Collins describes an unusual distinction in his findings on the habits of humanities scholars. The senior scholars make greater use of web 2.0 tools. There were several suggested reasons why the senior scholars had higher usage than younger students, but it is a reversal that is unexpected in study habits (Collins & Jubb, 2012) There is a difference between the student seeker and the scholar seeker. The difference being the number of years invested in the study and the motive for the study. Students who are in the early stages of their academic years are motivated to finish each course; many times a humanities course is part of their requirement, not their passion. One example is a student who said the hard part of writing for the humanities is trying to find fresh ideas, “One participant found it difficult to be creative from class to class and constantly having "to say something new." When it comes to the digital information in the humanities, Alison Head reported that more than one third of her study participants struggled in initial research phase for humanities “dealing with the inevitable information overload that accompanies new forms of digital media” (Head, 2008, p. 433)
University faculty that are humanities information seekers are more confident, know the resources they need, need information that allows a large historical scope of information. These scholars build on professional networking, need information on copyright issues regarding their own work, and possibly need information on how open access publishing works. In habits of theologian scholars, Gorman as cited by Penner, found that networking with colleagues, relying on the “invisible college”, and the building their own personal professional libraries played a key role. While in the libraries, these scholars enjoy browsing shelves and journals for information (Penner, 2009, p. 68).
Penner also reported another study discovered that information strategies depended on the scholars’ stage in the research. Some key strategies included citation tracking, browsing, extracting, verifying information (Penner, 2009, p. 69). Humanist scholars often will be vocal about weeding practices in libraries due to the nature of their research needs. In studying human behaviors and cultures, historical records, even “outdated non-fiction” material provide essential glimpses into the ideals and events of the time period, and the tracking of cultural changes (p. 72).
The field of humanities overlap many disciplines. They draw on theories and practices in many fields including history, philosophy, and the sciences (Furner, 2009, p. 4156). The personas described in the posts are characterized on data from all the resources listed in the Bibliography tab, plus additional citations are shown from personal communication and interacting with several scholars over the years.
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