Six factual series were unobtrusively telephoned to fifty-one U.S. academic health sciences libraries and hospital libraries. Previous unobtrusive studies of reference services in public and academic libraries have shown that the accuracy of short answers to factual queries is approximately 55 percent. In this study, the majority of the queries, 63 percent, were answered accurately. Referrals to another library or information source were provided for 25.2 percent of the queries. Eleven answers, 3.6 percent, were inaccurate, and no answer was provided for 7.8 percent of the queries. / No significant relationship was found between the accuracy of answers and either the type of health sciences library, the region in which the library was located, the size of the monograph collection or the number of subscriptions. There was a correlation between budget and the accuracy of answers provided. While no significant correlation was found between the accuracy of answers and the total number of library staff, there was a correlation between the number of accurate answers provided and the presence of at least one staff member with a master's degree in library and information science. There was a significant correlation between employing a librarian certified by the Medical Library Association and the accuracy of answers provided by the library. / Although some referrals were to unspecified libraries or individuals, the majority were to specific sources for which the librarian provided a name, address and/or telephone number. If these "helpful referrals" are counted with accurate answers as correct responses, they account for 76.8 percent of the answers. / Four libraries answered all queries accurately. In a follow-up survey, five libraries (9.8 percent) stated that accurate answers were not provided because they did not own the appropriate source. Staff related problems were given as reasons by 17.6 percent of the libraries, while 25.5 percent indicated that library policy prohibited providing answers to the public. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-03, Section: A, page: 0565. / Major Professor: Gerald Jahoda. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

This research investigates the information behaviour of cult media fan communities on the internet, using three novel methods which have not previously been applied to this domain. Firstly, a review, analysis and synthesis of the literature related to fan information behaviour, both within the disciplines of LIS and fan studies, revealed unique aspects of fan information behaviour, particularly in regards to produsage, copyright, and creativity. The findings from this literature analysis were subsequently investigated further using the Delphi method and tag analysis. A new Delphi variant – the Serious Leisure Delphi – was developed through this research. The Delphi study found that participants expressed the greatest levels of consensus on statements on fan behaviour that were related to information behaviour and information-related issues. Tag analysis was used in a novel way, as a tool to examine information behaviour. This found that fans have developed a highly granular classification system for fanworks, and that on one particular repository a ‘curated folksonomy’ was being used with great success. Fans also use tags for a variety of reasons, including communicating with one another, and writing meta-commentary on their posts. The research found that fans have unique information behaviours related to classification, copyright, entrepreneurship, produsage, mentorship and publishing. In the words of Delphi participants – “being in fandom means being in a knowledge space,” and “fandom is a huge information hub just by existing”. From these findings a model of fan information behaviour has been developed, which could be further tested in future research.

This study examines the key factors influencing health sciences graduate students' perceived access to scholarly scientific information and use of electronic resources available on the Web for research purposes in Colombia. Four dimensions were considered in the proposed model as the central ones influencing the information searching process: the student; the library; the scholarly scientific information; and the information and communication technology (ICT). Using self-administered questionnaires, data was gathered from 886 graduate students in the three main public universities in Colombia---Universidad de Antioquia, Universidad del Valle and Universidad Nacional Using factor analysis, twenty-seven factors were obtained to explain the four dimensions. The key factors found in this investigation supported previous studies stating that Publishers' restrictions to access to scholarly scientific information, inadequate access to the Internet; lack of support for interlibrary loans; poor remote access to library services; and students' limitations in literacy and English skills are the key barriers to taking full advantages of the benefits of using ICT in academic environments Additionally, multiple regressions were conducted to test the hypotheses stated. Results supported the three hypotheses: (1) Internet and language skills; access to Internet, computer and printers; and perceived level of library services had significant effects in the students' perceptions about their access to scholarly scientific information; (2) research skills and access to Internet are positively related to the students' use of online resources for research purposes; and (3) there is a positive relationship between the students' perceived access to scholarly scientific information and their use of electronic resources available on the Web General results showed students' English and research skills as very strongly related to the use of peer-reviewed scientific information written in languages other than Spanish. Results provide directions to policy-makers, universities staff, librarians and students to focus their efforts on those key factors by implementing new programs to empower research among graduate students and, in that way, to improve research in universities and at the national level / acase@tulane.edu

This study examined the treatment information seeking behavior and use of treatment information channels/sources by individuals with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 in Dade County, Florida. The Centers of Disease Control classification criteria was used to group thirty seropositive persons into three disease stages: asymptomatic (8 subjects), symptomatic (12 subjects), and AIDS (10 subjects). Ninety percent of the subjects were males, 70% were white-non Hispanics, 89.6% had two or more years of college, the median age was 35.5 years old. All subjects had or did participate in a People With AIDS (PWA) self help facility in Miami, Florida. / The data was gathered using a semi-structured interview supported by written questionnaires seeking information on self-reported symptoms, the use of 45 types of information sources within the last two months, and demographic data. The data collected were used to develop case studies. Analyses were made within and across disease stages. Differences were found in what sources were used, the number of types of sources that were used, and frequency with which they were consulted. Across all groups the most important sources of treatment information were physicians, PWA related sources (e.g. informed PWA, newsletters, information exchanges, support groups), and friends. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-03, Section: A, page: 0651. / Major Professor: Ronald Blazek. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was any relationship between marketing and utilization of library services/facilities at the fifteen two-year colleges in the University System of Georgia. Furthermore, the study identified the marketing methods part-time and full-time faculty perceived utilized by their campus libraries to make them aware of library services/facilities, their level of library satisfaction and future library needs. Marketing activities included in this study were product, place, price and promotion. / Statistics revealed that (1) part-time faculty perceive themselves marketed to less than full-time faculty; (2) part-time initially learn about the library through colleagues, librarians and department heads while full-time initially learn about the library through librarians, colleagues and library orientations; (3) both groups are updated on the library through librarians, library publications; (4) full-time faculty utilize the library more than part-time faculty; (5) factors affecting faculty utilization are personal collection and lack of time; (6) cost of services was not a factor affecting utilization; (7) reasons to utilize library are reading current journals and checking out materials; (8) no significant relationship was found between marketing and utilization; (9) high level satisfaction was found for library in both groups; (10) perceived future needs were more books followed by more journals. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: A, page: 1166. / Major Professor: Barbara A. Mann. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

This qualitative study provides an understanding of the role of self-archived disciplinary open access repositories in the cultural configuration of scholarly disciplines. It examines the implications of the technological and organizational layers of access tools and open access repositories and researchers' lived experiences and perceptions layer on researchers' localized knowledge production context and the construction of disciplinary knowledge production contexts. The actor-network theory, which posits that technological and social actors reciprocally affect each other, is applied to compare and contrast the information practices of two groups of researchers: the use of arXiv by astronomers, and the use of PhilSci by philosophers of science. Six astronomers and five philosophers of science were identified through purposeful selection. The interviews with the researchers were conducted over a period of five months, ranging in length between 40-75 minutes. Primary documentary evidence, describing open access repositories and access tools, is also used for the analysis. The findings show that the open access repositories, the access tools, and researchers' individual knowledge production contexts are co-constructed as researchers search, discover and access scholarly artifacts. Open access has impacted researchers' knowledge production by realigning the existing processes and by instigating the emergence of new actors and constructs. Four themes emerge as researchers articulate their perceptions about the value and the role of open access: impact on scholarly process, impact on scholarly output, integration with scholarly context, and democratization of the scholarly discourse. Congruent with the domain-analytic approach, two distinct socio-technological models emerge. Astronomers perceive arXiv as important and critical in their scholarly information practices, with a central role in their discipline. However, Philosophers of science perceive PhilSci as having a limited value in their scholarly information practices and rather minimal role in their discipline. The properties of disciplinary cultures, such as the mutual dependence between researchers and the task uncertainty in a specific discipline, are implicated in the appropriation of the open access repositories and access tools at individual and disciplinary level. The socio-technological co-constructionist approach emerges as a viable theoretical and methodological framework to explicate complex socio-technological contexts.

This dissertation studies computer-mediated communication (CMC), in which interpersonal communication content between library users and reference librarians who engaged in service encounters is evaluated. The computer-mediated form of reference services, called virtual reference (VR), was the context for this research. In the CMC research, the analysis of naturally occurring interactions, analysis of face-work, face threat and friction, and impacts of identity on and in face threatening situations are not well represented. This study applied face-work (Goffman, 1967), Politeness Theory (Brown & Levinson, 1978; 1987) and social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE) (Lea & Spears, 1992) to virtual interactions to analyze transcripts that contained friction. The term friction was used to frame interactions that contain real or inferred elements of discord, incivility, impoliteness, or other factors that may detract from a positive working relationship between VR users and VR librarians. / Findings indicate that in transcripts that contained friction, users and librarians did not exhibit concern for either party's negative or positive face wants. Friction between participants included reprimands, abrupt endings without closing rituals by librarians and users, as well as refusals to attend to face threats issued. When librarians issued refusals to users' initial requests, the frequency of users enacting a second face threat dropped dramatically. Findings also indicate that librarians were more likely to instigate friction in the service encounters than users. Moreover, when instances of friction were present, one instance of friction was likely to spark additional instances of friction. / CMC service encounters, such as VR, in the public and private sectors are proliferating. At one point in time, customer service interactions were a face-to-face modality, then they moved to telephone interactions, but increasingly organizations are providing customer service via CMC, such as online banking and shopping. This dissertation research is significant to any organizations or individuals that utilize CMC as a means of customer interface, such as VR, or any other mediated transaction that bridges communication between organizations and the individuals that are served.

Fire service field staff instructors seek and share information and use information sources during their instructional work of teaching, training and curriculum development. This study is the first attempt to study their information-seeking and sharing behaviors, which have not previously been investigated empirically. Twenty-five fire service instructors who are field staff instructors of the Fire Academy were recruited to participate in the study. Semi-structured interviews as primary data along with secondary data were employed and examined to answer the research questions. / Today's firefighters' responsibilities cover a wide range of emergencies in areas such as firefighting, emergency medical care, hazardous materials incidents, rescue operations, terrorism and other emergency responses. The increasing complexity of the fire service requires firefighters to continually hone their skills and improve their knowledge of various hazards through training. This study's findings reveal that the field staff instructor participants rely extensively on multiple types of information sources, while seeking and sharing information during the instructional process. These sources include formal/institutional, informal/personal and group network-mediated sources of information. This study identifies three collaborative information-seeking forms of joint, tag team, and intra-group and categorizes sequences of information activities the instructor participants undertake. It also characterizes their unique attributes as information seekers. Fire service knowledge structures of KSA -- (Knowledge [cognitive], Skills [psychomotor] and Affective [attitude]) -- influence the changing needs of instructor participants, define the boundaries of information sources in these three required domain areas that firefighters learn and train, and dictate multiple types of information sources that are used and needed by the instructor participants. The dynamic nature and uncertainty of the fire service business as well as the task complexity are basic catalysts for the instructor participants' information-seeking and sharing behaviors, which motivate them to keep seeking the best piece of information to ensure the safety of firefighters. The Recognition-Primed Decision model leads instructor participants toward a heavy reliance on experiential knowledge. Furthermore, the selection of information sources is determined by the quality of the source, and multiple types of sources of information are constantly integrated to meet the field staff instructors' constantly changing needs. Armed with new evidence, this study revises and expands Leckie's model of information-seeking of professionals. / This study recognizes the critical roles of field staff instructors in fire service training as they create, retain and share knowledge, skills and experience. The study also conceptualizes their multi-dimensional information environment with a cyclical and interactive informationseeking process that would best support their work activities. It makes suggestions for future research and lays out recommendations to improve library and information services, so fire librarians and information professionals can better provide more timely services to support fire service field staff instructors' information-seeking and sharing in a complex information use environment for their daily work, practices, and routines.

This dissertation was situated in the crossroads of educational data mining (EDM), educational digital libraries (such as the National Science Digital Library; http://nsdl.org), and examination of teacher behaviors while creating online learning resources in an end-user authoring system, the Instructional Architect (IA; http://ia.usu.edu). The knowledge from data/database (KDD) framework for preparing data and finding patterns in large amounts of data served as the process framework in which a latent class analysis (LCA) was applied to IA user data. Details of preprocessing challenges for web usage data are included. A meaningful IA activity framework provided four general areas of user behavior features that assisted in the interpretation of the LCA results: registration and usage, resource collection, project authoring, and project usage. Four clusters were produced on two samples (users with 5--90 logins and those with 10--90 logins) from 22 months of data collection. The analyses produced nearly identical models with both samples. The clusters were named according to their usage behaviors: one-hit wonders who came, did, and left and we are left to wonder where they went; focused functionaries who appeared to produce some content, but in only small numbers and they did not share many of their projects; popular producers who produced small but very public projects that received a lot of visitors; and prolific producers who were very verbose, created many projects, and published a lot to their students with many hits, but they did not publish much for the public. Information about EDM within the context of digital libraries is discussed and implications for the IA, its professional development workshop, and the larger context of educational digital libraries are presented.

Music is widely used to accompany moving images, in films, advertising, television programmes and computer games. The process of choosing and using a piece of pre-existing commercial music for this purpose is known as synchronisation. The addition of music to a piece of film enhances the final work with cultural meaning, and generates additional income for the rights holders. This research examines the information needs of professionals involved in the selection of music, including Users from the advertising and film communities and Owners from the recording and publishing industries. A tentative communications model is developed and proposed from musicological, semiotic and communications literature. Interviews, knowledge organisation systems, queries and observations are identified as rich potential sources of textual data relating to the communications process around satisfying the Users’ information needs. The content of these texts is analysed to identify key musical facets. Mood is found to be an important factor when searching for unknown musical items. Using a Discourse Analytic approach to the interview texts, four discourses, or interpretive repertoires, are identified. These repertoires carry conflicting meanings of music and are employed throughout the community, although relative emphases vary according to the viewpoint of the stakeholder. This is supported by an analysis of the written texts of both the Owners (music search engines) and the Users (written queries, or briefs). A comparison is drawn between the emphasis of the repertoires and the precision of the search engines. The repertoires are applied to the theoretical communications model, which is revised to reflect the findings of the analyses. This is used to make recommendations on how to improve the disintermediated communications process, by emphasising the repertoires employed by the Users rather than those of the Owners.