The information behavior of nonfiction publishing Company editors

The main purpose of this work was to examine the information behavior of nonfiction publishing Company editors. Three problem areas were presented and expressed in the following questions:- What is the information need of the editor in every day work?- Which sources of information do the editors use when they are looking for information and how do they make use of them?- Are there any factors that have an influence on the information behavior of the editors and in what way do the factors effect the information behavior of the editors in their everyday work? And finally, do the editors experience any factors as barriers to information behavior?Six editors, all with academical background, all employed in different publishing companies were interviewed. The result of this study have been analysed within a theoretical framework influenced by the work of Tom Wilson, Lars Höglund and Olle Persson and Block and Lagberg. The result shows that the editors had various regular needs of information in their every day work. They needed new information to get a grip on the market and competitors. Furthermore they needed inspiration and feed-back. They also needed information to confirm and explain tasks in manuscripts. It was important for the editors to have quick access to reliable information sources. Therefore the use of oral information from colleagues both face-to-face through interpersonal communication and through the Internet was frequently used. Internet was a very important tool for their information seeking and collection of information. The private collection of books of the editors was important. I found that non-word oriented sources such as pictures and the daily use of books influenced their information behavior. The editors often browsed information haphazardly, which generated finding information by serendipity, information to use in their work. Factors influencing the information behaviour of editors were the organisation, work tasks, geographical environment and personal interests and preferences. Barriers to information were also found