Information-seeking behavior of the social sciences faculty at Kuwait University

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the information-seeking behavior of the socialrnsciences faculty at Kuwait University.rnDesign/methodology/approach - A survey method was used for this study. The data were collectedrnusing a structured, peer-reviewed questionnaire self-administered to 77 faculty members, with 54 returns.rnFindings - It was found that these respondents heavily depend on books and journals for teaching andrnon a larger variety of materials for research purposes. Their use of informal sources is comparativelyrnless than formal sources. Journals and books are considered the most important sources to meet theirrnneeds. Among the informal sources, conferences, subject experts, and colleagues are given higherrnimportance than librarians and government officials. Journals and books are used more frequently thanrnraw data, technical reports, and manuscripts and primary materials. Their satisfaction level with all thernsources is positive but higher for journals and books. The level of satisfaction with informal sources isrnslightly higher than formal sources. Their library use is very low with complaints about the quality ofrnstaff, resources, especially in Arabic, and access to international resources.rnResearch limitations/implications - The research is limited to faculty in the college of SocialrnSciences, Kuwait University.rnPractical implications - Understanding the information-seeking behavior of social science scholarsrnand developing information resources and designing systems and services that are appropriate for theirrnneeds.rnOriginality/value - This paper contributes to the very limited research literature on the topic in thernArab countries.