Komvuxstuderande söker information i en skoluppgift
The aim of this Master?s thesis is to analyse how adult students in Swedish adult education seek information for school tasks. The focus is on how they use the public library and electronic information sources and their reflection on information and sources in this process. Also of interest in the study is the help they receive from staff in the public library and their teacher. Methods used in collecting and analysing data for this study were of qualitative nature. Four adult students were interviewed and observed when seeking information. Their teacher and the chief librarian at the public library were also interviewed. The main results of the study indicated that the adult students preferred to use the Internet because information was easily available. When using the public library they where pleased with the help from the staff, but often preferred to browse the shelves on their own. User education was restricted. It was mainly when contacting the reference service the students got the opportunity to learn information seeking from resources there. The librarians did not always have the time to help the students in the way they needed. Lack of information literacy was to a certain extent a barrier for three of the new students in using the library effectively on their own. Results also indicated that the teacher?s instructions were helpful in guiding the students in their task and their information seeking in suggesting information sources.