The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to investigate how librarians solve difficult reference questions. The aim is to discuss the nature of reference work – do librarians make conscious decisions regarding search strategies or do they rely principally on their instincts, or simply chance. The thesis is a qualitative study. The main material consists of 36 actual reference transactions that were gathered using the observation method during a five week period at two public libraries in 1994-95. Since the study was undertaken before “the Internet revolution” its main focus is on manual searches. To gain a deeper understanding of the reference process and the librarians’ views on search strategies five interviews with a selection of the observed librarians were also performed. This empirical material was then used to compare with the reference process as described in theory by – mainly – William A. Katz, Denis Grogan and Marcia J. Bates. The study shows that answering difficult reference questions can be a highly creative task and that the approach favoured by Grogan and Bates, which consists of search strategies and tactics rather than detailed charts, is the most consistent with actual practice. The study further shows that librarians’ views on whether or not they consciously use search strategies vary greatly and that either way they have a difficult time expressing these strategies.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how academic librarians seek information for themselves and for others, and what differences exist. The terms self-generated and imposed information seeking is used to describe the two different types of information seeking. Step 2 – define and understand the problem, step 3 – choose a search system and step 4 – formulate a query of Marchionini’s information-seeking model forms the basis of the theoretical framework, which is supplemented with Soergel and Katz. Qualitative interviews with eight academic librarians were conducted and analyzed in order to gather empirical facts. The results show that the greatest differences between self-generated and imposed information seeking lie within the definition and understanding of the information problem. The library user’s information need is specified through the reference interview; a process often seen as somewhat problematic by the librarians because of the difficulties involved in trying to understand another person’s needs. Librarians tend to approach imposed information seeking in a structured and pedagogic manner because of their desire to instruct the library user in the use of various databases and search techniques. The Internet is the most used information source during self-generated information seeking, while the library catalogue is the primary source during imposed information seeking. The results also show that only small differences exist in the way librarians use search strategies and search tactics during the two different types of information seeking. / <p>Uppsatsen skrevs under den tid då Växjö universitet hade ett samarbete med Högskolan i Borås, dvs. utbildningen gick i Växjö, men Borås examinerade.</p>

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how academic librarians seek information for themselves and for others, and what differences exist. The terms self-generated and imposed information seeking is used to describe the two different types of information seeking. Step 2 – define and understand the problem, step 3 – choose a search system and step 4 – formulate a query of Marchionini’s information-seeking model forms the basis of the theoretical framework, which is supplemented with Soergel and Katz. Qualitative interviews with eight academic librarians were conducted and analyzed in order to gather empirical facts. The results show that the greatest differences between self-generated and imposed information seeking lie within the definition and understanding of the information problem. The library user’s information need is specified through the reference interview; a process often seen as somewhat problematic by the librarians because of the difficulties involved in trying to understand another person’s needs. Librarians tend to approach imposed information seeking in a structured and pedagogic manner because of their desire to instruct the library user in the use of various databases and search techniques. The Internet is the most used information source during self-generated information seeking, while the library catalogue is the primary source during imposed information seeking. The results also show that only small differences exist in the way librarians use search strategies and search tactics during the two different types of information seeking. / Uppsatsnivå: D