Research in progress. Part 2 – some preliminary insights into the information needs of the contemporary academic researcher

Abstract

The second part of a two‐part paper reports the preliminary conclusions derived from the pathfinder phase of a study devoted to a reassessment of the information needs of academic researchers. Proceeding from the notion that long‐established research information needs may not have remained wholly unaffected by the changing realities of the knowledge society, this exploration of researchers' current information requirements and information seeking practices has been undertaken with a special emphasis on examining the validity of anything and everything we have customarily been holding true as to the information component of academic research work. The groundwork for the investigation has been laid down in a pilot project of seven in‐depth critical incident method‐based information needs interviews with faculty at the University of Haifa (Israel). The qualitative data thus obtained as to researchers' information needs, how they go about meeting these needs, and the barriers they encounter in the process have been analysed within the comprehensive framework proposed by Nicholas for a systematic description of information needs. The ensuing evaluation reported here considers 11 aspects of the present‐day academic researcher's information needs. With the first part of the paper focusing on the insights gained into the two major aspects of subject and function, the subsequent discussion of the remaining aspects rounds out this portrayal of research information needs.