ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes and refines the construct of information-seeking behavior by making an explicit distinction between information-seeking behavior and information-seeking skills. It shows how the constructs of information-seeking behavior and information-seeking skills function in relation to one another. The chapter describes how the two constructs affect people's choices and uses of available information sources. It examines incoming community college students' use of formal information channels and levels of skills to see in what ways the two factors work. First, measures of information-seeking skills and information-seeking behavior are developed; second, the two different measures are compared to see how skills and behavior work together and independently of one another. The chapter attempts to offer empirical evidence, from a disciplinary viewpoint, about the interrelationships between information and communication. It provides results which offer strong evidence that individuals choose and use particular information sources based on their information-seeking abilities.
