On March 9, UT librarians Travis Dolence and Ron Gilmour will open the forum by discussing survey results of the information gathering behaviors of amateur scientists related to library usage, Internet resources, scholarly journals, and popular magazines.
SIS graduate student Marques Stewart will then present his research
highlighting the changes in information access in Japan and the United
States, with a major focus on changes occurring after 9/11. Marques was
awarded "Best Graduate Paper" at the College's annual research forum in
early February.
SIS research forums are informal and open to everyone. Feel free
to bring your lunch.
What: SIS Spring Research Forums
When: March 9, 2005, 12:00 – 1:15 | April
13, 12:00 – 1:15
Where: Communications Bldg. Room 298
On April 13, SIS professors Dr. Bharat Mehra and Dr. Jinx Watson will
give presentations. Information on their presentations is forthcoming.
Abstract of Travis Dolence and Ron Gilmour presentation:
Amateur scientists are those individuals who pursue scientific interests
outside of their professions. Their information gathering habits are
unknown and their needs may be unmet by public and academic libraries.
A survey was designed to examine the information gathering behaviors of
amateur scientists. Notice of the Amateur Science Information Survey (AmSIS)
was sent to 50 scientific listservs and organizations (e.g., groups of bird
watchers, robotics enthusiasts, and shell collectors). Two hundred forty
people responded; of these, 180 met out definition for a true amateur.
Results suggest that amateur scientists purchase print materials rather than
borrowing them from libraries. In addition, amateur scientists appear to
heavily use books and Internet resources, relying less on scholarly journals
and popular magazines.
Ron Gilmour is the Science & Technology Coordinator at UT’s Hodges
Library and Travis Dolence is the Map/GIS librarian at Hoskins Library.
