, faculty, department or research unit in many viability or outcome-based

FIGURE 2. Why academics seek information. , Career development; , enlighten others; , professional need & occupation; , con¢rm or refute issues; , personal ego or prestige; , justify the existence of a research unit; , anounce ownership or priority; , others (pleasure, curiosity etc.).

140

D.N. OCHOLLA

organizations is becoming common for sustainability and funding purposes. Higher education funding in most developed countries, such as tertiary education in Britain, and through donor funded projects are based on such factors. It is ironic that this item received low ratings by the academics at the University of Zululand. Experience has shown that research and publication, in turn, in£uence information seeking and can be boosted through justi¢cation of existence as a requirement for sustainability. There are other general reasons for seeking information such as for curiosity and pleasure as well. Where the academics obtain the information resources that they use. Respondents were asked to state where they obtain information resources that they use for daily activities. The areas suggested to them, and how they were rated, are listed inTableVIII. Libraries have featured prominently in this study. Although the University of Zululand library is not rated ¢rst, it is still central for accessing information by academics. I assume that access to other libraries is not necessarily direct but can be achieved through inter-lending services offered by the university library. The rating of other libraries before the university libraries is interesting and worth further investigation in order to determine the suitability of the services o¡ered. Many studies have noted colleagues to be important information sources for the academics and constitute a notable part of the so-called ``local environment'' which is highly preferred for information access. Internet access is supposed to facilitate the global inter-colleague information exchange to bring colleagues and research associates closer. Several invisible colleges are exploiting this vital facility that has made a once complicated communication system a versatile tool. The rating of direct purchase of TABLE VIII Where the academics obtain the information resources that they use (N=105) Sources of information resources Other libraries University of Zululand library Colleagues Direct purchasing Information and documentation centres Internet Mass media Archives Records centres Others: Overseas universities

Frequency

%

91 84 67 61 54 52 46 37 22

86
6 80 63
8 58 51
4 49
5 43
8 35
2 20
9

INFORMATION^SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OFACADEMICS

141

TABLE IX How the academics disseminate information N=105 Methods Lecturing/teaching Seminar and conference presentations Publish in academic and scholarly journals Through professional associations Publish in books Through scienti¢c clubs Publish in press/newspapers Broadcasting Others: Supervision of graduate research Consulting Preaching

Frequency

%

97 83 70 45 29 16 13 12

92
3 79 66
6 42
8 27
6 15
2 12
3 11
4

information resources is quite unique for a developing country and deviates signi¢cantly from the results of similar studies conducted on information seeking behaviour in Africa. However, it concurs with the ``local environment''paradigm. In our view this should portray a well-developed reading need and culture, availability of relevant information resources and the existence of purchasing power, all of which the developing countries struggling to own. We foresee serious competition among the information providers in South Africa and libraries will have to keep close watch in order for them to survive as valuable and irreplaceable information providers. Dissemination of information. It is common knowledge that possession of information without dissemination is useless and that research is not complete until it is disseminated. One of the university's key roles is to disseminate information. Respondents were requested to state how they disseminate information once they obtain it. Suggested areas and how the academics responded appear onTable IX. Remarks by the academics in the questionnaires failed to cast much light on the study. Needs were expressed in regard to Internet access, assistance from the library sta¡, increase in the journal collection and journal access, and the need for abstracting and current awareness services. C ONC LUSION The results that emerged from this study are closely linked and must be viewed holistically. Information is a major part of this holistic system that

142

D.N. OCHOLLA

ignites the fuel for academic productivity and production in research, publications and teaching. It appears from the study that: (1) The weighting of information resources based on how much they are used di¡er from discipline to discipline and this strengthens the argument that the nature of the discipline determines the use of information resources. However, there are core information resources such as journals, research reports, including theses and dissertations, as well as conference literature, that appeal to academics across disciplines. Information resources used by academics are likely to di¡er depending on the programme level, the discipline, or the nature of institutional/faculty/departmental emphasis. It is highly logical and fair to link use of information with the academic and professional challenge facing the academic. (2) The rank of the academic, which normally corresponds with his/her quali¢cation, experience, exposure and research productivity level, does not necessarily determine the information-seeking behaviour, but the usage of the information does. Thus, the use for acquired information and the challenges facing the academic does have bearing on information-seeking habits. (3) Career development that has been quali¢ed by the slogan ``publish or perish'', the need to enlighten others, and professional and occupational needs are highly rated as reasons why academics seek information. The career challenges that stimulate academic productivity, such as research and publications, need to be strengthened and rewarded. The system established in South Africa for rewarding research and productivity through publication in recognized journals is very encouraging at present. (4) Based on the selection of information sources by the academics in the study, university libraries that currently face budget cuts on acquisitions still play a pivotal role in information access for the academics. The majority of the academics still depend on reading for generating professional and scholarly ideas. (5) The ``local environment syndrome'' emerges strongly as a trend in information seeking by academics. This is in agreement with many surveys conducted on information-seeking behaviour which suggest that colleagues, private contacts, personal/o¤ce collections and Internet access are important parts of intra- and inter-university information access networks and services. We have noted the use of the local environment in all six items reported in the study results. We advise that the library should be given the necessary assistance in order to improve the acquisition of the information resources identi¢ed by academics, such as journals, research reports and conference literature. In

INFORMATION^SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OFACADEMICS

143

order to exploit the ``local environment'' syndrome-e¡ectively, such information resources should be provided through the appropriate electronic document delivery services that should entail access to full-text documents on-line. A recent survey byTomley & Burton24 on the use of electronic journal by academics supports increased library involvement with electronic journal services and the potential for future information utilization by academics. Increasing research on electronic and digital information delivery and access systems and services25, 26, 27, 28 promise greater development of the new trend. The increased use of other libraries should, in turn, serve as an indicator for the improvement of the inter-lending services. Internet access to all academics that also entail access to virtual libraries should be a priority area for the university to develop, as this would facilitate the exploitation and use of electronic document delivery services and also networking with professional colleagues who are far away.

24 Tomley, M. & Burton, P.F. (1998) Electronic journals: A study of usage and attitudes among academics. Journal of Information Science 24(6), pp. 419^429. 25 Porter, S. (1998) Into the future: Scholarly needs, current provision, and future directions. New Review of Academic Librarianship 4, pp.190^224. 26 Porter, S. (1998) Reports from front: Six perspectives on scholars' information requirements in the digital age. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 4, pp.167^189. 27 Greenstein, D. & Porter, S. (1998) Scholars' information needs in a digital age: Executive summary. New Review of Academic Librarianship 4, pp. 147^156. 28 Greenstein, D. (1998) Great expectations: Information technologies, digital resources, and the future of scholarly practice. New Review of Academic Librarianship 4, pp. 157^165.