Corporate Engineers Information Seeking Behavior

The paper written by Britt Mueller, Greg Sorini and Elizabeth Grossman looks at Qualcomm users and it is one of best that I have seen in explaining corporate engineers information seeking behavior. I think everyone who is trying to develop products or serve corporate engineering market should read it.

Thanks to Jay Bhatt from Drexel University, for posting the article at KnowledgeSpeak Blog which they introduced recently.

Here are five key behaviors that the authors have identified. (all quoted from the paper)

• Engineers generally like to help themselves to information. They will also use colleagues as a resource, but often rely on the library as a last resort or not at all.

• Books are critical to this population. They are comfortable with and use electronic resources, but also have a strong preference for accessing what can be considered more traditional library resources such as books and other physical items.

• This population often has a cycle for information gathering where the need for information changes drastically depending on the development phase of the project. They can have an extensive need for information during times of exploration and understanding on projects, but at other times, when their “heads are down” in terms of actual product development, they may seek no information at all.

• Information seeking from this group is generally in response to very specific problems or projects. They often seek answers to immediate problems, and need information quickly.

• Proximity of services and facilities is important. When interviewed, most engineers wanted a physical library or reading room in their specific location. We also observed that when engineers were reminded or informed of services, they used them