In-Service Teachers and their Information- Seeking Habits: Does Library Instruction Show a Relationship to Information-Seeking Habits for Professional Use?

Abstract

This study describes an investigation of the information-seeking habits of in-service teachers specifically in the context of seeking information for their professional practice. Data were also collected to investigate the participants’ past participation in information literacy training via library instruction programs. Few publications have been published on information-seeking habits of in-service teachers and fewer on those habits as they relate to finding information for professional purposes. For this study an anonymous online survey was developed and disseminated to teachers in eight school districts in a southern state. The results were analyzed and the findings indicated statistically significant relationships between participation in library instruction and information-seeking habits. Additional data were collected that indicated only a minority of survey respondents had participated in library instruction at the academic libraries at their undergraduate institutions. The findings provided possible implications in regard to library instruction in information literacy for students in teacher education programs.