Information seeking behavior of Greek astronomers

Abstract

This study examines three aspects of information seeking behaviour of astronomers in Greece including a) the importance they place in keeping up-to-date with current developments b) the methods they depend on for keeping up-to-date and c) the information sources they mostly use. We adopted an intradisciplinary approach in order to investigate similarities and differences in information seeking behaviour among astronomers when examining them as groups bearing different characteristics, including academic status, subfieldresearch area of astronomy, age, and affiliated institution. The analysis of our results a) revealed that although some similarities exist, there are significant variations in the behaviour of the different groups of our participants, and b) highlighted the need for deeper investigation of narrower subject communities within disciplines in order to acquire deeper understanding of their information seeking behavior.