The Information Seekers and Their Behavior

Overview

Researchers seeking social sciences information can come in all shapes and sizes. Since the humanities consist of a variety of disciplines, including anything from history to education to psychology, the information seekers are varied. The variation increases when considering different library settings and, therefore, different groups of users. The sources social science researchers seek out are more varied than in other sciences. Kumar, Singh, and Yadav state in their study that they "use official records, archival materials, files,committee/commission reports, addresses and proceedings of political parties, legislative
proceedings, rules, databases, newspapers and bulletins, etc., apart from conventional documents like books, journals, research papers, conference proceedings, theses, and statistical serials" (Kumar, Singh, & Yadav, 2011, pp. 1-2). They also found in their study that social scientists used monographs and textbooks far more than electronic databases (p. 9). This could vary based on what discipline the individual is studying; for instance, a psychology scholar is likely to reference current journals while a historian may focus on archival paper records.

Westbrook discusses five of the main social science professions and states that "each group maintains a code of ethics,requires specialized education, builds a corpus of knowledge constructed on theory, and supports professional associations involved in accreditation, standards, and professional development" (Westbrook, 2010, p. 4857). She disciplines she discusses are education, library science, social work, criminal justice, and journalism. She does not make mention of history, anthropology, sociology, or psychology; however, there are blurred lines when grouping disciplines. Many consider history to be a humanities discipline, and maybe psychology as a more hard science.

To encompass history as a social science, we must also look at sources about the humanities. Wiberly states that "While the sciences have as their basic evidence results of observation and experiment and the social sciences the results of experiment, field work, and survey, the humanities study artifacts, especially documents, created by other people...because humanities scholarship builds upon documents and artifacts created by different people in different places and times and not by the humanist who uses them, there is less possibility for conventions of method or uniformity in procedure inhumanities scholarship than there is in the sciences and social sciences where scholars themselves initially record their basic data" (Wiberly, 2010, p. 2203). Historians seek out primary sources far more than other social science disciplines; in this way, it fits more into the humanities. This is especially true of historians of classical studies, where original texts and artifacts are some of the only sources of information available.

Kumar, A., Singh, S. N., & Yadav, A. K. S. (2011). An Investigation of Use of Information Sources by Social Scientists. Library Philosophy and Practice.

Westbrook, L. (2010). Social Science Professional Literatures and Their Users. In Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences (3rd ed.). http://dx.doi.org/10.1081/E-ELIS3-120043467

Wiberly, S. E. (2010). Humanities Literatures and Their Users. In Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences (3rd ed.). http://dx.doi.org/10.1081/E-ELIS3-120043276

Personas

Persona 1 - Alexandria
- Alexandria is a 40-year-old professor of history, focusing on medieval and ancient studies. She is well versed in classical studies.
- Alexandria is collaborating with other faculty members to create a series of lectures for Women's History Month. The range of topics for these lectures is very broad and encompasses many disciplines; Alexandria's will focus on women's rights in the ancient Mediterranean world.
- Alexandria knows what sources to start looking for, but she requests assistance from a social sciences librarian at her university to locate specific primary sources.
- She initiates online searches of repositories and digitized collections of ancient artifacts. She also utilizes online databases and connections to museum collections.
- Alexandria also gets help from a linguistics librarian, as some of the more obscure primary texts are in the original Greek.
- Alexandria appreciates the vast sea of information that can be found online, but she worries that her students are moving towards only relying on digital sources as opposed to a good mix of both online and print.
- When she is unable to view actual artifacts, Alexandria finds digital image collections like ARTSTOR to be very valuable.
Persona 2 - Christopher
- Christopher is a 21-year-old double majoring in history and pre-med.
- Christopher has found an interesting subject to research for his senior capstone project: ancient and early forms of medicine.
- Christopher has regular correspondence with both the history and medical professors as well as the specialized librarians for these disciplines.
- He takes special interest in the life of Hippocrates, an Ancient Greek physician after whom the Hippocratic Oath is named.
- For this project, Christopher needs access to texts written by or about Hippocrates and other Greek physicians. With the help of the librarians, he discovers that many are digitized and available through online databases.
- He needs help with more advanced search techniques when browsing the library catalog and the databases. Luckily, he is an avid user of the library and is confident enough to always ask for help when he needs it.
- Christopher is unsure if he wants to go to medical school or just graduate school, and if he wants to be a doctor or a medical historian. He could benefit from doing either or doing both. No matter what he chooses, he strives for academic excellence.
Persona 3 - Saoirse
- Saoirse is a 9-year-old girl who is a voracious reader. Her favorite book series is Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and she strives to be like the character Annabeth, a smart and capable heroine. She has dressed like Annabeth for Halloween for the last two years and plans on doing it again this year.
- Saoirse repeatedly checks out these books from her public library, and the librarians take notice. One librarian asks Saoirse if she has read the other books Rick Riordan has written and if she would like to know more about Greek mythology. The librarian is not a classicist, but she has a passion for ancient history and classical studies.
- Saoirse is eager to to know more about the Greek gods, especially Athena, the goddess of wisdom. The librarians help her find a guide to Greek mythology made for young readers and many online resources so she can learn more.
- After talking with her friends and classmates, Saoirse suggests to the librarians a fun event to incorporate into their summer reading program: a simulated demigod training camp like in Percy Jackson to go along with reading the books.

Cornell University. (2007). The Cornell University Library Personas.

HathiTrust UX Advisory Group. (2011). Personas. HathiTrust Digital Library. Retrieved from https://www.hathitrust.org/documents/HathiTrust_Personas.pdf

Implications

The social science disciplines utilize both primary documents and current research typically published online, so a mix of both online databases on print materials is invaluable. Disciplines like psychology are ever-changing with new research, so keeping up-to-date journals is imperative. Historical research relies on primary texts and artifacts, which can often be found digitized or in photographs online. Partnerships with museums can even be worthwhile endeavors if an institution has heavy interest in history. For public libraries, the more common service related to social science is genealogy and local history. These services can make even the most novice researcher feel like a historian.