The academic and the everyday: Investigating the overlap in mature undergraduates' information-seeking behaviors

This study uses in-depth qualitative interviews to explore the information seeking behavior of 25 mature undergraduates at one Canadian university. It explores the complex interweaving of these students' everyday and academic information needs in light of Reijo Savolainen's framework for the study of everyday life information-seeking. Findings include the role of social and cultural capital in these students' information-seeking, the diverse ways that everyday and academic contexts inform one another, and the importance of not separating the everyday from other life situations in studies of individuals' information behaviors. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.