Scholars’ research-related personal information collections: A study of education and health researchers in a Kuwaiti University

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to explore the character of scholars’ research-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

Scholars’ research-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 available, technology opportunity, lack of support from central services, the need to collect Arabic material, self-presentation and self-management. 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

This is the first study to examine the contents of scholars’ research-related PICs and to provide a model of factors shaping them.

Citation

AL-Omar, M. and Cox, A.M. (2016), "Scholars’ research-related personal information collections: A study of education and health researchers in a Kuwaiti University", Aslib Journal of Information Management, Vol. 68 No. 2, pp. 155-173. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-04-2015-0069