The User and the Electronic Reference Service

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to study an electronic reference service from a user perspective. By qualitative interviews with eight students the thesis examines their information behaviour, why and when they use the service, the user’s experiences of the service and the communication with the librarian. The users have all used the Swedish electronic reference service Fråga biblioteket – Forskningsbibliotek. We analyse the material by extracting conceptions of literature and earlier research concerning the questions our study is based on. Our theoretical framework is based on Brenda Dervin’s theory on sense-making and Carol Kuhlthau’s model of the information seeking process. The results of the interviews show that students want quick answers and a service that is convenient and easy to use, which they consider this service to be. They also want useful information but that does not mean that they actually use the information they receive, sometimes they change it to suit their situation.Despite being experienced users of the library, this new service can generate feelings of uncertainty but information on how to use the service and the reception by the librarian can alter this. Questions students have do not cause any thoughts on issues of integrity or anonymity and they seem to have a solid trust in libraries and librarians in general. The conclusion of this study is that users do not really know what demands they can have on the service, but that can change by clearer information about the service and by user education.Uppsatsnivå: