Aha! Librarians’ predisposition for information encountering and serendipity in the workplace

Abstract

It is not clear if people’s high propensity for information encountering translates to organizational work settings. We investigate the relationship between individual predisposition for information encountering with the frequency of individual information encountering at work. Through a survey of 274 medical librarians of the top 100 medical schools, we found that individual information encountering was a significant predictor of information encountering at work. This finding helps information behavior researchers discover the transfer of behaviors from everyday-life to organizational environments. It brings attention to the need for greater support for information encounters at work, which may enhance their contribution to the organizational objectives.