Information Seeking Strategies of Life Science Scientists Working in the Defence Research and Development Organization, India

Abstract

This research is a report of the findings of a study of the information seeking behavior of life science scientists working in Defence Research and Development Organization, Ministry of Defence, India. A structured questionnaire was designed to explore the information seeking behavior of Life Science Scientists. Data collected from this study were analyzed using the latest version of Sigma-PLOT for appropriate statistical methods for description (frequencies, per cent, means, and standard deviations). This paper discusses the findings of various strategies and procedures adopted by the Life science Scientists in meeting their information requirement. The Life Science Scientists were asked to rank the information sources indicating their order of priority while seeking information. They were asked to use a scale in order to their priority on the basis of I, II and III. The results show that the Life Science Scientists have expressed great dependence in meeting their information requirement on their institutional library or information centre. Seventy eight per cent of the respondents for all categories of Life Science Scientists opted for library information centre as the most preferred source. For accessing information Life Science Scientists highly depend on the library collection, followed by the personal collection, collection of their supervisor and of colleagues in order of decreasing priority.