The Information Seeking Behavior of Faculty Members of Yazd University of Medical Sciences

This research studied the information seeking behavior of faculty members of Yazd University of Medical sciences and measured their skills in retrieving information, with the aim of improving information seeking among them. Methodology/Approach: 243 questionnaires were distributed among the faculty members of Yazd University of Medical Sciences, 200 were completed and collected. This questionnaire, with 24 closed questions, was a researcher-made questionnaire inspired by similar questionnaires. Before distribution, the advice of a number of professors and experts in the field of library and information science and also some professors in the field of medical sciences working in the region were applied to the questionnaire. The collected data were imported to SPSS and analyzed based on descriptive statistics. 72 faculty members stated that libraries have an average effect on searching for information. The most important medium for accessing information were databases and digital libraries. Index Medicus and PubMed were respectively the most popular databases for printed and digital resources in the field of medical sciences. Furthermore, the most important motivation and aim in searching for information was improving teaching quality. Among the electronic resources used, eBooks were the most popular and among printed resources, specialized books had priority. The most important difficulties in accessing electronic and printed information were respectively, low network speed for sending and receiving information and lack of time. The information seeking behavior of faculty members of Yazd in terms of their access to needed information is not at an optimum level.