Information Needs of Scientists and Engineers: A Case Study of Government, Public and Private Sector RDLICs Relating to Metallurgy & Materials Science

Abstract

The present study encompasses a detailed survey of six organisations belonging to three sectors (Govt., Public and Private) having common areas of subject requirements, namely: metallurgy and materials science. The study reveals that highly qualified R&D users give more emphasis on electronic resources whenever available and prefer to access from their desktop, wherever they may be, to fulfill their R&D needs. The users visit RDLIC mostly to keep themselves updated with latest R&D Knowledge. Therefore, developments in a RDLIC infrastructure and the quality of technical manpower handling RDLIC services play a key role in the library usage. The study also revealed that the scientist and engineer differ - in seeking types of information requirements; need vis-a-vis their job profiles; and also in motivational factors as such, in all the categories. The young users visit more frequently to the RDLICs and a significant numbers are attracted toward e-resources and open access regimes.