Understanding the Information Needs of Academic Scholars in Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Kuruppu, Pali U.; Gruber, Anne Marie

doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2006.08.001

Cited by 83 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In coincidence with Majid y Anwar (2000) as Kuruppu and Gruber (2006), results show that BAUNNE's users are interested in agronomy and veterinary issues. Their preferences for these documents and their needs to be assisted in searches online, allow us to define with much precision their information needs.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 83%

Relevancia de la información recuperada y utilizada desde el punto de vista del usuario de la Biblioteca Agropecuaria de la Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (Corrientes, Argentina)

2015

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Abstract:In the traditional evaluation of information-retrieval systems, the relevance of a document is determined on a graded scale. At present, relevance is judged from the user's perspective. In this paper, the relevance is measured on documents that are used for any academic purpose by the users of the Agronomy and Veterinary Library of the Northeastern National University (Corrientes, Argentina). Users are specialized in both fields. We will focus on the relevance analysis of the documents obtained and used for different purposes according to their usefulness, originality, accuracy, clarity, authority, and updatedness. Spearman Coefficient Correlation has been used to determine the relationships between the variables. User types studied in the present paper are graduate and postgraduate students, researchers, academic teachers and external users. This study also shows the importance of each criterion to the general relevance of document from the user standpoint. It is believed that an adequate remote connection would permit a better, fluid access to online information resources and will reinforce the online information services by the library. It is also noted that users need a hardly instruction in the use of the available printed and online resources. Relevancia de la información recuperada y utilizada desde el punto de vista del usuario de la Biblioteca Agropecuaria de la Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (Corrientes, Argentina)Resumen: Se aborda el nivel de relevancia, desde la perspectiva de los usuarios, de la información obtenida para su uso final de la Biblioteca Agropecuaria (BAUNNE) de la Universidad Nacional del Nordeste de la República Argentina. El estudio se centra en el análisis de la relevancia de los documentos obtenidos y utilizados para distintos fines en función de distintas variables como su utilidad, originalidad, especificidad o precisión, claridad, autoridad y actualidad. Para determinar las relaciones entre las variables, se utilizó el Coeficiente de Correlación de Spearman. Los colectivos de usuarios que se estudian en el presente trabajo corresponden a los alumnos de grado, a los alumnos de posgrado de las maestrías, a los doctorandos de las distintas carreras y a los docentes e investigadores y usuarios externos a BAUNNE. Se muestra también la importancia que tiene cada uno de los criterios en la relevancia general dada por el usuario. Se cree necesario contar con una conexión remota adecuada la que permitirá un mejor y más fluído acceso virtual y optimizará el servicio en línea ofrecido por la biblioteca. Asimismo, resulta necesaria una más intensa instrucción del usuario en el uso de los recursos de la biblioteca.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 83%

Relevancia de la información recuperada y utilizada desde el punto de vista del usuario de la Biblioteca Agropecuaria de la Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (Corrientes, Argentina)

2015

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“…This reality may be partly to blame for the lack of current holistic exploration of overarching information service and resource needs in the ALS and greater biological and science disciplines (Gabridge, 2009;Kuruppu & Gruber, 2006). A new land grant ALS liaison concerned about identifying effective ways to support the land grant mission through improved access to and use of information in its many forms may be unsure how to begin.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Because agriculture and biological science researchers rely on the primary literature (French, 1990;Kuruppu & Gruber, 2006), it makes sense that these users need ready access to this information. For today's ALS researchers in developed countries, there is plenty of information to go around and the problem is rarely one of availability per se.…”

Section: Users' Research Needsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The multi-and interdisciplinary nature of agriculture (French, 1990) lends itself to ties with the life sciences. As agriculture represents the applied arm of the life and biological sciences (Kuruppu & Gruber, 2006), information from each discipline may be of interest to information users in the other. 1 The complex nature of agriculture and life sciences (ALS) information, however, provides numerous challenges for new information professionals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Liaison's Role in Serving Agriculture & Life Sciences Information Users: A Review of the Literature

Simonsen

2015

Journal of Agricultural & Food Information

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Developing an effective agriculture and life sciences (ALS) liaison program at a land grant institution can be challenging, as the liaison serves a wide variety of stakeholders with research, teaching, and Extension goals. New liaisons seeking to identify effective ways to support the land grant mission may desire guidance to select priority service areas. This article reviews ALS information user needs, as articulated by the users and their literature, to shed light on what they deem important. Services new ALS liaisons can considerto meet these needs within the 21st century land grant environment are then identified.

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“…4 From the late 1980s to 1990s, there was a rapid development in computer and information technologies. 5 Students now entering university study are more competent at using technologies such as the internet; however, technology proficiency is only one aspect of information literacy. 6 To be information literate, a person needs to be able to identify when information is needed, and then to identify, locate, evaluate, organise, and effectively use the required information.…”

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confidence: 99%

Perceptions and Applications of Information Literacy by First Year Applied Science Students

Wilkes¹,

Gurney

2009

Australian Academic & Research Libraries

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This paper examines where students prefer to find information, and then matches survey results with students' assignments. Surveys showed that half the surveyed students used library databases (e.g. ProQuest) as their first preference to locate scientific information; however, of these students, one third did not have any journal articles cited in their assignment. Furthermore, of those students with no journal articles cited in their reference list, 65% claimed to feel comfortable using library databases, against a figure of 100% who felt comfortable using Google Scholar. This indicates a mismatch between students' expressed preferences and their actual ability to locate, evaluate, and include refereed journal articles in their assignments.

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Understanding the Information Needs of Academic Scholars in Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Cited by 83 publications

References 23 publications

Relevancia de la información recuperada y utilizada desde el punto de vista del usuario de la Biblioteca Agropecuaria de la Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (Corrientes, Argentina)

Relevancia de la información recuperada y utilizada desde el punto de vista del usuario de la Biblioteca Agropecuaria de la Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (Corrientes, Argentina)

The Liaison's Role in Serving Agriculture & Life Sciences Information Users: A Review of the Literature

Perceptions and Applications of Information Literacy by First Year Applied Science Students

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