Bibliotekariers informationssökning via WWW: En undersökning

Abstract

This article is the result of a Master’s thesis in library and information studies. The aim of the article is to examine how librarians search for information on the World Wide Web. We have investigated information seeking from different perspectives: how the librarians in our study utilize the search possibilities available on the Web, what search strategies they employ and what their opinions on the Web and the searches are. The strategies we have found can be divided into two categories: analytical strategies and browsing. The librarians use search engines, virtual library catalogues, subject directories, meta search engines and intelligent agents for locating information. A typical search is a simple search with just one or a few keywords without making use of the variety of search tools available. The strategies used the most are most specific fact, brief search, scanning and navigation. Overall, the librarians consider the Web only a complement to other reference sources. According to the librarians, the difficulties experienced with searching can be ascribed to insufficient knowledge. Amongst the attitudes, we have discovered that they consider the Web unstructured and that the lack of quality material and the enormous scope is a problem, but still they think that the Web provides great possibilities for future reference service.