Presented in the First Workshop on Digital Information Management. The workshop is organized by the Laboratory on Digital Libraries and Electronic Publication, Department of Archives and Library Sciences, Ionian University, Greece and aims to create a venue for unfolding research activity on the general field of Information Science. The workshop features sessions for the dissemination of the research results of the Laboratory members, as well as tutorial sessions on interesting issues.

1. Information seeking behaviour
of Greek astronomers
Hara Brindesi*, Sarantos Kapidakis*
*Laboratory on Digital Libraries and Electronic
Publishing, Archive and Library Sciences Department, Ionian University
1st Workshop on Digital Information Management

2. Contents
 Aims of Information seeking behaviour studies
 Aims of the study
 Methodology - Population
 Methodology
 Main results
 Conclusions
 Bibliography

3. Information seeking behaviour studies
Aims
 Evaluation of information collections (Broadus,
1980).
 Improvement of Information systems (Ellis,
1993, Kuhlthau, 1993, Marchionini, 1995)
 Information literacy seminars (Hepworth, Μ and
Wema, Ε. 2006, Pinto, María and Sales, Dora 2007,
Walker, J. R., Moen, William E., 2001).

4. Aims of the study
Our main aims were to investigate three aspects of the
Greek astronomers’ information seeking behaviour.
I. The importance they place in keeping up to date
with current developments.
II. The methods they depend on for keeping up to
date.
III. The information sources they mostly use.

5. Further aims of the study
The study uses an intradisciplinary approach in order
to investigate:
 similarities and differences in information seeking
behaviour among astronomers with different
characteristics, including academic status, age,
subfield of astronomy or affiliated institution.

6. Methodology - Population
 106 astronomers of the area of Athens
 Professors of the Department of Physics and Astronomy of
University of Athens
 Athens University PhD and MSc students
 Academy of Athens researchers
 Athens National Observatory researchers

7. Methodology
 13 face-to-face semi-structured interviews
 Analysis of the interviews
 Online questionnaire, which was filled in
by 73 recipients

8. Main results
I. Interest in keeping up to date with current
developments

9. The rapid awareness for new papers is absolutely important for the majority
of the astronomers
Interest for rapid awareness
60 52.1
50
40 A little important
26.8 Somewhat important
30
18.3 Quite important
20 Absolutely important
10 2.8
0
1

10. The interest for rapid awareness is apparent for the professors
and researchers, less for the PHD students and even less for
the MSc students.
Rapid awareness/Status A little important
Somew hat important
80.0% Quite important
Absolutely important
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
Professors Researcher MSC PHD

11. Percentage distribution of importance of keeping up-
to-date by subfield of astronomy
100% 100%100%
90% 90,50%
80%
70% 76,90%
60% 70%
66,70%
50% 60%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
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12. How many hours per week
do astronomers spend for keeping up-to-date?
 Astronomers in Greece spend on average 7 hours per week for keeping
up-to-date.
 Professors and researchers show greater interest in keeping in touch
with current developments in comparison to PhD and MSc students.
 Academy of Athens researchers spend more hours per week for
keeping up-to-date, in comparison to the scholars of Athens University
and The Athens National Observatory.
 There are no great differences among various age groups, except for
the groups “18-24” and “25-34” that seem to show lower interest in
comparison to the rest.

13. Hours/week (on average) for keeping up-to-date
in relation to the subfield of astronomy
16.00 14.33 14.00
14.00
12.00
10.00
8.00 7.30 7.00
6.00 5.90
6.00 5.08
4.00
2.00
0.00
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14. hours/week for supporting current awareness
30
20
10
0
University of Athens National Observatory
Academy of Athens other
Institution

15. hours/week for supporting current awareness
30 
20    
10

0
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55 and above
Age

16. Main results
II. Methods used for keeping up-to-date

17. Methods considered important
for keeping up with current developments
Methods
90.0%
81.2% 81.2%
80.0% 71.0%
68.1%
70.0% 63.8% 62.3%
55.1%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0% 31.9% 31.9%
30.0% 24.6%
17.4%
20.0%
5.8%
10.0%
0.0%
iv s s s s
AD
S ar X urn als r nals aler ts alerts le tter gs inar ren ce eagu e he s
se ow se - jo u i l il w s a t al o S em nf e Co
l e ar c
B ro
w
Br ee t jo ma m a Ne sc Co es
ws pr in DS e ls e h er nl i n
B ro row se A rn a bl i s O
B J ou Pu

18. Main results
III. Information sources usage

19. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
G oogle
88.20%
G oogle S
ch olar
29.70%
AD S
67.60%
We bsite
Electr on s
ic r efer e
64.20%
nc e m ate
ri al
Pr in ted r
efer ence
m ater ial
20.60%
Ar Xiv
Electr on
60.90% 58.60%
ic jour na
ls
55.40%
Pr in ted jo
urna ls
21.70%
C ita tions
54.30%
Pr in ted b
ook s
38.80%
Electr on
ic b ooks
C olleagu
es
31.80%
25.40%
O PA C s
D Bs w ith
22.10%
o bser v a
tions
O cc upati
17.10%
o nal m e
eting s
ISI Web
11.60%
of S cien
ce
Sources usage at least twice a week
We b of K
no wledg
e
7.40% 4.30%

20. Main results concerning usage of
information sources
 ADS is used by everyone in our sample
 Google is used by everyone in our sample.
 Google Scholar is not used so much, mainly when it
is compared to the use of Google.
 Databases such as “ISI Web of Science” or “Web of
Knowledge” are not so popular among the Greek
astronomers.
 Wikipedia is increasingly used.
 The use of printed materials as well as the use of
libraries has been decreased to the minimum
 With the only exception of the printed books that are more
popular than those in an electronic format.

21. Main results
Information sources usage vs. academic status
 Journals and books in printed format, as well as Google
Scholar are used mainly by professors.
 Books in electronic format are used mainly by PhD and MSc
students.
 Citations are used heavily by researchers.
 Unlike the majority of astronomers, MSc students don’t use
ADS neither do they use arXiv database heavily.

22. Main results
Information sources usage vs. subfield of
astronomy
 Scholars occupied with the subfield of “dynamic
astronomy” don’t use arXiv.org so heavily.
 Cosmologists use ADS less than the scientists of
the other subfields.
 Observations΄ databases as well as the printed
reference material are used mainly by the scholars
of the subfield of “Stars”.

23. Main results
Information sources usage vs. age
 Astronomers of 55 years old and above, rarely use the eprint
archive arXiv.org, as well as electronic library catalogs and
electronic books.
 The same age category uses mostly "Google Scholar" and
printed journals.
 The age category of “18-24” uses mostly Google, websites,
electronic reference material and printed books.

24. Main results
Most important sources of information in relation to information needs
 Observation needs: Observations΄ databases, ADS.
 Research needs: ADS, ArXiv.org, electronic journals
 However, Athens University scholars favour Google as a source of information.
 Current developments needs: ArXiv.org, ADS
 However, Athens University scholars as well as Academy of Athens researchers favour
the use of printed books.
 Teaching needs: ArXiv.org, Websites, printed books
 However, Academy of Athens researchers as well as those of The National
Observatory favour Google as a source of information.
 Writing needs (articles, books, e.tc.): ADS, ArXiv.org, Web of knowledge,
OPACs.
 Personal information needs: Websites, Google, ArXiv.org, Wikipedia.
 Investigation needs for a subject area not well known : Wikipedia, Websites.
 However, Academy of Athens researchers favour printed books.

25. Conclusions
 Statistical results revealed that participants΄ information seeking
behaviour is significantly affected by variables such as academic status,
age, subfield of astronomy or affiliated institution.
 Usage of printed materials as well as usage of libraries have been
decreased to the minimum, as astronomers currently use, mainly,
electronic resources.
 The rapid awareness of new developments is absolutely critical for the
majority of them.
 As far as the resources and methods participants use for keeping up to
date is concerned, there is high reliance on resources entailing human
contact (e.g. seminars, colleagues, etc.).

26. Bibliography 1/3
 Broadus, R.N. (1980). "Use studies of library collections". Library
Resources & Technical Services, 24(4), 317–324.
 Brown, C.M. (1999). Information seeking behavior of scientists in the
electronic information age: Astronomers, chemists, mathematicians, and
physicists. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 50
(10), 929-943.
 Ellis, D. (1993). "Modeling the information-seeking patterns of academic
researchers: A grounded theory approach". The Library Quarterly, 63(4),
469–486.
 Hemminger, B.M., Lu, D., Vaughan, K.T.L., & Adams, S.J. (2007).
Information seeking behavior of academic scientists. Journal of the
American Society for InformationScience and Technology, 54 (14),
2205-2225.
 Hepworth, Μ and Wema, Ε. (2006) "The design and implementation of
an information literacy training course that integrated Information and
Library Science conceptions of information literacy, educational theory
and information behaviour research: a Tanzanian pilot study" ITALICS,
Vol. 5 Νο1, [Avalilable at: www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/italics/vol5-
1/pdf/hepworth-evans-final.pdf (Date of access: 1/07/08)]

27. Bibliography 2/3
 Hjørland, B. (1995). "Toward a new horizon in information
science (I.S.): Domain-analysis", Paper presented at ASIS 56’s
Annual Meeting. Columbus, Ohio, 25 October 1993.
 Jamali, H.R. and Nicholas, David (2008), "Information-seeking
behaviour of physicists and astronomers", Aslib Proceedings:
New Information Perspectives, Vol. 60 No. 5, pp. 444-462.
 Jamali, H. R. and Nicholas, D. (2009). "E-print depositing
behavior of physicists and astronomers: an intradisciplinary
study", Journal of Academic Librarianship, 35, (2), 117-125.
 Kuhlthau, C.C. (1993). Seeking meaning: A process approach to
library and information services. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
 Marchionini, G. (1995). Information seeking in electronic
environment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
 Pinto, María and Sales, Dora (2007). "A research case study for
user-centred information literacy instruction: information
behaviour of translation trainees". Journal of Information Science,
33 (5) 2007, pp. 531–550

28. Bibliography 3/3
 Tenopir, C., King, D. W., Boyce, P., Grayson, M. and
Paulson, K.-L. (2005)."Relying on electronic journals: Reading
patterns of astronomers". Journal of the American Society for
Information Science and Technology, 56: 786–802.
 Walker, J. R., Moen, William E., (2001) "Identifying and
Categorizing Information Seeking Behaviors in the Networked
Environment: An Exploratory Study of Young Adults, School of
Library and Information Sciences University of North Texas, Final
Report". [Avalilable at :
http://home.swbell.net/walkerjr/ISBS/internetart.pdf (Date of
access : 15/05/08)]
 Wilson, Thomas D, (2000). Human information behavior,
Informing Science. Available at
http://inform.nu/Articles/Vol3/v3n2p49-56.pdf