Needs assessment in Extension is typically a quantitative process whereby the highest number of votes is deemed to indicate the greatest need. However, this process does not help specialists and county agents know the best response to carry out. A different process is needed to ensure that we in Extension are executing the right responses. In…

There are a wide variety of e-government information and services that small business owners and managers can utilize. However, in spite of all of the service incentives and initiatives to promote e-government, research studies have shown that this information is not widely accessed. Studies that explore the utilization of e-government information…

Introduction: This paper proposes a model of information behaviour of women during their lifelong struggle to maintain normal weight. Method: The model is integrative and contextual, built on existing models in information science and several other disciplines, and the life stories of about fifty Israeli women aged 25-55 and interviews with…

Lecturers in colleges of education were surveyed using semistructured, group (3-5 persons) interviews. Information requirements for lecturers involved in research means the retrieval and use of large numbers of facts or references. Lecturers engaged in teaching only, however, need to know where to find specific pieces of information. The problem…

TRADITIONAL METHODS OF ANALYZING QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS AS THEY OCCUR IN REFERENCE LIBRARIES ARE DISCUSSED AND CRITICIZED. METHODS OF EXAMINING QUESTIONS, THE QUESTION-ANSWERING PROCESS, AND ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ARE EVALUATED. A PRAGMATIC SCHEME IS SUGGESTED WHICH CLASSIFIES ANSWERS BY THEIR FORMATS, DIVIDING THEM INTO EXACT-REPRODUCTION TYPE,…

Reports on project investigating information sources utilized by Arabic speaking migrants in Sydney, Australia. Topics covered include sample (demographic characteristics, language ability, education levels); information needs categorized by respondents' sex and education level; frequency of use of information sources by sex; and use of media and…

Describes the information-use environment (IUE) of African-American gatekeepers in an inner-city neighborhood in Milwaukee (Wisconsin). Highlights include information needs, including race relations, crime, and family; sources of unmet needs, including lack of awareness or access to information sources; trustworthiness and credibility of…

Discusses the role of information which is incidentally or accidentally acquired and reports on a study that investigated the information-seeking behavior of older adults, aged 60 and over, from Australia. Examines the role of telecommunications, especially the telephone; interviews that determined information needs and sources; and the mass media…

Introduction: This article results from a qualitative study of 1) information behavior in community problem-solving framed as a distributed information use environment and 2) approaches used by a best-practice library to anticipate information needs associated with community problem solving. Method: Several approaches to data collection were…

Fifty women enrolled in an urban Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) program were interviewed about their use of the mass media and the public library for useful information, preferences in the use of mass media, and their attitudes about source credibility. A 23-item interview guide is appended. (25 references) (EJS)

THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD) CONDUCTED A TWO-PHASE STUDY TO DETERMINE HOW SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS IN GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION ACTIVITIES ACQUIRE INFORMATION FOR PERFORMING WORK ASSIGNMENTS ON DOD PROGRAMS. THE PHASE I STUDY COVERED THE INFORMATION NEEDS OF DOD PERSONNEL ENGAGED IN RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT,…

The basic objective of this study was to examine, apparently for the first time in communications research, the impact on professional communication of an annual review publication. A sample of users and non-users of Volume 1 of the Annual Review of Information Science and Technology was identified, and questionnaires were sent to nearly 3,000 of…

Describes a study that investigated the information needs of rural health workers in Hawaii and their current means of information access. Highlights include ranking of information needs, ranked sources of information, hardware ownership, use of electronic sources, use of document delivery services, and perceived barriers to information use.…

Discusses an empirical study that examined the relative efficiency of individual differences variables and user-based situational variables as predictors of the actual information/knowledge needed by users to accomplish word processing tasks. Information seeking versus information use is discussed, and results of canonical correlation analyses are…

Describes a study that used interviews to explore the influence of personality, subject discipline, and organizational structure on the information behavior of scientists. The use of cluster analysis to reveal groupings in the data is explained, computer use is examined, and gender differences are discussed. (60 references) (LRW)