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Unit 3: Library Information Needs of Users

internal inter-library loan requests data, and web log data. All these methods help to identify Notes
information needs of users only to some degree, not completely.
RRCAT is a premier research and development organization in the area of lasers, accelerators and
its related disciplines. There are about 500 scientists and engineers engaged in R and D activities,
and 500 scientific/technical support staff. The RRCAT library since its inception is offering various
information services actively to all its users and visitors. ILL is one such service offered to users for
on-demand materials that are not available locally due to the proliferation of material and limited
library budgets. The ILL service is the last of the five main functions of any science and technology
library.
1. The online dictionary for library and information science (ODLIS) defines ILL as, “When
a book or other item needed by a registered borrower is checked out, unavailable for
some other reason, or not owned by the library, a patron may request that it be borrowed
from another library by filling out a printed ILL request form at a service desk, or
electronically via the library’s website. Some libraries also accept ILL requests via e-mail
or by telephone, usually under exceptional circumstances. Materials borrowed on ILL
may usually be renewed on or before the due date”.
2. The term ILL is also referred to as ‘document delivery (DD)’ and ‘resource sharing’. The
term DD is used, rather than ILL, because organizations other than libraries engage in
providing documents, both originals and copies to other organizations.
3. The ILL requests received in the years 2005 and 2006 at RRCAT were analyzed to determine
frequently refer red to journals by the users from those non subscribed journals. The
currency of information sought by the users was also determined by examining the
publication year of all the requested documents.

3.1 Information Seeking Behavior

Information seeking is the process or activity of attempting to obtain information in both human
and technological contexts. Information seeking is related to, but yet different from, information
retrieval (IR).

Information Retrieval

Traditionally, IR tools have been designed for IR professionals to enable them to effectively and
efficiently retrieve information from a source. It is assumed that the information exists in the source
and that a well-formed query will retrieve it (and nothing else). It has been argued
that laypersons’ information seeking on the Web is very different from information retrieval as
performed within the IR discourse. Yet, web search engines are built on IR principles. Since the
late 1990s a body of research on how casual users interact with Web search engines has been forming,
but the topic is far from fully understood. IR can be said to be technology-oriented, focusing
on algorithms and issues such as precision and recall.

Information seeking may be understood as a more human-oriented and open-ended
process than information retrieval. In information seeking, one does not know whether
there exists an answer to one’s query, so the process of seeking may provide the
learning required to satisfy one’s information need.

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