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Katriina Murtonen,
Dept. of Information Studies
University of Tampere, Finland
Uusia tuulia tiedonhankintatutkimuksen kentällä: Kunnallishallinnon työntekijöiden
tiedontarpeesta ja tiedonhankinnasta [Some promising results in information seeking
research: On the information needs and information seeking of administrative officials].
Abstract
The information needs of and information seeking by the personnel of the City Secretarial
Office of Pori was studied in 1990. By examining the information seeking processes in
different task-difficulty classes it was possible to distinguish systematical divergences
between processes in each class. The results clearly indicated that information seeking
behavior is different in each task-difficulty class. In general, administrative officials
(1) set the intended performing level high, (2) only seldom used information channels for
reaching information source, (3) used mainly information sources which were possible to
obtain inside the organisation, (4) did not explain their reasons to use a source, and (5)
used information which enabled them to perform the task. Effects of situational factors
varied. For less difficult task officials needed information closely related to the task
and used only few information sources with an exact information contains (documents and
registers). For more difficult task more versatile information was needed. It was usual to
consider a larger number of information sources than was actually used and use more
flexible information sources to gather the information needed (experts and literature).
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