Information Seeking Behaviour of R&D Scientists and Researchers

Abstract

The paper presents the results of an user evaluation study exploring the usefulness of print and online access to scientific journals and services with regard to the information seeking behaviour of scientists of the National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), Jamshedpur. NML Library has access to a good number of e-journals, databases and more than 3 Lakhs print holdings in various disciples related to Minerals, Metals and Materials Science. The subscribed print and electronic resources are highly beneficial to the R&D users. But it is important to understand the changing information needs of researchers of NML, Jamshedpur in electronic environment. The user groups are scientists, technical officers, research scholars, project investigator, visiting academicians and trainees. This study explores information seeking behavior of metallurgical researchers at NML. It is found that research scientists spent 16% of their research time on reading and literature searching, whereas research scholars spent 25% of their time for this purpose. The study also revealed that scientists preferred using primary sources of information, particularly journal and review articles. A large number of the researchers felt that they had been keeping in touch with scientific literature due to sufficient library collections and services. Libraries should periodically survey the information needs of their users, assess their collections and facilities, and strengthen their promotional activities in order to achieve the maximum utilisation of their available resources. This will help in the productivity of research Scientists and also creation of intellectual wealth of our nation.