REGULAR ARTICLES
Volunteers acting as information
providers to citizens
Sharon Finzi, Jenny Bronstein, Judit Bar-Ilan and
Shifra Baruchson-Arbib
Department of Information Science, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Sheizaf Rafaeli
Sagy Center for Internet Research, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel, and
Gilad Ravid
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management,
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
Abstract
Purpose – Citizens Advice Bureau (SHIL in Hebrew) is an information and referral service dedicated
to serving the needs of citizens by providing easy access to information about citizenship rights and
obligations. Many people turn to the offices of SHIL either for help or to volunteer as advisors. This
study seeks to examine the information seeking behavior of SHIL volunteers supplying information
services to citizens.
Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical foundations of the study are based on two
existing models of information searching related to everyday life problems, Foster’s non-linear model
of information seeking behavior and Bates’s berry-picking approach. This research employs a
qualitative method. A total of 35 advisors in different SHIL branches were interviewed and the content
of the interviews was analyzed, mapped and organized into categories by using concepts and terms
revealed in the data.
Findings – Findings show that volunteers at SHIL search information in a way that integrates the
two models mentioned above, the berry-picking model and the non-linear model. In addition, findings
point to difficulties that the advisors face in solving problems of the clients. These difficulties are
connected with the different aspects relating to the flow of information both within and outside the
organization and with organizational and administrative aspects at SHIL.
Originality/value – The information seeking behavior of volunteers acting as providers of
information services has yet to be investigated at length and the understanding of their information
behavior can be of value, since volunteering carries great importance in a democracy.
Keywords Information seeking, Volunteering, Information referral services,
Information source selection, Information retrieval, Information services
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Being part of the information society confronts us with the daily challenge of
managing a sometimes overloaded information environment. As a result, users
sometimes turn to professional organizations for assistance in order to make sense of
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This research was supported by The Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 556/07)
Volunteers as
information
providers
289
Received 8 August 2011
Accepted 8 August 2011
Aslib Proceedings: New Information
Perspectives
Vol. 64 No. 3, 2012
pp. 289-303
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0001-253X
DOI 10.1108/00012531211244608