The music and film industries have long come to terms with the digital, and now the traditional printed book is challenged by digital formats. The e-book has become established in most countries, but is still a small part of the book industry. In this book a group of researchers follow the actors involved in the Swedish e-book market, from authors and publishers to libraries, booksellers and readers during 2012-2016. Using surveys, interviews and other sources the main actors were researched and it is shown how they act and react towards the e-book and towards each other. While the main focus in on Sweden as a small language country, several international comparisons are made. 

Are printed books disappearing soon? How are reading habits changing when the book becomes digital? Which forces are driving radical change and which are holding it back? The book discusses these and related questions and shows that after a period of rapid increase in the production and use of e-books, several factors slow down the rate of adoption, but digitisation of the book is an ongoing process and the current e-book is not the end of the story.

1. The report describes the demonstration and evaluation of ISP1, which was designed to demonstrate the potential of the SHAMAN framework for digital preservation in the context of memory institutions and for the research and development community. 2. The demonstration process was carried out by means of presentations based on screen-casts in three locations, Frankfurt, Vilnius and Glasgow. The audiences for the demonstrations consisted persons occupying of a wide range of roles in memory institutions, including senior management, operational level staff and IT support staff. 3. The evaluation is based on the reports of focus groups held in the three locations, together with structured data from self-completed questionnaires, administered on the same occasions. 4. Participants in the focus groups responded favourably to the ideas demonstrated in the presentations. There was particular interest in the choice of mainly open source software and in automation of processes, both of which have cost reduction implications, and in the idea of a digital preservation policy: the majority of participating organizations had no such policy. Participants also drew attention to aspects of preservation which they found lacking in the presentation and which were desirable, specifically: the preservation of font information; working with already obsolete formats; the automatic extraction of necessary metadata; the fact of mixed media archives involving, e.g., film and audio files; support for controlled vocabularies for search and discovery; and demonstration of workflows at a more practical level. 5. The questionnaire results revealed most approval of the retrieval and verification capabilities and less for the ingest processes. Otherwise the results supported the findings from the focus groups in general. There was a division of opinion over the value of the Multivalent browser and the application of grid technology, possibly because of differences in knowledge of these matters. Highest priority was assigned to data migration, access and authentication and bit stream preservation and least to independence standards and search capacity – issues that may be worth further exploration. 6. Evaluation has also been performed to determine the project‟s impact on the R&D community by means of submission and rejection rates of papers to journals and conferences, and bibliometric and Webometric analyses. The results demonstrate that the research outputs from the project are of interest to the R&D community and that the impact of the project as a whole compares favourably with other European projects in the digital preservation area. 7. The evaluation has revealed strengths and shortcomings in the demonstration process, which will influence the development of demonstrators for ISP2 and ISP3. The SHAMAN framework for digital preservation is seen as offering new possibilities and rigorous methods for the field by the practitioners in memory institutions.

1. Interviews and a questionnaire survey were conducted with researchers and policy makers in the University of Borås to obtain information on current publishing practices, the publishing policy of the institution, and attitudes towards open access. 2. Considerable variation in researchers’ understanding of these issues was found, but a number of common factors emerged that led to the recommendations made here. The rationale for the recommendations is set out in the concluding section of this report. 3. Recommendations: 3.1. The University’s publishing policy should be strengthened by requiring all research outputs or (in the case of exhibitions, etc.) documentary evidence of those outputs to be deposited in BADA in full‐text form. Library should receive a mandate to implement this policy to its full extent. Where publishers’ embargos exist, it should be the library’s responsibility to determine when the paper, etc., can be made openly available. 3.2. A resource allocation model for research should be developed which prioritises the continuation of and application for doctoral education rights, while preserving research that is directed at supporting the University’s goal of serving as a “university of the professions”. 3.3. Consideration should be given to the adoption of a document management system (or enterprise content management system) such as Sharepoint from Microsoft, or KnowledgeTree Inc., or one of the open source alternatives, such as Alfresco, LogicalDoc or OpenKM for management of research and research data. The costs and benefits of such an action should be explored in association with representatives of the departments. 3.4. Research staff needs to be made more aware of the need to deposit the full text of their publications in BADA. The role of the repository records in assigning research resources and in relation to promotion procedures should be emphasised, as well as the benefits that come from having an internationally‐visible archive of research outputs. 3.5. The potential of Open Journal Systems for managing the publication process of existing journals published in the University should be explored. 3.6. In addition to any university‐wide activity, seminars on the nature of open access publishing, etc., should be held in each Department, to ensure that all researchers are aware of the possibilities. 3.7. Researchers should be advised of the existence of the “author’s addendum” and its terms and of their right to require that publishers accept such an addendum. 3.8. Consideration should be given to expanding the role of the library in research support, provided that additional resources can be devoted to this. Specific topics suggested by respondents included: help with English writing; appointment of ‘research librarians’ to liaise with research groups in making proposals to funding agencies; considering recommendation 5 above; extending the scope of information literacy activities to researchers; providing bibliometric services to individuals and research groups; and provide advice on the national ranking criteria and their relevance to researchers. 3.9. The library should review how it disseminates information on the support it can give to research throughout the University and bring forward a plan for a support structure that can be provided to all researchers. This may take the form of a printed guide to research services, supported by existing and newly developed pages on the library Web site. 3.10 The resource implications of these recommendations, especially as they affect the library's functions, should be evaluated.

This article reports on an exploratory analysis of existing data obtained through a national survey carried out in Sweden. The survey questionnaire seeks information on a wide range of issues, including healthcare, library use and Internet use. The analysis presented here explores the relationship among these variables and the concept of trust in healthcare institutions. The results indicate that most of the correlations theoretically suggested were very small and that trust in health institutions in general is high but not strongly related to standard demographic variables found in a general survey of a large population. This exploratory study suggests that more specific indicators of health, experience from health institutions and health-related media exposure are needed to test, in greater depth, the relationships between information exposure, health and attitudes towards health institutions.

Introduction. This paper reports on a study of e-books issues in academic libraries in two European countries representative of small language markets – Sweden and Lithuania. Method. Questionnaire surveys, using the same instrument, were carried out in Swedish and Lithuanian academic libraries. Analysis. Quantitative analysis was performed using the descriptive statistics capability of SurveyMonkey. Results. The survey’s results reveal some interesting similarities and differences in the two countries. Business models for e-book acquisition in both countries show similarities - the most popular additional model is purchase for perpetual ownership. One significant difference is that some of the Lithuanian academic librarians appear to have less direct knowledge of e-book acquisition, relying upon the Lithuanian Research Library Consortium to effect licence agreements with publishers and aggregators. Another significant difference is that academic libraries in Lithuania have a higher degree of access to e-books in the national language than is the case in Sweden. Conclusion. The findings show that the factors driving adoption of e-books, is composed of somewhat different elements in the two countries. Swedish librarians regard the need to keep up with technology and access and availability as the two main forces driving adoption of e-books in academic libraries. Lithuanian librarians see economics as the main factor, together with technology and demand from students.

Bibliotekshögskolan organiserar regelbundet forum där forskare, praktiker och studenter kan träffas och utbyta kunskap och erfarenhet. Bakgrunden till projektet kan framförallt härledas till de diskussioner som förts på konferensen Mötesplats inför framtiden, kring behov av forskning inom olika bibliotekssektorer och områden. Detta paper redogör för det första delresultatet i det sk Delfistudien, en undersökning av de svenska bibliotekens forskningsbehov. Studien har bekostats av Svensk Biblioteksförening.

The article describes a research project conducted in Sweden and its initial base-line results that were produced by investigating statistical data from general statistical sources, representative surveys of the Swedish population, and from public and academic libraries. The project looks into the change introduced into the book sector by e-books. Sweden was chosen as a special case – a country with a high literacy level and high penetration of information technology into everyday life of people. At the same time, the spread of e-books is at the very start and it seems that the diffusion of e-books, their production, distribution and use are affected by the problems characteristic of a typical small publishing markets. The authors present the goals of the project and the theoretical framework. The data were collected in 2012 and demonstrate the relatively low scale of e-book publishing and use. Libraries emerge as the main channel of access to e-books for readers. The usual problems of e-book production and distribution that are visible in other countries are observed in Sweden as well: e-books legally are not books, but services of licensed software and thus excluded from the privileges enjoyed by paper books; readers demand more e-books but are not ready to pay for them the same price as for traditional books and prefer to acquire them through free channels. Publishers seek to maintain the monopoly of e-book distribution and fear piracy. Libraries lose independence of acquisition and collection management. The choice of e-books by readers is determined by access to technology, age and education as well as reading habits.

Straipsnyje aprašomas tyrimas grindžiamas statistine institucinės talpyklos duomenų bazės ir reglamentuojančiųjų universiteto dokumentų analize, interviu su universiteto vadovais ir aktyviais mokslininkais duomenimis bei universiteto mokslininkų atsakymų į anketą analize. Tyrimo rezultatai rodo, kad Švedijos universiteto leidybinė politika orientuojama į kuo didesnį universiteto matomumą mokslinėje komunikacijoje, atvirosios prieigos kūrimą ir per ją prieinamų dokumentų kokybės užtikrinimą bei mokslinin - kų atsakomybės už leidinių ir duomenų apie juos kokybę didinimą. Tačiau tiriamo universiteto mokslininkų žinios apie leidybos procesus, atvirosios prieigos galimybes, autorių teisių perdavimo pasekmes bei kitus su šiuolaiki - ne moksline komunikacija susijusius procesus bei reiškinius yra gana ribotos. Norint sėkmingai įgyvendinti universiteto leidybinės politikos nuostatas, būtina mokslininkus nuolat šviesti ir konsultuoti šiais klausimais. Tai galėtų būti natūrali universiteto bibliotekos funkcija, pratęsianti jos darbą su insti - tucine talpykla bei informacinio raštingumo ugdymu.

The aim of this paper is to identify the possibilities for reducing the second and third levels of the digital divide (or inequality) through conscious application of digital technologies, especially through the promotion of digital means for information, enlightenment, and entertainment. The literature review confirms the connection of different levels of digital divide with other relational and structural inequalities. It provides insights into the strengths and weaknesses of digital interventions aimed at the reduction of digital inequalities. Their success depends on the consideration of the context and participants needs as well as on carefully planned strategies.

Abstract. The paper falls under the category Digital preservation and access management. The aim of the paper is to present the approach to evaluating the EU SHAMAN (Sustaining Heritage Access through Multivalent ArchiviNg) project outcomes from the point of view of the needs and requirements of the memory institutions. The complex approach to the evaluation of the outcomes is defined by the complexity of the projects goals. The evaluation and assessment design draws upon earlier evaluation of digital repositories and other projects in the area of digital preservation. The evaluation has to be carried out from the perspective of the representatives of research and development community, the memory organizations such as libraries, archives and museums, the end-users of technology, such as librarians, curators and archivists and the end-users of preserved materials, such as researchers, educators and artists. Quantitative and qualitative data collection tools and methods are constructed for the use in the assessment process. The particular requirements that memory institutions have for longterm digital preservation systems are taken into account.

"Digital preservation" is revealed by our work as a non-unitary concept: it depends upon what is digitised, the period over which the preserved material is anticipated to be of use, and the future end uses to which it is believed the material may be put. Clearly, memory institutions have the longest view, since they are the storehouses of reserved physical materials from, in some cases, hundreds of years in the past. However, even here, question of which institutions need to retain digital archives and which may draw upon those archives is a significant question. On the other hand, our work in industry suggests that the useful time period over which digital objects may be seen as useful will depend mainly upon two factors: the lifetime of a product and legal requirements for preservation. In the case of TV sets, the production lifetime is quite limited, with new models coming out every two or three years, but in the case of health products from the same organization, legal requirements relating, for example, to testing may require records to be maintained for a much longer period of time. Even then, the expenditure has to be justified by the business benefits.

Goal. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate the role that information behaviour research may play in information system design. Theory. The paper explores the value of use cases in defining information requirements and considers their wider application in information behaviour research. Method. An analysis of the literature on long-term digital preservation systems (and, to a degree, digital libraries) is used as well as analysis of interviews undertaken in the course of the SHAMAN project. These interviews fall into the category of contextual inquiry as an explicit step for understanding who the customers really are and how they work on a day-to-day basis. Results. Four broad categories of needs in long term preservation are identified in literature: society at large, which has requirements for long-term preservation; organizational requirements; organizational staff who must operate the preservation system, undertaking the functions of ingest, access and delivery to end-users; end-users who need to draw upon the digital resource to help them with their work, study or research. The Universal Modelling Language with stereotypical actors and use cases offers information behaviour researchers a way to engage with system developers in a creative synergy.

We report on a preliminary investigation into the current scope of research in information management, adopting a conceptual approach derived from previous work by Hjørland in information science and by Palvia in infor- mation systems. We created a data-set of 107 articles resulting from a search in Web of Science, using the search strategy of the term information management in the titles of articles, and then restricting the analysis to those journals we identified as having an information science orientation, rather than an infor- mation systems orientation. The analysis reveals the International Journal of Information Management as the most significant journal in the field, but also draws attention to the rise of interest in the field through contributions to two Brazilian journals and one Spanish journal. The thematic analysis revealed that the dominant research themes from the information science perspective were empirical user studies, studies of the structural and institutional approach, and information system usage and adoption. Further work will be undertaken to ex- plore the relevance of the approach in the analysis of other document sets from areas such as health care, construction and engineering. 

Introduction. Reports the conduct of a national survey in Sweden to establish the desired research priorities for libraries. The research sought to establish what evidence-base is needed for evidence-based practice. Method. The Delphi method was employed to solicit opinions on the kinds of research needed by libraries of all kinds in Sweden. Research topics were obtained from practising librarians and identified in the professional literature and discussion lists. Two rounds of questionnaire survey using the sixty-four themes extracted were followed by an interactive workshop. Panel members were nominated by the practitioners themselves. Analysis. Standard statistical methods were employed to derive means and standard deviations and the Spearman rank correlation statistic was used to compare the results from different library sectors. Results. Consensus among panel members was not achieved during the survey rounds, but the workshop resulted in the identification of the ten highest priority themes. The public, regional and school libraries are more concerned with relation of libraries to education and society at large, while academic and special libraries emphasize the changes in scholarly and business communication and the impact of new technologies. Conclusions. The consensus among different Swedish library sectors regarding the top research agenda can be reached only conditionally. Strong differences between them remain and have to be taken into account when implementing the agenda. The panel members regard the library future as uncertain and prioritize the topics that can help to foster readers and library users and strengthen strategic positions of libraries.

We describe a project to evaluate an image database within an educational context. The partners in the EURIDICE project were educational institutions in a number of countries, together with other agencies and one commercial partner. Input to the database was provided by the commercial partner, a public library, and state archives. Evaluation was guided through a workshop in which all institutions participated to ensure comparability of data across the Project. Specific attention was paid to the needs of sight impaired students. The results indicated that the image database was considered to be of value for teaching and learning, but required further work to make it a fully viable system. In particular, the scope of the database needed to be expanded and the retrieval mechanisms improved

Introduction. A pilot investigation is reported into the information behaviour of scholars relocating to Sweden in building their research networks. Method. Using activity theory as a conceptual framework for the study, structured interviews (using mainly open questions) were carried out with eight scholars in different disciplines and institutions. The resulting data were analysed using the qualitative analysis package Atlas. ti. Results. Information systems and technologies play little part in the information behaviour of relocated scholars in building, or re-building, their research support networks. Integration into the academic institution is easier than integration into Swedish society and language issues arise mainly in respect of the latter. Conclusion. Re-located scholars adopt interpersonal communication as the dominant information behaviour in building their research networks. They are aided, in Sweden, by the generally welcoming and supportive atmosphere of their departments (although one respondent in the social sciences noted problems of conflict), but experience difficulty in establishing social networks within Swedish society.

The Delphi technique has been used to systematically map the opinions on research needs of Swedish librarians. The study shows that what is considered relevant research is dependent on what kind of library operation the respondent works in. The highest priority is accorded to factors affecting strategic development, followed by the changing roles of libraries in their communities and the impact of library programmes on learning and transferable skills, but the results vary greatly between groups. The study is now an important foundation for the formulation of research questions and enhanced cooperation. The report plays an important role in those areas, but is also methodologically interesting as it gives a good description of how the Delphi technique can be used and of its constituent stages.

1. The report is accounting for the demonstration and evaluation of ISP2, which was designed to demonstrate the potential of the SHAMAN framework for digital preservation in the context of industrial design and engineering companies and for the research and development community. 2. The demonstration process was carried out by means of presentation based on screen-casts in Philips Consumer Lifestyle division the Audio, Video, Multimedia and Accessories business area members. They were typical members of a consumer organization and were involved in engineering or middle management work in the company, one was an intern. 3. The evaluation is based on the report of a focus group held in Philips‟s Eindhoven headquarters. It is supplemented with structured data from self-completed questionnaires, administered on the same occasions. However, the level of participation in the focus group was low as three out of nine intended participants withdrew because of more pressing duties on the morning of the event. Therefore, the data show only the individual opinions. However, the evaluation methods were successful in delivering useful information for the preparation of this deliverable. 4. Participants pointed out that, although their needs for digital preservation were limited, other business areas in the division were more likely to have greater needs, for example, the Health and Wellness area, which had legal obligations to retain data. The theoretical justification for the SHAMAN framework appeared to be of little interest to them. The primary requirement they had of software was that it should „save the time of the engineer‟. The elements resembling the optimum system, i.e., those that accepted a document or design and then automatically extracted all the necessary metadata to enable it to be found and used in the future, were favoured most. The participants found some features of the demonstrator, such as the Open Conjurer module and the concept of „terminology evolution‟ particularly appealing. 5. It is quite evident that the SHAMAN framework is applicable to the domain, and it is also evident that the key factors that will make digital preservation in general a requirement will depend very much on the nature of the business. The area of audio and video appliances does not need a very long-term preservation because of the rather short lifetime of an individual product. However, even here, in a different business area, relating to health and well-being, legal requirements necessitate a much longer period of preservation for documents and their need for digital preservation will be much greater. 6. Evaluation has also been performed to determine the project‟s impact on the R&D community by means of submission and rejection rates of papers to journals and conferences, and bibliometric and Webometric analyses. The results demonstrate that the research outputs from the project are of interest to the R&D community and that the impact of the project as a whole compares favourably with other European projects in the digital preservation area. 7. The evaluation has revealed strengths and shortcomings in the demonstration process, which will influence the further development of demonstrators for all three SHAMAN domains of interest. The SHAMAN framework for digital preservation is seen as offering new possibilities and interesting approaches to information capturing and re-use by the practitioners in industrial design and engineering companies.

Aim/Purpose: To capture digital training experiences, the paper introduces a novel data collection method – a graphic questionnaire. It aims to demonstrate the opportunities and limitations of this tool for collecting feedback from socially disadvantaged participants of digital literacy training about their progress.Background: In training of digital skills for disadvantaged audiences through informal educational interventions, it is important to get sufficient knowledge on factors that lead to their progress in the course of training. There are many tools to measure the achievements of formal education participants, but assessing the effectiveness of informal digital skills training is researched less. The paper introduces a small-scale case study of the training programme aimed at the developing of reading and digital skills among the participants from three socially disadvantaged groups – people with hearing impairments, children from low income families, and elderly persons. The impact of the training on participants was evaluated using different tools, including a short graphic questionnaire to capture the perceptions of the participants after each training.Methodology: We performed a thematic analysis of graphic questionnaires collected after each training session to determine how the students perceived their progress in developing literacy and digital skills.Contribution The findings of the paper can assist in designing assessment of digital literacy programmes that focus not only on final results, but also on the process of gaining digital skills and important factors that facilitate progress.Findings: The graphic questionnaire allowed the researchers to get insights into the perception of acquired skills and progressive achievements of the participants through rich self-reports of attitudes, knowledge gained, and activities during training sessions. However, the graphic questionnaire format did not allow the collection of data about social interaction and cooperation that could be important in learning.

1. This deliverable reports on the demonstration and evaluation of ISP3, which was designed to demonstrate the potential of the SHAMAN framework for digital preservation in the context of e-science institutions and for the research and development community. 2. The demonstration process was carried out by means of presentations of the training material to the scientists from LNEC and LIP in Lisbon, Portugal. The audiences for the demonstrations consisted of scientists working with different data and IT support staff. 3. The evaluation is based on the reports of focus groups held with two groups of scientists, together with structured data from self-completed questionnaires, administered on the same occasions. 4. The SHAMAN 'consciousness raising' event appears to have had useful consequences. In both institutions it appeared to fulfil the aim of drawing attention to the problems of digital preservation and to the role of the SHAMAN framework in finding answers to the problems. To a degree, the participants were already sympathetic to the ideas, since they were working in situations that daily brought their attention to the need for preservation policies. However, the discussions were also useful in extending the concept of digital preservation beyond the existing perceptions within the SHAMAN teams. In particular, the notion of the 'digital object' needs to be expanded to include not only digitized physical objects such as documents and images, but also 'born digital' phenomena such as data streams, software programs and analytical results of experiments.

We report on research in progress on the e-book phenomenon in Sweden, the aim of which is to explore the impact of the e-book at every stage, from authorship, through publishing, library lending and bookselling to readership. Here two aspects of the research are covered, the attitudes of authors and publishers towards e-books, to demonstrate the ‘early adoption’ stage of the e-book in the Swedish market. Interviews with authors reveal that most regard e-books favourably, although most of those who have a contract with publishers see it as a by-product of print publishing. Most authors do not have much experience in e-book publishing or self-publishing. The survey of publishers reveals ambivalence towards e-books and in their relationships with libraries and booksellers. The main ‘drivers’ in the uptake of e-books are consumers’ demands for portable, convenient formats and the search for more economic solutions to the provision of textbooks.

This article aims to explore the aims, ways of working, and problems related to local information within a network of collaborating provincial university libraries in Thailand (PULINET). By applying a theoretical framework of the activity theory and qualitative approach to explore the interaction of activity systems involved in common projects, the article identifies contradictions within separate nodes, between the nodes, and between the collaborating systems. The results show how the collaborating participants overcome emerging difficulties by complying with cultural norms and supporting each other, and how the contradictions in the organization as well as in the transfer of competence and sharing of resources affect their collaboration. 

Introduction. A study of the information behaviour of members of the Boards of the Swedish voluntary organization, Youth for Peace, is reported. The focus is on the tensions and contradictions arising out of organizational values and other factors. Method. Observation, interviews and the analysis of organizational documents were employed within the conceptual framework of activity theory. Predominantly qualitative data were gathered. Analysis. Qualitative analysis, using Atlas. ti, was carried out on the interview transcripts and other materials. Results. The study revealed a range of contradictions and tensions arising out of organizational values, the voluntary character of the organization and the life characteristics of Board members. Conclusion. The contradictions that arise in voluntary organizations affect their ability to effectively manage and exchange information between Board members and between Boards and the ordinary members. However, the values of 'doing their own thing', 'flexibility' and 'equality' helped to achieve one of the main goals of a voluntary youth organization: practical acquisition of basic information skills related to participation in a democratic body. The efficiency of information seeking and production was sacrificed, but every member of the Board had a possibility to learn a variety of jobs by hands-on practice.

Abstract This paper explores collaborative information behavior in the context of highly politicized decision making. It draws upon a qualitative case study of project management of a contentious public sector infrastructure project. We noted the creation of spaces for the development and exchange of information by experts and conceptualize these as information spheres. We postulate that these were formed to bypass power-induced information behavior that excludes expert power, such as information avoidance. This approach contrasts with the expected project management and information norms, rules and behavior, however, provides a language that can be used to explain the phenomena of bounded information spaces which complement and may be used as a development of adjunct to small world's theory.

Purpose. Information sharing is a relatively unexplored part of the information behaviour. The aim of this paper is to examine the research on the concept, as it appears in other bodies of literature and to draw out the key variables that appear to influence information sharing in different contexts. Methods. A literature review was carried out using the Scopus database, to identify the contexts and perspectives under which information sharing, information exchange or knowledge sharing has been discussed. Findings. A small number of key variables regularly appear in the information sharing literature. Some are limited to a particular context, e.g., sharing patient data in health care organizations, while others appear to have more general applicability. Four variables are identified that appear to be relatively common: trust, risk, reward (or benefit), and organizational proximity. Conclusion. The analysis presented could be employed both to guide an investigation into information sharing in organizations and to offer guidance to organizational management on the circumstances under which information sharing may take place readily, versus those circumstances under which sharing must be either negotiated or difficult to achieve.

Introduction. The e-book and its associated technology have emerged as a disruptive technology over the past ten years. The aim of this paper is to discuss some of the consequences of this development, based on the work of the e-books in Sweden research project. Argument. To explain the impact of the e-book phenomenon we use Winston’s theory of technological innovation, with particular reference to the ‘supervening social necessity’, the combination of factors that turns an innovation into a marketable product. As a result of the technology all aspects of the production, distribution and use of books is affected. Sectoral and cultural variation. The e-book is having different effects in different sectors and in different parts of the world: rapid development in the USA, slower in France and Japan; rapid development in academic libraries, slower development in public libraries, from country to country. These differences suggest that more than one supervening social necessity may be needed to explain the divergencies. Conclusion. There is a great deal of exaggeration of the impact of the e-book, based mainly on its influence in the USA. Development in other countries is taking place more slowly and differently and in ‘small language’ countries like Sweden, the pace of development, except in academic libraries is likely to be slow.

Introduction. This paper proposes that Wilson’s models of information behaviour constitute a general theory and that this is recognized by other researchers, although the term ‘theory’ has not been used by Wilson. Method. Wilson’s models are reviewed in the context of their use by other researchers, who use the terms ‘theory’ or ‘theoretical’ in describing the models. The relationship between model and theory is discussed and the characteristics of theories are explored, with a view to identifying the kind of theory embodied in the models. Results. Wilson’s models are shown to satisfy the requirements of a theory and of theory development, with particular reference to human interaction with information. The theory is categorised as grounded and inductive, being based on fieldwork undertaken for the INISS Project and subsequent analysis of relevant papers from a variety of research areas. Conclusion. Recognition of Wilson’s models as representations of an underlying theory of human information behaviour provides an opportunity for its further development in theoretical terms rather than simply as a framework to guide the conduct of research.

Introduction.  The aim of this paper is to explore the investigation of information-seeking behaviour in the literature of psychology, with special reference to the period before 1981, when the term was introduced into information science, and compare the research of that period, with research reported in 2022-2023.

Method. A search of the literature for the term ‘information-seeking behaviour’ was carried out in Web of Science and Scopus for the period 1900 to 1980 and from January 2022 to May 2023, producing two data sets for analysis.

Analysis.  Descriptive analysis of sources and geographic distribution of the papers is presented. This is followed by an analysis of the research themes and approaches.

Results. In the early set of papers the main context of the research was educational and career counselling and the main research perspective social learning theory, with an emphasis on the concept of locus of control. In the later set, the main theoretical interest was in aspects of cognition, with a particular interest in curiosity.

Conclusion. There is much that the information science research can learn and apply from the literature of psychology.  In particular, social learning theory, cognitive theory, and the associated research instruments could be of value.

Purpose 

The aim of this paper is to review the psychological literature on curiosity and its relationship to information-seeking behaviour, and compare this with the information science literature on the same subject.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach adopted is that of a comparative literature review, with an analysis of the papers retrieved in terms of their theoretical approach, context, study population and research method. 

Findings 

Curiosity is understood as a multi-faceted cognitive trait in humans and the relationship to information-seeking behaviour is explored through an exploration of other personality characteristics. There is very little citation of the information science literature in the psychological papers, and only a little more citation of the psychological literature in the information science papers. 

Originality/value 

The author is not aware of any similar exploration of the literature on curiosity.