Scholars' research-related personal information collections

Mashael AL-Omar, Andrew Martin Cox
2016 Aslib Journal of Information Management  
Purpose The aim of the paper is t -related personal information collections (PICs). Design/methodology/approach The study was based on in-depth interviews and office tours of 17 scholars in Education and Health Sciences in a Kuwaiti Higher Education Institution. Findings " -related PICs were added to throughout the research life-cycle. They were huge, diverse, hybrid and fragmented. Key factors shaping the collections were the pressure to do research, time pressure in general, quality of space
more » ... vailable, technology opportunity, lack of support from central services, the need to collect Arabic material, self-presentation and selfmanagement. Older scholars and non-Kuwaiti nationals experienced the pressures slightly differently. Research limitations/implications The study was limited to scholars in two disciplines, in one institution in a developing world context. However the models produced are suggestive of factors involved in shaping of the research-related PICs of scholars in general. Practical implications Failures in Personal Information Management are a cause for concern in terms of data integrity and validity of research. Interventions could include training of early career researchers for a life time of collecting. Originality/value T ch-related PICs and to provide a model of factors shaping them.
doi:10.1108/ajim-04-2015-0069 fatcat:zpzsfj2olrfqxliryiizd3xtzm