Extending Our Reach: Surveying, Analyzing, and Planning Outreach to Extension Staff

This study describes how University of Minnesota Extension staff locate and use information to accomplish daily activities. The major findings were: (a) information seeking is a daily or weekly need; (b) staff use predominately online resources from a variety of sources—peer-reviewed journals, technical or research reports, and government information—and use search engines most frequently to locate them; and (c) Extension staff are aware of the majority of library resources and services. Extension staff welcome advanced information-seeking tools and techniques for professional development.