Intellectual isolation, geographical isolation and information overload of academics at a rural university: an information-seeking perspective.

This paper reports the results of a study of the information-seeking behaviour of academics for research and teaching at Charles Sturt University's Wagga Wagga campus. Thirty academics were interviewed about their information-seeking behaviour, a diary of impressions recorded from interviews was kept. and participants' reactions to draft transcripts of their interviews were noted. A key finding of this research was the way in which informationseeking behaviour was motivated. It was found that a range of influences was responsible for participants choosing which direction to take. Three influences are combining to make rural academics' information seeking for research and teaching more challenging. The first is a perceived reduction in information access is engendering feelings of geographical isolation. The second. intellectual isolation, arises largely from feelings of a reduction in expectations of self-efficacy. The third influence is information overload, which appears to be affecting both rural- and urban-based academics and is demotivating them from seeking information