Information behaviour of Kuwaiti legal professionals

This thesis reports results of a research study into the information behaviour of Kuwaiti legal professionals. The main aims of the research were to investigate the information behaviour and the information needs of Kuwaiti legal professionals, and examine whether the existing legal information sources and services meet their needs. The theoretical framework for this research was derived from the investigation of information behaviour in general, and studies of legal professionals in particular. Wilson's (1996) model of information behaviour was also used to develop the conceptual framework of this research. This model takes into account four types of information seeking behaviour: active search, passive search, passive attention and ongoing search. This model helped in formulating research questions and hypotheses and the design of data collections methods. It was used also as a tool for organising the interpretation and discussion of the research findings. The research methods were designed from a user-centred perspective, including using data collection methods that are supportive of user-centred research. Triangulation was used in data collection by the use of questionnaires, interviews and critical incidents technique. The participants of the research included legal academics, legal practitioners such as state lawyers, prosecutors and private lawyers, law librarians, legal publishers and legal database producers in Kuwait. The results showed that a personal collection is the source used most by Kuwaiti legal professionals. The majority did not use electronic sources such as databases and the Internet. A large percentage also did not use law libraries. The majority of academics sought information themselves, whereas the majority of practitioners relied on the assistance of others. The majority of respondents had no training on the use of information sources. The majority also relied on internal communication as a channel for information exchange more than external communication. The majority of respondents scanned between one or two journals, although journals should be among the major information sources for legal professionals. On the other hand, newspapers ranked first for serendipity for both academics and practitioners. New books were ranked as a first source by practitioners for updating information, whereas journals were ranked first for academics. These results showed the information seeking problems of the legal professionals. This led to the development of the interface requirement for the design of a prototype Kuwaiti Legal Information System (KLIS) interface. The aim of the system was to provide relevant and up-to-date information, and links to other information sources and services in order to improve communication channels at both national and international level. The system also sought to be cost-effective. Finally, a heuristic usability evaluation was undertaken by consulting a number of experts on the system's usability and contents. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations for further research and to stakeholders are made

Influence of Information Use on Academic Productivity of Lecturers in Babcock University, Nigeria

The quality of teaching, research and publications of lecturers depends on the quality of the information sources and services used by them. When quality information sources are available and lecturers put them to effective use, their work can improve. In spite of this, it is observed that lecturers do not maximally utilize information sources. As a result of this, there is under-productivity of some lecturers. It is in the light of this, that this study investigated information use and academic productivity of lecturers in Babcock University. The study adopted a descriptive research design. A total enumerative sampling technique was used with research instrument tagged: “Information use and academic productivity questionnaire”. Out of 209 copies of questionnaires distributed for data collection, only 148 of them were returned with 71 percent of response rate. The findings indicated that there was a positive relationship between Information Sources Availability and Academic Productivity of lecturers (r = .463**, N= 148, P < .05); significant relationship between Information Sources Utilization and Academic Productivity of lecturers (r = .535**, N= 148, P < .05); and significant positive influence of information availability on lecturers information use (r = .688**, N= 148, P < .05).As up-to-date, relevant and timely information sources are made available to lecturers; their academic productivity may keep on improving. This paper recommends therefore, that library administrators ensure that timely, relevant and up to date information sources are made available coupled with the modern information technology facilities for lecturers to use so that their academic productivity can  be better. Key words: information availability, information utilization, academic productivity, lecturers, information seeking behavior

Towards a unified model of HCI and ISB for user interfaces

This study aims to identify the steps in which users of academic libraries search for information and interact with the libraries' web interfaces. The study draws on models from the disciplines of human-computer interaction (HCI) and information-seeking behaviour (ISB) to create and investigate a Unified Model. Interpretive case studies were conducted at two universities, one in the UK and one in Kuwait. Qualitative data was collected using observations with postgraduate students and analysed by a content analysis approach. The findings revealed seven steps taken in searching for information and interacting with academic libraries' web interfaces, but these steps are overlapped as users can change, move and go from one step to another based on the difficulties they encounter and the options they have

Factors that influence the adoption of e-learning: an empirical study in Kuwait

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonE-learning has emerged as a necessity to meet the challenges posed by the development of information technology and its potential for greater access to knowledge. The general hypothesis of this research is that; e-learning as an organizational activity started in the developed countries, and as such, the implementation models developed there are taken as a benchmark. The implementation barriers and the influential factors for adopting e-learning in different regions and societies may or may not be the same as those found in the developed countries (with varying degrees of intensity or importance). Hence, those available implementation models may not necessary be followed in all stages and steps when used by different countries and societies. Accordingly, the implementation barriers and the influential factor may differ from one case to another. Since e-learning is respectively new in Kuwait and no comprehensive studies about the adoption of e-learning or the important factors that would influence the adoption of e-learning in Kuwait (ref), the aim of this research is to investigate and find the main and important factors that would influence the acceptance and adoption of elearning in Kuwait as an example of a developing country. In order to realize the aim of this research, the e-learning literature was reviewed, and an exploratory study was conducted in Kuwait. The exploratory study explored the state of e-learning in Kuwait and investigated the influential issues to e-learning adoption. Then, a conceptual model was proposed based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, and amended it with the outcomes of the exploratory study to suit the context of the study. The proposed conceptual model was developed to study e-learning adoption in Kuwait and to offer a further explanation of the adoption of e-learning in the Kuwaiti context. Triangulation in data collection was used to examine and validate the conceptual model, where quantitative and qualitative methods were used. A questionnaire-based survey was firstly conducted, followed by an interview-based field study. This thesis concludes by highlighting the main findings of the research, and presenting the main contributions of this research

Academic library use in the Google era

Academic websites provided by academic libraries face challenges to their utility stemming from the rapid developments in information and communication technology (ICT). These developments have created diverse options and channels for information sources that can be accessed easily by users through the Internet, particularly Google search engine and its specialised variants such as Google Scholar. Hence, the number of users who take advantage of library websites is also decreasing because of the availability of other diverse options for information sources and channels on the Internet. This paper aims to explore the role and impact of search engines, particularly Google, on use of the academics’ libraries’ websites. A qualitative study has been conducted with staff and students at two universities, one in UK and one in GCC (Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.). The findings illustrate problems with the use of library websites to search for information. In particular, these concerned the complexity of finding information, lack of resources and the organisation of the library websites. As a result, the library users relied heavily on Google to find information. These finding imply a necessity for the academic libraries’ websites to reflect the effectiveness and simplicity of Google’s search features and techniques which have become dominant and which are the de facto standard