INFORMATION‐SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF SCOTLAND'S LIBRARY PRACTITIONERS Available to Purchase

During the summer of 1981, fifty library practitioners affiliated with various types of library in Scotland were interviewed to find out how practitioners keep themselves up‐to‐date with current innovation and their likes and dislikes in terms of the various forms of material available in the dissemination of research results. The interview sample was drawn from the total library manpower of 15,696 librarians and information workers as represented in the Census of staff in librarianship and information work in 1976. A quota sample of 50 practitioners was selected in proportion to the sizes of the three categories mentioned in footnote (1): 27 (54.0 percent) practitioners from public libraries; 14 (28.0 percent) from academic libraries; and Finally 9 (18.0 percent) from special and government libraries. In order to interview the first set of 27 practitioners, six public library systems were visited: Glasgow (Mitchell), Renfrew, Dundee. Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Highland Regions. Four academic library systems were visited to interview 15 practitioners: Edinburgh University, Heriot‐Watt University, Paisley College and Napier College. Four special and government libraries were visited to interview 9 practitioners: Scottish Office. Department of Environment, Royal College of Physicians, and the National Library of Scotland were selected. In each type of library a minimum of one and maximum of five practitioners was interviewed from different departments or sections and the chief librarians were excluded from the samples.