Information Needs: Developing Personas of Humanities Scholars

The Journal of Academic Librarianship xxx (2014) xxx–xxx

ACALIB-01519; No. of pages: 10; 4C:

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The Journal of Academic Librarianship

Information Needs: Developing Personas of Humanities Scholars

Mohammad Khaled Al-Shboul, A.Abrizah ⁎Department of Library & Information Science, Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Library &Computer Science & Information TechnologyUniversity oMalaysia

E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M.K. Al-Shb(A.Abrizah).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2014.05.0160099-1333/© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Al-Shboul, M.K., &Librarianship (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.10

a b s t r a c t
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:Received 8 May 2013Accepted 28 May 2014Available online xxxx

Keywords:Information needsInformation behaviourArts and humanities scholarsPersonasLibrary services

A persona represents a group of target users that share common behavioural characteristics. The personas meth-od, an approach to systems design, has been receiving significant attention frompractitioners. However, only an-ecdotal evidence currently exists for the effectiveness of personas and there have been criticisms about itsvalidity as a scientific approach to research. This paper attempts to demonstrate how incorporating personasmay lead to better understand the information needs of humanities scholars. Humanities scholars in an advancedICT environment in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan are sampled as a case. Previous studies show that the hu-manities scholars have a significant negative relation with ICT use; they are using it less than scientists and socialscientists, and they demonstrate a significantly higher use of library facilities than other academics. There is also alack of up-to-date international research on the humanities scholars' information needs that takes into accountrecent rapid increases in the availability of ICT infrastructure, especially the Internet. As such, the objective ofthis study is to understand the information needs of humanities scholars and the effect of the electronic environ-ment on their information seeking behaviour using personas. This study is conductedwithin a conceptual frame-work based on an integration of existing models of information-seeking behaviour, along with additional newelements representing the information context environment, such as languages, decision to seek and format ofinformation resources. The four personas that were uncovered in this studymay be able to effectively communi-cate the actual information needs of the humanities scholars through the personal narrative, name, and face,which continuouslywill remind the academic library ofwhat their users reallywant and need from their services.This study also lays the foundation for future research by identifying variables of interest, and building constructvalidity through the themes of information needs that emerged.

© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

The information needs and behaviour of scholars have long provideda fruitful area of inquiry within library and information science (LIS)research. Over decades of investigation, researchers have identifiedand analysed the information needs characteristics and attributes ofscholars, and determined their similarities and differences, if any, inorder to plan appropriate library user services. Various analysingmethods have been developed in information behaviour studies, how-ever most of these methods involved with a common shortcoming —

they fail to make the users seem like “real people in the eyes of makingdecisions” (Maness, Miaskiewicz, & Sumner, 2008). As such, when tar-get users and their needs are abstract and not life-like, librarians and li-brary decision makers are more likely to use their own assumptions

Information Science,Faculty off Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur,

oul), [email protected]

A.Abrizah, Information Needs16/j.acalib.2014.05.016

about the users to drive the design process of library services. In effect,the design process may not reflect the real scholar's information behav-iour and the scholar's information needs are not centred.

Before designing a product, service or system, most library institu-tions routinely gather information about the needs and goals of the tar-get users (i.e., the individuals being designed for) (Pruitt & Adlin, 2006).The proliferation of user-centred design (UCD), an approach to designthat attempts to fully understand the needs and desires of the usersrather than design aesthetics (Norman, 1988), has facilitated the under-standing that users should be a vital part of design processes to lead todeveloping more usable and satisfying systems (Abras, Maloney-Krichmar, & Preece, 2004). UCD objects optimize the usability of de-signed products rather than forcing users to change their ways to actto use the product (Kahraman, 2010). However, even though library or-ganizations are aware of the expectations of the target users, many li-brary services still fail to meet the users' needs (Bailetti & Litva, 1995;Pinfield, 2001) and the usability of today's library websites and systemsin many cases is still extremely poor (Nielsen & Norman, 2000).

To provide a more vivid representation of target users, Alan Cooper,a notable software developer, proposed the use of personas which isdefined as “fictitious, specific, concrete representations of target users”

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2 M.K. Al-Shboul, A.Abrizah / The Journal of Academic Librarianship xxx (2014) xxx–xxx

(Pruitt & Adlin, 2006). According to Cooper (1999), a persona repre-sents a group of target users that share common behavioural character-istics, needs, and goals, written in the form of a detailed narrative abouta specific, fictitious person. These details make the persona seem like areal person in the minds of designers (Cooper, 1999). Accordingly, byusing a narrative, picture, and name, a persona provides a human–computer interaction practitioner with a vivid and specific designwhich fabricates the persona to look like a real person in the minds ofdesigners (Miaskiewicz, Sumner, & Kozar, 2008). The narrative also ad-dresses the goals, needs, and frustrations of the persona which are rele-vant to the product or system being designed (Maness et al., 2008).Norman (1988) explains that in the context of personas, empathy isneeded to allow an “understanding of and identification with the userpopulation, the better to ensure that they will be able to take advantageof the product, to use it readily and easily — not with frustration butwith pleasure” (cited in Maness et al., 2008). Empathy for the personasallows the design team to stop talking about the general user whenmaking product design decisions. This profound shift from talkingabout general users to the understanding of and identification withthe needs and goals of the personas allows the designers to more effec-tively address user needs (Maness et al., 2008).

This study shares the results of an effort to understand the informa-tion needs of humanities scholars. Humanities scholars are known tobe intellectually able seekers who are not technical in orientation(Buchanan, Cunningham, Blandford, Rimmer, & Warwick, 2005). Theacceptance of, and difficulties experiencedwith, the use of electronic re-sources by humanities scholars become the dominant issue for manystudies. Humanities scholars have been considered as being reluctantusers of technology (Stone, 1982); they feel the pressure to use anddealwith technology (Massey-Burzio, 1999); they have been confirmedto have low search skills and dissatisfaction with electronic databases(Bates, 1996; Barrett, 2005); and they are late and slow adopters ofnew technology in comparison with scientists and social scientists(Tahir, Mahmood & Shafique, 2008). Wiberley and Jones (2000) foundthat the senior humanities scholars adopted new technology at a slowrate compared to their junior counterparts.

However, prior research indicates that human scholars demonstratea significantly higher use of library facilities than academics from otherdisciplines (Whitmire, 2002). Current works on the information behav-iour of humanities scholars predate thewide availability of the Internet.This study, with the aim of furthering existingworks on the informationneeds of humanities scholars in the Internet age, focuses on humanitiesscholars in an advanced ICT environment in the Hashemite Kingdom ofJordan, a developing country in the ArabWorld. Till date, there has beenno studies conducted directly with scholars in the Arab world. The re-sults of this study yielded “personas” describing different classes of hu-manities scholars on a university campus, which can be used to guidelibrarians in providing sources and services that facilitate increased li-brary use. In the context of library services, personas allow the librariansto ask, “does this digital resource allow Dr. Mohammad to accomplish hisgoals?” and “would this information source frustrate or help him?”. Inthe development of the persona, interviews with and/or observationsof users are essential, because they uncover the attitudes and behav-iours of individuals that might not be evident in other data (Cooper &Reimann, 2003).

LITERATURE REVIEW

Information needs is a general term used synonymously with infor-mation requirements to indicate uses, demands and needs stated by theuser (Brittan, 1970). According to Rowley and Turner (1978), informa-tion need is any piece of information, recorded as well as unrecorded,that a scholar may need (as distinct from want, demand, and use) inconnection with his study, teaching and research activities. If the needis urgent, the search may be pursued with diligence until the desire isfulfilled. Information needs is thus a requirement that may drive

Please cite this article as: Al-Shboul, M.K., & A.Abrizah, Information NeedsLibrarianship (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2014.05.016

scholars into an information-seeking process to meet their informationgaps (Norbert & Lwoga, 2013). When a scholar has information needs,he or she is seeking an answer to a question or a solution to problem.The need will be noted by the types of materials that the scholar be-lieves is of particular importance to his or her research (Meho & Tibbo,2001). However, it is not necessary that information needs translatesinto information-seeking behaviour as personal and contextual factorsmay enhance how an individual responds to the need for information(Case et al. 2005).

White (1975) andHiller (2001) stated that if academic librarians areto realistically serve the scholars, the formermust recognize the chang-ing needs and variations in information gathering and provide servicesthat would bemost useful. Similarly, King (2005) and Song (2009) em-phasized that since the information needs, seeking behaviour and ex-pectations of the scholars are continuously changing in the rapidlychanging information scenario, academic libraries should recognizethese needs to re-orient their collections, services and facilities to keeppace with these advancements and provide the most useful service totheir users. Therefore, a thorough understanding of user informationneeds and information seeking behaviour is fundamental to the provi-sion of successful information services (Zhang, 1998). According toDevadason and Lingman (1997), it is essential as it helps in the plan-ning, implementation, and operation of an information system, and ser-vices in work settings. Lueg (2002) further added that the goal ofidentifying user's information seeking activities is to find informationthat satisfies his or her information needs.

Many authors have pointed out that the studies on information-seeking behaviour and needs of social scientists are fewer than those in-volving the natural sciences, and the studies of humanists' informationneeds are fewer still and conducted prior to the advent of the Internet(Line, 1969; Hopkins, 1989; Blazek & Aversa, 1994; Challener, 1999;Buchanan et al., 2005). Gorman (1990) surveyed the informationneeds of theologians at seven theological colleges in Adelaide,Australia. He found that theologians rely heavily on the “invisible col-lege” for exchange of ideas; use libraries but also build their personalcollections; function independently of librarians and seek informationby themselves; and enjoy browsing shelves and scanning journals.Watson-Boone's (1994) review of the literature on the information be-haviour of humanities scholars provides a good overview of the infor-mation needs and habits of humanists before the widespread use ofthe Internet. Drawing on 16 studies published between 1983 and1992, Watson-Boone identifies the following major characteristics ofhumanists' information needs: They primarily use monographs intheir works, and rarely consult general bibliographic works, indexes,and other secondary services. They track downprimarymaterials by fol-lowing references in other works and by sometimes consulting col-leagues. They often consult archivists and special librarians, but rarelyuse general reference librarians. Watson-Boone argued that humanists“graze” within texts and their colleagues' minds, rather than “browse”through collections, shelves, or catalogues. Bronstein and Baruchson-Arbib (2008) compared the use of print and electronic informationchannels by 136 Israeli human scholars and found out that the scholarsusedmore books and journals than electronic resources. The study con-cludes that the scholars are disinclined to abandon their traditionalways; they still base their research on printed books and journals andfind new information by browsing the library stacks and followingcitations.

In developing countries, a number of studies on humanists' informa-tion needs have been carried out which partly indicate the scholars' in-formation behaviour. Zainab and Goi (1997) who studied the citationsfrom Malaysian doctoral theses in the humanities revealed the use ofa wider number of journals and book titles which indicate that human-ities scholars need to use a greater number of sources for their researchinformation needs. They use a high percentage of documents in the En-glish language even though about 66% of the dissertations were writtenin the Malay language. The references by and large are of Malaysian or



3M.K. Al-Shboul, A.Abrizah / The Journal of Academic Librarianship xxx (2014) xxx–xxx

Asian origin reflecting the resource needs of these researchers. Ucak andKurbanoglu (1998) found that the type of information needs and seek-ing behaviour of scholars in Turkey is dependent on their field of re-search. Humanities scholars acquire information through informalchannels; they are contented to obtain the copies of papers deliveredat meetings. They satisfied their information needs through books,and they expanded their knowledge by following the references givenin bibliographies. Catalogues are used more often by the humanitiesscholars in their study. A study by Tahir, Mahmood, and Shafique(2008) surveying arts and humanities scholars from Pakistan foundthat consulting experts in the subject field continued to be the lead-ing source of information, followed by the invisible college. Most ofthem get information sources from their departmental library; theyalso maintain personal collections and/or personal libraries for thispurpose. Most of the humanists prefer information in print, whilethey least prefer audio-visual materials. Most search for informationfor their teaching and research, as well as to guide other researchersor students.

Humanities scholars' early interaction with computer technologywas studied in the work of Stone (1982), who considered the scholarsas being “anti-machine” and, therefore, reluctant to engage it. However,the studies on the acceptance of, and difficulties experienced with, theuse of electronic resources by humanities scholars only became thedominant issue for studies between 1995 and 2008 (Case, 2007).Wiberley and Jones (2000) believed that for humanists to adoptelectronic technologies for their research, a relevant database willneed to include relevant primary sources and provide broad retrospec-tive coverage, and digitization of older materials will be “highly advan-tageous”. Other studies (Talja & Maula, 2003; Gardiner, McMenemy,& Chowdhury, 2006) highlighted the need for more training forhumanists to effectively use electronic resources. Later studies(Baruchson-Arbib & Bronstein, 2007; Sukovic, 2008) embarked on anin-depth exploration of research needs of humanists and their interac-tion with e-texts.

In conclusion, the literature review suggests that there is a wealth ofmaterials available regarding the information needs of humanists ingeneral that can provide helpful guidance for research design andserve as a sounding board for result comparisons. Due to proliferationof digital sources and services that leads to underutilization of libraryservices in the Internet age, it is imperative that insight into humanitiesscholars' information needs be gained before the design of new libraryservices is begun.

METHOD

The objective of this study is to use personas to gain insight into theinformation needs of humanities scholars' at Yarmouk University inJordan. Personas are used for the following reasons asserted by Adlinand Pruitt (2010): (a) personas are a highly memorable, inherently us-able communication tool if they are communicated well, and (b) theyare shared ideas around which the users come to life in the mind ofthe people in an organization. Furthermore, user demographic and be-havioural data obtained from real user observation provide valuableinformation; however, such information can be misinterpreted if pre-sented as statistical figures (Junior & Filgueiras, 2005).

This study was designed as an exploratory study of the informationneeds of humanities scholars, using existing models of scholarly infor-mation behaviour as a framework. Our fieldwork was guided by Ellis(1989), Kuhlthau (1991), Wilson (1997), and Foster (2005), as a frame-work along with additional new attributes representing the contextualinformation environment, such as languages, decision to seek and for-mat of information sources. These models which reflect passive mentalseeking activities include factors that trigger scholars' attention forseeking information, availability of information, languages, format andlocation.


This university has been chosen as the case setting because it is situ-ated in an ICT-enriched environment, especially after the Yarmouk Uni-versity Street has been identified as the most crowded street withInternet cafes in theworld (Rihani, 2008). This insight beganwith inter-views conducted with 26 humanities scholars from 14 disciplines fromJanuary 2011 to September 2011. The interviews each consisted of 19open-ended questions, with participants recruited through personalconnections at the case setting. The interviews were conducted inArabic language, in various locations that the scholars preferred: at Al-Husayniyyah Library, scholars' own office or their homes. Each partici-pant was interviewed at least twice. These interviews provided morein-depth information on the scholars' views of their informationneeds, their information behaviour, and the barriers they encounteredin fulfilling their information needs in the university's advanced ICT en-vironment. The interviews lasted between 50 and 60 min, each beingtaped and then transcribed. After the interviews were transcribedmanually and translated to English language, yielding 320 pages of tran-scripts, the transcripts were analysed to identify the personas. Anonym-ity was ensured by assigning each participant a number (1–26) as apseudonym.

PARTICIPANTS' DEMOGRAPHICS

The total number of humanities scholars interviewed was 26, com-prising 5 females (19%) and 21 males (81%). The participants camefrom a wide-range of humanities disciplines (from Shari'a & IslamicStudies to Fine Arts & Drama) and from a wide variety of academic po-sitions within the university (from lecturers to full professors) to bestrepresent the broad information needs of the wider university commu-nity. Participants' ages ranged from 30 to 40 years (7, 27%); 41–50 years (12, 46%); 51–60 (4, 15%); and above 61 years old (3, 12%). Ahighmajority hold a doctoral degree (23, 88%). Sixteen (61%) graduatedfrom Arab countries (i.e. Jordan, Egypt and Iran), while another ten(39%) completed their studies abroad (2 from USA, 7 from Europeancountries — UK, Spain, Germany, France — and one from Malaysia).With regard to years of university teaching experience, it wasfound that nine (35%) scholars have less than 10 years' experiencein teaching, eight (31%) scholars have 10–20 years; 4 (15%) have21–30 years, while another 5 (19%) have more than 31 years teach-ing experience.

IDENTIFYING THE PERSONAS

The 320 pages of interview transcripts were analysed through a“manual” approach by reading each transcript and then identifyingthe significant similarities of participants' responses in each interviewquestion. Consistent with Goodwin (2002), the first researcher readseach of the transcripts, and identifies the significant observations ineach of the interviews. Once the observations are identified, similar ob-servations are grouped into “patterns”. When similar patterns areshared by multiple research participants, these participants becomethe basis for a persona (Cooper, 1999). Computer spreadsheets wereused to allow for an easier comparison of the answers across the inter-view participant for a specific question. Four distinct clusters that in-formed the persona narratives were identified. For each of thesepersonas, the questions for which the 26 participants provided themost similar answers were identified. These similarities became thefocus of the resulting four persona narratives. Following Maness et al.(2008), each persona is given a real name and fictitious details tomake the persona vivid and life-like The four personas identified areeach summarized in Table 1. It should be noted that these personascarry real names (however the names were fictitious), and real faces,and consent were obtained from four individuals to use their imagesfor the personas (see Appendices A1 to A4).



Table 1Identification of the four personas.

The name and persona used Description

Professor Abdullah Ayman (Abdullah) Abdullah Ayman represents five Professors in the study. Hewas educated in various Arab countries and has academic experienceof more than 35 years.

Associate Professor Dr. Bakeri Atief (Bakeri) Bakeri Atief represents five Associate and Assistant Professors in the study. Hewas educated in Arab and foreign universities. Hehas a teaching experience of 23 years at Yarmouk University.

Dr. Fatimah Mohammed (Fatimah) Fatimah Mohammed represents nine Associate and Assistant Professors and lecturers in this study. She is a junior scholar with8 years of teaching experience at Yarmouk University. She graduated from Jordan University.

Assistant Professor Dr. Ismail Farooq (Ismail) Ismail Farooq represents sevenAssociate andAssistant Professors in the study. He graduated from theUSA andhas been lecturingfor 10 years.


RESULTS

WRITING THE PERSONAS

After giving the persona a name and face, the researcher summa-rized answers that were most similar among the interviewees thatwere grouped into a persona. For example, one of the key similaritiesof the interviewparticipants that compose the AbdullahAymanpersona(provided in Appendix A1) is the lack of awareness and motivation touse the Internet to connect with the broader university communityand the reliance on his personal information collection such as booksto fulfil his information needs. Therefore, within Abdullah's narrative,the researchers summarized this specific persona need by stating,“Abdullah does not use electronic resources in his teaching and research;he has not been able to catch up with the breadth of information resourcesthat are available to him on the Internet. Books are considered as his prima-ry information sources for scholarship, and he relies on his own bookcollection. He is not using the various electronic databases available atthe Al-Husayniyyah library. He is not explicitly aware of the concept of dig-ital libraries and open access repositories. He often asks his children, whoare all university graduates, to search for specific Internet resources orsend e-mails, whenever the needs arise”.

Once the similaritieswere summarized, each of the personas neededto be “brought to life.” For each of the personas, wewrote the part of thepersona narrative (within the first paragraph) that introduces who thepersona is. For example, theDr. FatimahMohammad persona (providedin Appendix A3) is described as, “She is amother of twowho loves comingto the university to work. She is an energetic and independent woman, andconfessed enjoy cooking traditional Jordanian food whenever she has thetime. Fatimah is also a member of the Yarmouk University Club, and shelikes swimming and playing chess during her free time.” These specific, fic-titious details made the personas vivid and life-like in the eyes of the li-brary management, and will continuously remind the library of whattheir users really want and need from their services. Appendix A1–A4provides the full persona description.

INFORMATION NEEDS OF PERSONAS

Information needs is an individual's or group's desire to locate andobtain information to satisfy a conscious or unconscious need. Thisstudy highlights the following five themes that are associated with thehumanities scholars' information needs in this study.

THEME 1: HUMANITIES SCHOLARS' INFORMATION NEEDS IS TRIGGEREDBY INFORMATION EVENTS

Interview findings revealed that information events evoke the infor-mation needs of the scholars. This study identified six (6) types of infor-mation events that brought the attention of these four personas to theirinformation needs:

a) Conferences:

Discussion at conferences and seminars are the information channelsthat are consistently quoted as being very important information


events. Abdullah and Fatimah indicated the importance of conferencesand seminars to trigger new ideas as reflected in the following remarks“Discussions in conferences often suggest new ideas which push me furtherto look for additional information” (Abdullah). “Definitely the conferencesare fertile environment for new scientific discussions; it has [sic] raisedquestions and inquiries leading me to search for answers” (Fatimah). Giv-en the importance of both staying up-to-date on recent scholarship andmeeting fellow researchers in attendances at conferences, Ismail andBakeri said, “…almost at the end of any scientific meeting, you don'thave an idea how important it is. You run elbow [sic] with people whosework you admire and ask fresh questions” (Ismail). “It is an ideal placeto find out what's hot and not so hot topic in my research area and makecontact with people who might be interested in what I'm doing”.(Bakeri).

b) Invisible college or informal communication

All four personas agreed that informal communication exchangedthrough conversation and discussionwith their peers bring about infor-mation needs which results into information seeking activities. All per-sonas mentioned either the word “colleagues” or “other facultymembers”who seemed to have helped trigger their information needs.For example, Abdullah said, “Whenmy colleagues consultedme onHadithor some issues, they however guide me to seek for further details”. Ismailagreed that “discussion with other faculty member leads me to want toknowmore”. Bakeri, Ismail and Fatimah's information needs is also trig-gered through classroom discussion and questions raised by their stu-dents. Bakeri admitted that questions from his graduate students“have always attracted” his attention to conduct further researchand readings on a particular area. On the other hand, the researchersnoted that there is a good resemblance between Ismail and Fatimahregarding questions posed from their students during the lectures.Both indicated: “At the end of student's presentation, the questionsraised during Q & A bring to our attention that we need to find out more,to conduct research”.

c) Communication with ex-research supervisors

Only Ismail indicated that discussing and corresponding with his ex-supervisors who are attached to universities abroad trigger new inqui-ries regarding his research: “I still keep in touch with my supervisor anddiscuss with him some inquiries which sometimes lead me to run a corpo-rate searching paper” he said.

d) Mass media

Only Professor Abdullah informed that certain ideas obtained frommassmedia are capable of stimulating in him the need to know and seek fur-ther information. “Sometimes I brainstorm on a particular issue, whilewatching my favourite education channel, National Geographic, and somequestions loom in the horizon”.

e) Browsing the Internet

Both Ismail and Fatimah indicated that browsing websites seeking an-swers to some questions prompt further their information needs. “Weare the ones who browse the Internet regularly, so sometimes we find some




new research ideas that motivate us to look formore” (Ismail). “I can prac-tically venture into a new field when browsing Google Scholar, looking forcurrent work in my area” (Fatimah).

f) Reading

Bakeri, who confessed himself as a voracious reader, revealed intensivereadings have always brought to his attention the need to seek informa-tion. “While reading when I find some interesting areas that attract myattention, I will start searching for further details, right after”.

THEME 2: HUMANITIES SCHOLARS HAVE DIFFERENT LEVEL OFAWARENESS REGARDING THE AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION SOURCESAND SERVICES

Ideally, in order to address his information needs, a scholar shouldhave a good knowledge of the availability of information sources andservices that his organization has. Interview findings revealed that thehumanities scholars are either partially or fully aware of the availabilityof information sources and services provided by the academic library(Al-Husayniyyah Library). However in terms of the sources and servicesprovided by the Internet centre (Excellence Centre), interview findingsrevealed that scholars are either ignorant or very familiar.

a) Partial awareness of library sources

Abdullah confessed that he predominantly relied on his personal bookcollections of about 20 to 30 years old to meet his information needs.Since he believes that the “library collections do not reflect his informationneeds”, he seldom goes to the library and does not seek librarians forhelp to use the services. He however mentioned the availability ofprinted sources such as books, journals, monographs and dissertations,and library catalogues and indexes in the library. He knew that the li-brary has electronic resources, but he could not list examples of thesources when requested by the author, reflecting his unawarenessregarding this resource type. He acknowledged that he has neverbeen able to catch up with the breadth of electronic informationsources that are available to him through the library website. Heremarked: “very seldom I use [sic] Al-Husayniyyah collections, becauseI build [sic] my own collection over time, more than 1600 titles, but ofcourse I have a good collection of books, journals, monographs, thesesand dissertations”.

b) Full awareness of library sources

The other three personas showed their full awareness of the availabilityof information resources at theAlHusayniyyah Library. Theywere quickwhen asked to list the types of library resources they use. Dr. Bakeriemphasized that “all types” of information sources are available andmentioned the term “print and electronic”. Fatimah admitted that thelibrary has been “providing me with all kinds of sources that I need eversince I was a student here, it has not only good books in my area, but alsojournals, e-books, e-journals, AV materials and a number of full-text data-bases, with citations to the articles”. Ismail, who prefers print sources toonline, lamented that there is still a lack of library materials in his areaalthough he agreed that the library does provide access to various typesof resources.

c) Ignorant of Internet sources and services

The senior personas, Abdullah and Bakeri admitted that they had noidea about the existence of the Excellence Centre, and had never visitedor used the services it provides.“I am from the old generation, who be-lieves in books, I just knew from you [the researcher] about this centre”(Abdullah). Bakeri expressed his surprise for not knowing the existenceof this centre, “Oh! It upsetsme, not knowing thatwehave such centre, andjust now [sic] I knew about it”.

d) Familiar with Internet sources and services

The younger personas, Ismail and Fatimah, did not only show theirawareness of the availability of sources and services offered by the


Excellence Centre, but admitted they have also been using the websiteand information portal. “I have been using it since 2005, where I can loginin at any time and search in [sic] many universities' OPACs” (Ismail). “Ihave been using it, it really saves my time searching for information”(Fatimah).

THEME 3: HUMANITIES SCHOLARS HAVE THE NEED FOR RECEIVINGINFORMATION IN THE RIGHT FORM AND UNDERSTANDABLE LANGUAGE

Scholars in this study have different preferences for informationsources. It was found that the language used for seeking information,as well as the format and type of information sources affect their deci-sion when seeking information either by themselves or by intermedi-aries. The older personas who predominantly read and write in Arabicare dependent on information sources published in theirmother tongueonly. Given their reliance on books and personal collections as describedin earlier findings, they would obviously prefer printed materials. Theyounger personas, who had been educated abroad, and developed far-reaching contactwith international peers, need resources in both Arabicand English languages, as well as other languages relevant to their aca-demic area. Since they know English language and are competent inusing online databases and Internet resources, they would obviouslyprefer digital resources.

THEME 4: HUMANITIES SCHOLARS ORIENT THEMSELVES ON KNOWNMATERIALS BASED ON THEIR CONTEXT OF USE

Examining the type of information sources humanities scholars useand the reasons for using that information helps to understand their in-formation behaviour and meeting their information needs. Interviewfindings revealed that humanities scholars in this study orient them-selves on either print or electronic resources into five (5) types of con-textual use, i.e. print resources for teaching; print resources forresearch; both print and electronic resources for teaching; both printand electronic resources for research; and electronic resources for re-search (Table 2). Orienting oneself to only electronic resources forteaching does not emerge from the qualitative data obtained. Findingsfrom these personas indicated that humanities scholars, in the givencontext of using materials for the teaching and searching purpose,showed differences in the type of materials used. They recognized thatthe format of information sources needed is evoked by the context ofuse. For all personas, printed textbooks are the dominant type of infor-mation used for teaching their undergraduate students. For teaching atthe post graduate level, senior scholars use printed textbooks, journalsand ready reference sources; whereas the junior scholars familiarizethemselves with both print and electronic resources. The data con-firmed that the older personas (Abdullah) solely rely on printed sourcesfor both teaching and research. The Internet-savvy scholars (Ismail) usedatabases and e-journals more than the print version of these resourcesfor doing research.

THEME 5: HUMANITIES SCHOLARS HAVE A DIFFERENT MOTIVATION FORINFORMATION NEEDS

After knowing the types of information sources humanities scholarsneed for both teaching and research, their motivation for informationneeds emerged from the interview findings. Motivation for informationneeds in this study refers to the inner state of information need or desirethat activates the scholar to do something that will satisfy that need ordesire. When the researcher asked the participants to state the possiblereasons behind their motivation for information needs, they reportedthe reasons in the context of research, teaching, literacy and interper-sonal information needs. Their information needs and the activitiesthey perform to address their information needs emerged from thedata naturally and were summarized in Table 3. Research informationneeds is associated with activities such as tracking specific scholarsand their works; getting the current research literature; embarking ona new research topic; and enriching and refining of research. Teachinginformation needs emerges from only one persona, Ismail, who pointed



Table 2Humanities scholars' orientation of known information sources and their use in teaching and research.

Resource type Teaching (sample content & its persona) Research (sample content & its persona)

Print only I have always been using printed textbooks for the undergraduates, but forthe postgraduates I use both books and journals. (Abdullah)Well, it really depends onwho you teach, undergraduate students, textbooksare my first choice, but it is slightly different in preparing postgraduatelectures, I need more reference sources, I include journal articles. (Bakeri)

I used to buy and collect printed resources, since I was a student in 1965. Myown library containsmore than 1600 print resources, I refer to booksmost ofthe time.When I want towrite research articles, I can almost find everythingI'm looking for, from my books! (Abdullah)

Print and electronic Yes! I use both, but It depends on what I am looking for. E-journals areconsidered as my second resource for teaching, after print textbooks. Theprint journals are my first choice for teaching undergraduates, but forpostgraduates both print and electronic journals will be my first choice.(Fatimah).All types are important but it depends on the purpose of using it. For teachingundergraduates the textbooks will be my first resource, but for teachingpostgraduates I use both electronic and print journals and books. (Ismail)

“I use both types for research, print journals and at the same time I useelectronic resources like the online databases” (Bakeri)“I need both types for my research, I use Questia a lot, and even havepersonal subscription to online databases.” (Fatimah)

Electronic only Does not emerge in the qualitative data “for research purpose, I usually Google first after that get the article fromelectronic databases and journals, and print it out.” (Ismail)


out the need to update himself with the latest curriculum from foreignuniversities and adopt the materials in his courses. Teaching informa-tion needs did not surface in the other personas, and one possible expla-nation for this reason is that they built a knowledge base around the useof existing resources. Apart from Abdullah, the other three personas re-ported the need for them to check plagiarism, verify information obtain-ed and clarify information held— the tasks associated with informationliteracy. These personas also indicated the inter-personal informa-tion needs that activate them to get feedback and moral supportfrom their colleagues about their researchwork. It can be understoodthat the motivation for information needs constitutes a main re-search practice of all personas and thus determine how they goabout seeking information.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Identification of information needs is essential to the design of infor-mation delivery services in general and to the provision of effective li-brary services in particular. In order to identify information needs ofhumanities scholars in an advanced ICT environment in the HashemiteKingdom of Jordan, this case study has used interviews with 26 partici-pants to gather and record their information needs, and careful analysiswas used to distil the actual information needs from the data gatheredusing personas. A number of findings from previous work on scholarlyinformation needs were corroborated in this study. The study indicatesthe similarity of information needs of humanists studying in both devel-oped and developing countries. Humanities scholars rely on books andjournal literature to support their research and current awareness activ-ities. Those who prefer resources in electronic format use online data-bases on a regular basis and typically use the library to obtain theprint version of journal articles. Moreover, the scholars in this studyalso rely heavily on informal sources of information in their research,such as colleagues. This study, supported by other literature fromdevel-oping countries (Ucak & Kurbanoglu, 1998; deTiratel, 2000; Tahir et al.,2008), demonstrates that scholarly information needs in the humanitiesis largely universal around the world. It has been shown through thefour personas that humanities scholars have not been so quick toweave various types of digital resources into their teaching and researchrepertoire, with the exception of generic tools such as Google andonline library catalogues and bibliographic tools. Reasons for thiscould include a lack of comfort and confidence with informationtechnology, a reliance on colleagues and networking events as asource of information, reliance on their own personal collections,and a slower, more serendipitous way of searching and formulatingtheir research ideas.


The identification of the humanities scholars' personas indicates thatthe following information needsmust bemet in order to create effectiveinformation delivery systems:

a) The need for active and selective information events to trigger infor-mation needs: Findings from these personas indicated that the hu-manities scholars, in the given context of teaching and research,recognized that their knowledge is inadequate to satisfy their infor-mation needs. They recognized their information needs and theneeds are evoked by information events. The study has identifiedsix (6) types of information events that brought the attention ofthese four personas to their information needs: conferences; invisi-ble college; communicationwith ex-supervisors; massmedia; Inter-net and reading. For all personas, conferences and seminars as wellas the invisible college are the dominant information eventsthat trigger their information needs. For those who were educat-ed abroad, information needs is also triggered by contact withtheir ex-research supervisors. For those who are Internet-savvy,their information needs is continuously triggered by browsingonline information. Reading and watching the television are im-portant for those who have the passion and time to spend doingthese activities.

b) The need to get information easily and inexpensively: The olderpersonas have been shown to rely on books as an importantsource; whereas the younger personas use both print and elec-tronic resources. One plausible explanation is that individualsneed to get information easily, in this case the older personas re-lied on their personal collections which are easily accessible,given reading as a favourite pastime as well as a lack of skills toaccess digital resources. The younger personas who are “connect-ed”, comfortable and adept at using computers and the Internetwill get information easily and inexpensively using these re-sources.

c) The need to browse for information: Perusal of peripheral docu-ments allows the humanities scholars to fulfil their research infor-mation needs that has not yet been formulated. This can be interms of browsing online to get the current research literature orwork in progress, or browsing reviews and reading lists to track spe-cific scholars and their works. The information for browsing need tobe brief, highly readable and specific.

d) The need to know about and how to use available information sys-tems: Humanities scholars in this study have different level ofawareness and familiarity of the availability of information sourcesand services provided by the academic library and excellence centre.Studies have shown that social scientists and humanities scholars donot confront the librarians about dealing with their information



Table 3Motivation for information needs.

Information needs Information activities & persona name Sample content & its persona

Research information needs Tracking specific scholars and their works (Abdullah) I trail some specific scholars, I have reading lists, always follow their books andarticles. I will also see who they are citing. (Abdullah)

Getting the current research literature andwork in progress(All personas)

Online searching for the current articles and work in progress in archaeology, itmakes me more confident and reliable to my students, and I can bring newdevelopments into the classrooms. (Bakeri)

Embarking on a new research topic (Fatimah) When I start on a new research topic, I will get the information from books andjournals. (Fatimah)

Enriching and refining of research (Fatimah & Ismail) I need to consult my senior colleagues in the department and some friendsoverseas about my research topic, this helps to improve and develop further myresearch. (Ismail)

Teaching information needs Updating oneself with the latest curriculum (Ismail) I need to keep my curriculum relevant at all times, I will always compare mymaterials with other universities, and keep my teaching responsive to changingdemands of my students. (Ismail)

Information literacy needs Checking for plagiarism (Fatimah & Ismail) It is very important for scholars to be experts in using Internet sources, especiallyto judge an instance of plagiarism; you do not want students to cheat in theirpapers. You also need to do this for yourself, your own papers, it can lead toembarrassment and loss of reputation if you plagiarize. (Fatimah)

Verifying information obtained (Bakeri) As an archaeologist I sometimes need information to verify some dates andnational and world events. I need to confirm some information before mystudents ask me about it, I have to be authoritative in my own area that I haveknown for a long time. (Bakeri)

Clarifying information held (Ismail) Being a resource for my students has required me to clearly articulate a questionfor myself, I need information to make myself clear to my students. (Ismail)

Inter-personal information needs Getting feedback (Bakeri, Fatimah & Ismail) I need to know what people think about my work, so I always ask for my seniorscholars' feedback, those who are very experienced. I felt it easy and natural toask questions. They phone me or even email me and share useful comments!(Fatimah)

Getting moral support (Fatimah) I will ask my colleagues “What is good about my research?” especially to thosewho are interested in my research. The information you get from them can be agreat impact to your level of satisfaction and confidence. You need to get this frompeople who are supportive, relaxed and fun to be around. (Fatimah)


needs. Studies have also shown that people are often unaware of theinformation they need until after they receive it. Humanitiesscholars are no exception to this rule. The humanities scholars, par-ticularly the older personas, feel that they do not need technology.This can be best addressed by directing the right information tothe right person before he asks for it for example by providing thescholars with sources such as bibliographies and reading lists, andservices such as selective dissemination of information and currentawareness.

e) The need for receiving information in the desired format and inunderstandable language: Scholars in this study have differentpreferences for information sources. It was found that the lan-guage used for seeking information, as well as the format andtype of information sources affect their decision when seekinginformation.

f) The need for information based on different motivation: This studyhas identified the possible reasons behind humanities scholars' moti-vation for information needs, i.e. in the context of research, teaching,literacy and interpersonal information needs.

The existing research is fragmentary and, by far, incomplete to beuseful to librarians in developing collections and services tomeet the in-formation needs of humanities scholars in an ICT rich environment andto accommodate their preferences for information seeking. Therefore,the paper suggests the need for further research, to identify factors totake into account in formulating appropriate research designs, and of-fers researchmodels worthy of replication or further exploration.With-out amore extensive research base, a number of library and informationprograms and services may well be based on a misunderstanding of the


current and future information needs and gathering strategies of possi-ble client groups.

However, this paper has shown that personas are a unique andpromising design method, and researchers should not neglect thepromising anecdotal evidence that currently exists. By thinking aboutthe needs of a fictional persona, library management may be betterable to infer what a real person might need. Future research studieswill validate if the use of personas leads to the design of more usable li-brary services and will study the organizational influences on the effec-tiveness and the use of personas. This stream of research on thepersonas method will provide usability professionals with resultsthat will either agree or disagree with the promising anecdotal evi-dence that currently exists. It is hoped that the method presentedin this paper would be easy to perceive and be translatable into prac-tice. It is to be noted that themethodology would become clearer andclearer as each step is put into practice enhancing the understandingof the scenario and help in fine tuning the procedure to suit particu-lar situations.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We sincerely thank all the research participants for their precioustime and valuable insights. We acknowledge funding received fromthe University of Malaya Malaysia (UMRG-RP005C-13ICT), whichmade it possible to undertake this research. We deeply acknowledgethe following Jordanians for granting us the consent to use their photo-graphs as image in their personas: Ahmad Qasim Al Shboul, Yasin AlIssa, Suzan Khaled Al Shboul, and Ibrahim Al Jurishe.




APPENDIX AA1. PROFESSOR ABDULLAH AYMAN PERSONA

A2. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DR. BAKERI ATIEF PERSONA

Please cite this article as: Al-Shboul, M.K., & A.Abrizah, Information Needs: Developing Personas of Humanities Scholars, The Journal of AcademicLibrarianship (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2014.05.016

Unlabelled image

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A3. DR. FATIMAH MOHAMMED PERSONA

A4. DR. ISMAIL FAROOQ PERSONA

Please cite this article as: Al-Shboul, M.K., & A.Abrizah, Information Needs: Developing Personas of Humanities Scholars, The Journal of AcademicLibrarianship (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2014.05.016



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