1. Knowledge and information
management behaviour
in the light of empirical studies among students
Marzena Świgoń
University of Warmia and Mazury
Olsztyn, Poland
5th International Conference on Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries
4 - 7 June 2013, "La Sapienza" University, Rome Italy

2. Contents
1. Background
2. PKIM research methodology
3. PKIM studies results
4. Conclusions
• This presentation is a part of the research project No. 2011/03/B/HS2/04436
• funded by National Science Centre in Poland
QQML 2013

3. Background
• Knowledge and Information (K&I) behaviour
• Personal Knowledge and Information Management (PKIM)
Behaviour
▫ PKIM
 Personal Knowledge Management
 Personal Information Management
 Information Literacy
▫ PKIM activities and skills
 gathering
 organising
 selecting
 sharing
 creating
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4. PKIM research methodology
• Two parts of the PKIM empirical studies with varying objectives and
methods:
1. opinions of students about the management of K&I in the
context of learning (presented at QQML 2012)
 the qualitative part with an unstructured questionnaire
2. identification of students’ PKIM behaviour
 the qualitative-quantitative part with a structured questionnaire
 the respondents’ group - 510 students of Information Science and Library
Studies (ISLS) majors and related specialisations from 9 major universities
in Poland
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5. 1) K&I gathering
2) organising
3) selecting
4) sharing
5) creating

6. K&I gathering, searching
• The acknowledgment with the term deep web was surprisingly low.
• Students displayed a positive attitude towards looking for human
K&I resources with 51% preferring to learn from experts than
reading the literature and documental sources.
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7. • Over 70% of students were engaged in building personal K&I
collections, but only 6% respondents kept information solely in
electronic form.
• 67% of respondents transformed spoken K&I into written form.
• 42% students did not have a habit of making copies.
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K&I keeping, organising, securing

8. K&I selecting, evaluating
• Only 19% indicated the lack of problems with selecting high quality
materials on the internet.
• 15% students encountered difficulties with selection materials,
including peer-reviewed literature.
• 69% students had a positive habit of reassessing and rejecting
materials from their personal collections.
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9. K&I spreading, sharing
• 85-90% of survey participants liked sharing K&I with peers.
• 56% were pleased with the methods of teaching and knowledge
sharing of academic staff.
• 18% students were dissatisfied with knowledge transfer from
teachers to students.
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10. K&I creating, analysing and presenting
• Only 30% students liked preparing new subjects for classes.
• Only 26% admitted that they like public speaking in classes,
conferences etc.
• Only 28% had no problems with searching for and forming new
problem statements e.g. for Bachelor or Master’s thesis.

11. Differences between answers in subgroups of respondents
• academic status
• university
• gender
• major vs. specialisation

12. Conclusions
QQML 2013
• Personal Knowledge and Information Management (PKIM) is an
interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary concept
• PKIM research can be a contribution to the theory of some
disciplines, e.g.:
▫ Information Science and librarianship
▫ Education
▫ Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital

13. Thank you for your attention
Marzena Świgoń, PhD
marzena.swigon@uwm.edu.pl
QQML 2013
Rome Italy