A Study of Information Seeking Behavior of Academic Sociologists through Citation Analysis at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Abstract

The study investigates information seeking behavior of academic sociologists in the Department of Sociology, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. The objectives of the study were to find the purpose of seeking information, types of information sought, methods used for seeking information and the use of information technology to access information by the academic sociologists. The main research instrument was a questionnaire supplemented by a citation analysis of post graduate theses of the study population. The results of the study revealed that the majority of the academic sociologists seek information for preparing lecture notes. Keeping their knowledge up to date and gathering information for research purposes were the next priority areas for seeking information. The study led to the general conclusion that the academic sociologists’ information needs are of diverse in nature and they use wide variety of information sources to satisfy their information needs. Most of the sociologists depend on books and journals and preferably of print media in comparison to the electronic media. Although the finding of the survey revealed that the academic sociologists use IT based services the citation analysis of their post graduate theses revealed that they depend on print sources. Based on the research findings it can be recommended that user education programs are essential to improve IT and information literacy skills of the academic sociologists to access electronic information.