Search

Using a three-part survey instrument, a quantitative study was conducted to determine the information-seeking behavior of the members of the International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers (IAMSLIC) in response to queries. Specifically, the study aimed to determine if aquatic science librarians, like other professionals, would opt to go to the Internet first rather than library databases when searching for information (Jamali & Asadi, 2010; Niu et al., 2010; and Superio et al., 2018). Likewise, the study documented the most commonly used websites, open access databases, and repositories used by the respondents. All of the IAMSLIC members were included in the study. An online survey instrument was used. After 40 days, 76 valid responses had been received. Findings of the study revealed that regardless of the librarians’ gender, age, educational attainment, position or designation, regional group affiliation, and library type, they would prefer to use their library’s online public access catalog (OPAC) first when searching for information. Moreover, Aquatic Commons, FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Statistics (FAO Stat), and OceanDocs were the most commonly accessed open access databases and repositories. IAMSLIC established the Aquatic Commons, so it was no surprise that it was the most frequently accessed repository by the IAMSLIC member librarians. The results also suggest that academic social-networking sites (SNS), specifically ResearchGate and Google Scholar, were essential search tools for some of the respondents. Google Scholar has made searching and retrieval of scholarly articles easy.