Purpose: investigate the information behaviour of hobbyist book collectors as serious leisure participants and how it relates to information behaviour models and theories.
Objectives: study how hobbyist book collectors seek and use information, what their sources are, why they seek information in these ways, what difficulties they encounter, how the information they find helps them and how they use library information resources and services, if they are happy with them and if not, what suggestions they make to improve them.
Methodology: mixed methods, starting with an extensive literature review. Research method: case study, data collection technique: questionnaire and interviews, data analysis method: exploratory study.
Findings: hobbyist book collectors use the Internet as their primary information resource, followed by bookshops, informal contacts and books. The reasons they use these sources are familiarity, accessibility, reliability and usefulness. The information found helps them meet their needs, learn, gives them pleasure and helps them in decision-making. Information is used to add to their knowledge, keep them informed and build their collections. The main difficulties encountered in information seeking are irrelevant, unreliable, biased and not up-to-date information. Most hobbyist book collectors use the library resources and services to borrow books and search the catalogue and the databases for electronic resources only.
The study adds value to LIS theory and practice. It adds to the literature on information behaviour in serious leisure by filling the gap in the research of the information behaviour of hobbyist book collectors, facilitates the study of the information behaviour of other hobbyists and enables the design, development and delivery of library information systems and services. It may also contribute to the provision of training and education to information users to improve their skills in seeking, finding and using information.