Information needs and gathering patterns of academic social scientists,with special emphasis given to historians and their use of U.S. Government publications

This paper addresses the information needs and gathering behavior of historians and other members of the academic social science community. In addition, it looks at the competitive information environment and views libraries as one of many providers. The existing research is fragmentary and, by far, too incomplete to be useful to librarians in developing collections and services to meet the information needs of historians and to accommodate their preferences for information gathering.The paper suggests the need for further research, identifies factors to take into account in formulating appropriate research designs, and offers research models worthy of replication or further exploration. Without a more extensive research base, a number of library and information programs and services may well be based on a misunderstanding of the current and future information needs and gathering strategies of possible client groups.