Abstract
The purpose of this research was trying to understand the information seeking behavior derived from the studying and teaching information needs of those agricultural researchers. Concluded from the phenomena of their information seeking behavior and the factors behind, it might offer the libraries and other agricultural information service center as a reference to improve their service.
The subjects involved in this research were the agricultural teachers at National Chiayi Institute of Agriculture. In this research, there were five questions raised. By way of clarify these five questions as follows, it is possible to reach the purpose of this research.
- What is the current studying and teaching conditions of the teachers?
- What kind of studying and teaching situations will make the teachers have information needs?
- What are the critical ways for the teachers to get needed literature?
- How do the teachers use formal information channels?
- How do the teachers use informal information channels?
The data supporting this research were gathered through the methods of interview and questionnaire survey. The findings were: on teaching, the major situation having information needs for the teachers occurred when they were compiling textbook or handouts; on studying, it also happened when they wanted to complete the studies subsidized by the National Science Council, Council of Agriculture or Department of Agriculture: Taiwan Provincial Government. The commonest way for the teachers to obtain information resources was by way of taking part in seminars. To the information that could not get in the local library, the teachers always asked for help from their friends living in Taiwan.
The teachers, either on studying or teaching, relied mostly on periodicals. To the use of retrieval tools, the references of literature were depended a lot. To the use of network, the WWW was ranked on the top. To the use of CD-ROM databases, the AGRICOLA was mostly welcomed. The Agricultural Science Information Center was mostly asked to locate needed information. The library of National Taiwan University was the place where could satisfy the information needs most.
By interviewing, the distribution of invisible colleges and the information gatekeepers was shown. After analyzing the invisible colleges, it found that the teachers majoring in agricultural science depended a lot on informal information channels to get information. It happened especially when the formal information channels were not sufficient to satisfy them. This research also proposed a few suggestions when the author composed the reactions of the teachers to the local library. Continuous studies on the relevant issue are proposed.
| Keywords: | Information seeking; Information seeking behavior |
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