Gender difference in information seeking of research scholars at University of Sargodha

Purpose of this study is to explore gender difference in the information seeking behavior of research scholars in the field of library and information science. This small-scale study examines the relationship between socio-economic variables and change in information seeking behavior with special reference to gender. Methodology deployed to conduct this study was quantitative in nature. Data was collected through structured questionnaire from 311 participants enrolled in research degrees (both in social and natural science subjects) at University of Sargodha. Primary data was collected by second author for her M. Phil dissertation on "information seeking behavior in the digital environment". Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. Findings reveal that gender difference plays an important role in the information behavior of research scholars at university level. There is a strong association between gender and Time spend online for information seeking. The use of smartphone is equally common between male and female research scholars, however, female research scholars are more likely to use online journals than their male counterparts. Male and female research scholars equally prefer different digital resources like offline e-resources, internet-based digital resources, material available via social media spaces, and Audio/Visual digital resources, to seek.