Preprint: "'If It is Too Inconvenient, I’m Not Going After It:' Convenience as a Critical Factor in Information-Seeking Behaviors"
By: Lynn Silipigni Connaway, OCLC Research; Timothy J. Dickey, OCLC Research; and Marie L. Radford, Rutgers University.
This Preprint is Scheduled to Appear in Library and Information Science Research (33: 179-190) and is being made available by OCLC Research.
From the Abstract:
In today’s fast-paced world, anecdotal evidence suggests that information tends to inundate people, and users of information systems want to find information quickly and conveniently. Empirical evidence for convenience as a critical factor is explored in the data from two multi-year, user studies projects funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The theoretical framework for this understanding is founded in the concepts of bounded rationality and rational choice theory, with Savolainen’s (2006) concept of time as a context in information seeking, as well as gratification theory, informing the emphasis on the seekers’ time horizons. Convenience is a situational criterion in people’s choices and actions during all stages of the information-seeking process. The concept of convenience can include their choice of an information source, their satisfaction with the source and its ease of use, and their time horizon in information seeking. The centrality of convenience is especially prevalent among the younger subjects (“millennials”) in both studies, but also holds across all demographic categories—age, gender, academic role, or user or non-user of virtual reference services. These two studies further indicate that convenience is a factor for making choices in a variety of situations, including both academic information seeking and everyday-life information seeking, although it plays different roles in different situations.
Direct to Complete Article (46 pages; PDF)
Hat Tip and Thanks: @jillmwo; @lorcand; @rtennant
Filed under: Data Files, Libraries, Patrons and Users, Resources

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.