Methods used by South African visual artists to find information

As part of a Master's dissertation at the University of South Africa, the information-seeking behaviour of South African visual artists was examined. The research method used was a self-administered, cross-sectional survey carried out amongst artists lecturing at universities and technikons as well as secondary school art teachers and members of art societies in South Africa. These were deemed by the researcher to be the more information-literate artists. It was found that artists use a wide array of information-seeking methods, but that preference is given to conducting their own searches, browsing, and getting help from a librarian or a colleague. The independent variables of gender, working affiliation, qualifications, age and lecturing field influence the way in which the respondents go about finding information.