Facing both technological, educational and vocational change, the professional practices ofacademic librarians are subjects of interest within LIS research today. Information seekingand literacy are often spoken of as important competences; therefore, the assumed informationseeking expertise of academic librarians stands out as a significant matter to investigate. Thisarticle aims at gaining a deeper understanding of the information seeking behaviour ofacademic librarians. For this purpose, two theoretical perspectives are tested in terms of theirusefulness as analytical tools. This is accomplished primarily through theoretical discussionsand literature studies. The conceptualisationof imposed and self-generated informationseeking by Melissa Gross is found applicable, along with central concepts derived from asocio-cultural perspective as presented by Olof Sundin and Jenny Johannisson, and a newinstitutional perspective in accordance with Ragnar Audunson’s viewpoint.