How do graduate students manage their electronic information collections?: Investigating management activities and practices

Abstract

As the amount of information people need to handle grows rapidly, it becomes more critical to efficiently manage information. To better understand the personal information management (PIM) process, this study examined key tasks and activities involved in managing a personal collection of electronic documents. Interviews were conducted with twelve doctoral students and data were analyzed qualitatively. The study helped identify management activities in three main tasks - collecting, organizing, and storing, and three types (A, B, and C) of organizing/managing information collections.