Journal of Documentation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role different information sources (or cues) play in forming users' mental representation of a work in an academic library setting. Of particular interest is discerning how these information sources influence borrowing decisions.

Design/methodology/approach – A large-scale user survey featuring two-part questionnaires was utilized in an academic library setting. The questionnaires were designed to ascertain those information sources exerting a formative influence on users' information-seeking behavior, especially the routes by which users came to know of a title and the sources by which they infer its content.

Findings – Evidently users adaptively make use of a variety of cues to help them fulfil their information needs. These cues significantly reduced the uncertainty faced by users making a borrowing decision, even after their sense of domain familiarity was controlled for. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for library services. It is suggested that libraries could provide a more “cue-rich” environment that supports users' decision making and facilitates exploration of their collection.

Originality/value – The research questions were framed in the language of decision-making theory, which, as the research demonstrates, sheds light on the dynamics between “cue validity” and judgment uncertainty. It also demonstrates the applicability of the “accuracy-cost” framework in the study of human information-seeking behavior.