Understanding the Information Behaviors of Doctoral Students: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

This exploratory study seeks to understand how the research experiences of humanities PhD students influence their information behavior. The authors interviewed 10 participants from two academic institutions multiple times over several months. The study used open-ended, unstructured interviewing techniques in an attempt to avoid the introduction of library bias. The authors found that the information behavior of PhD students is driven by their need to understand and follow a scholarly dialogue. Resource discovery was heavily influenced by people, and resource use was varied, distributed, and unpredictable.