Research interests:

• in Swedish
• in English

Publications:

• in English
• in Finnish and Swedish
• Academic theses

Fulltext version of doctoral dissertation

Katriina Byström
Department of Information Studies
University of Tampere, Finland

Specimens of Information Behaviour amongst Municipal Administrators: Implications on LIS Education and Research

Abstract

The planning of a functional information environment within an organization ought to extend beyond technical applications. One important factor in this planning is the use of information, i.e. the purposes and premises of information use and how to pursue these. Some related aspects of LIS education and research are discussed on the basis of an on-going study about the information behaviour of municipal administrators. This perspective gives a LIS professional in an organizational setting a somewhat different role than that of an "advisor" who guides people to use different information systems. As "composers", i.e. those who create opportunities for successful information use, LIS professionals would co-operate with other members of an organization, with both designers and utilizers of IT applications. This kind of development would require investments in education as well as in research.