Humanities Scholars' Information-seeking Behaviour and Use of Digital Resources

In this paper, we describe the User-Centred Interactive Search Project (UCIS) that is concerned with the needs and behaviours of humanities scholars both in digital and more traditional information environments. The results of this project are being used to develop digital resources to better support these work activities. Here, an initial set of results are offered, based on investigative interviews with a variety of humanities scholars concerning their patterns of information seeking behaviours and research experiences. These interviews reveal how humanities scholars’ research processes are helped and hindered by traditional and electronic resources. By participating in this workshop it is hoped that this paper will facilitate a creative exchange between participants through discussion. Such discussions could focus on the implications for the design of future electronic support tools for humanities researchers and researchers in general.