There has been a certain shift in higher education in today’s society, resulting in academisation of education of a vocational tradition. There is a belief that information literacy will play a more vital part in many professions in the future. This has induced a proposition to change the current form of police education in Sweden.
This study examines the information seeking behaviour of police academy students at Umeå university in Sweden, with the intention to shed light on an otherwise non-frequent group in information behavioural science. A survey that asked about the students’ choices of information resources in their studies, and their ability to search for and evaluate scientific information, was sent out.
The results reveal that most students rely on course books and government public material for information, while also mentioning classmates as a resource. The majority consider their information literacy skills to be adequate, although some occasionally encounter difficulties in how to phrase their search questions in relation to their information needs. These results were compared to research about information behaviour in police officers and students, and related to a theory about task complexity.