Information Seeking Behaviors of Academically Under-Prepared Community College Students: An Exploratory Study

Glen Phillips, Georgia Military College As the information age matures, the generation of students currently in college will need excellent skills in information literacy in order to find meaningful employment. This exploratory study focuses on the information literacy needs of academically under-prepared, college students in a small, rural community college in the Southeastern United States. Students were interviewed to learn more about their research habits and their approaches to seeking information related to academic assignments. The researcher explores similarities and differences in the information-seeking behaviors of students in a community college environment with studies of academically better prepared students at four-year institutions. The results suggest ways in which information literacy training can be improved for academically under-prepared students and identifies needed research on this population