Information behaviour and information practices of academic librarians: a scoping review to guide studies on their learning in practice

Abstract

This paper reports on a scoping review of the literature on the information behaviour and information practices of academic librarians to determine how their information activities are linked to knowledge and skills development (i.e., their learning). A scoping study of peer reviewed scholarly papers published in English between 2000 and 2019 was conducted. Over 5600 papers, retrieved from seven scholarly databases, were screened, based on title, keywords and abstract, resulting in 126 papers for analysis. Data were extracted to provide an overview of the extent, range and scope of the selected literature. MS Excel and MS Word was used to sort, group and thematically analyse the data. The review provided valuable insight into the information behaviour and information practices of academic librarians. It also identified several information activities librarians engage in to ensure they have sufficient knowledge and skills (i.e., to learn) to cope with challenges in their work environment. The scoping review served as a useful tool to get a notion of the scope of studies on the topic, addressing the research questions, and identifying opportunities for further investigation.