Introduction. This paper deals with the impact of contextual features, such as sex, age, mother tongue, health status, health literacy, Internet use experience, and frequency of health information seeking on health information searching. Method. An interactive information retrieval approach was used to study users' searching behaviour. An online…

Introduction: This study examines the effects of certain key factors on users' intention to ultimately adopt and use video digital libraries for facilitating their information needs. The individual factors identified for this study, based on their given potential to influence use and acceptance of video digital libraries, were categorised for data…

Introduction: Previous studies suggest that the users of social question and answer Websites contribute their knowledge to a community in exchange for intrinsic rewards from other members, such as reciprocity and reputation. Thus, rewarding knowledge contributors is of great importance for maintaining the users of such Websites. However, there is…

Introduction: The concept and study of relevance has been a central subject in information science. Although research in information retrieval has been focused on topical relevance, other kinds of relevance are also important and justify further study. Motivational relevance is typically inferred by criteria such as user satisfaction and success.…

Introduction: Recent developments in the field of scientific information resource provision lead us to the key research question, namely,what is the coverage of freely available information sources when writing doctoral theses, and whether the academic library can assume the leading role as a direct intermediator for information users. Method:…

Introduction: This paper reports on a study of e-books issues in academic libraries in two European countries representative of small language markets--Sweden and Lithuania. Method: Questionnaire surveys, using the same instrument, were carried out in Swedish and Lithuanian academic libraries. Analysis: Quantitative analysis was performed using…

Introduction: Personality and trust have been found to be important precursors of information-sharing behaviour, but little is known about how these factors interact with each other in shaping information-sharing behaviour. By integrating both trust and user personality into a unified research framework, this study examines how trust mediates the…

Introduction: This paper explores the online information experiences of individuals experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage in Australia. As access to online information becomes increasingly critical those without access are in danger of being left behind. This exploratory pilot study examines the way that digital exclusion may be experienced.…

Introduction: This study reports an investigation into the ways in which people engaged in a serious leisure activity can experience using information to learn (also known as information literacy). Method: Data were collected through twenty-two semi-structured, one-on-one, phenomenographic interviews conducted with identified serious leisure…

Background: In the past decade, scholars of information science have started to conduct research on information behaviour in serious leisure. Presently, these studies lack common concepts and terms and empirical discoveries are not easy to assemble into theory. Aim: This conceptual and methodological paper surveys the aforementioned research area…

Introduction: The popularity of social question and answer sites has made it an important and convenient source for obtaining knowledge. This study quantifies how three different system characteristics (interface design, interaction and answer quality) affect users' perceptions (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment),…

Introduction: The National Institutes of Health public access policy requires the principal investigators of any Institutes-funded research to submit their manuscript to PubMed Central, and the open access publisher Public Library of Science submits all articles to PubMed Central, irrespective of funder. Whether the investigators, who made the…

Introduction: The paper presents one segment of the first comprehensive national study investigating information behaviour of Slovenian researchers in all research disciplines in relation to selected demographic variables. Research questions addressed various types of information behaviour, format preferences, use of different types of sources,…

Introduction: In recent years, the introduction of social question and answer services and other Internet tools have expanded the ways in which people have their questions answered. There has been speculation and debate over whether such services and other Internet tools are replacing library virtual reference services. Method: Most previous…

Introduction: By applying the visitor and resident framework on e-book usage, the article explores whether the concepts of a resident and a visitor can help to explain e-book use, and can help to gain a better insight into users' motivations for e-book use. Method: A questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were conducted with users of the…