Book Description
'Looking for Information: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs, and Behavior' reviews more than 50 years of research on information seeking and related topics, and contains over 1,300 citations to relevant works. Now in its third edition, this book is the most comprehensive text on the topics of information seeking, information behavior and information practices. Coverage includes the nature of information, information needs and uses, sensemaking, information avoidance, communication among scientists and scholars, relevant social and psychological theories, models of information behavior, and applicable research methodologies. Interdisciplinary in the choice of examples, the book cites research in information studies, communication, education, management, medicine, sociology and psychology. The book is intended for students and scholars in library and information science, communication, education and related disciplines. Presenting a broad view of these topics, this text is suitable as a companion for courses ranging from undergraduate level to doctoral studies related to information-seeking, information practices and information behavior. In addition, it is a useful reference guide for established scholars.
Book Preface
Looking for Information explores human
information seeking and use. It provides examples of methods, models, and
theories used in information behavior research, and reviews more than four
decades of research on the topic.The book should prove useful for both scholars
in related fields and students at the graduate and advanced undergraduate
levels. It is intended for
use not only in information studies and communication, but also in the disciplines
of education, management, business, medicine, nursing, public health, and social
work.
The first edition
of this book appeared in May 2002. I wrote it because there was no single,
comprehensive text on the general topic of information behavior research at a
time when interest in the topic was expanding rapidly. Perhaps for that reason,
Looking for Information was fairly popular, and in October 2003 it was chosen
as the “Best Information Science Book of 2002” by the American Society for
Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T).
I am pleased to
introduce this second edition of the book. The new version reflects a vastly
increased literature on the topic of information behavior; this volume alone
cites over 1100 documents. Among the additions are over 400 new citations to relevant
works, most of which appeared between March, 2002, and January, 2006. Many new
studies are described in the section reviewing research findings (Chapters 11
and 12), Chapter 9’s examples of methods, and a widely expanded discussion of
theories applied in information behavior research (Chapter 7).
In addition, I
incorporate new models of information behavior, and an updated review of concepts
central to the field. In response to requests from students and their professors,
I also introduce a Glossary, offering definitions of 72 key terms used in the text.
And this edition has separate Author and Subject indices — which have grown rather
large!
There are many
changes to all other chapters and sections of the original book. In fact, it is
only the first two chapters that are little changed from the first edition. Previous readers
of the text will note that it maintains its original structure of 13 chapters divided
into five sections.
This new version recognizes important people and publications I
neglected in the first edition. In particular, I cite a number of scholars,
most relatively new to the field, who have made notable contributions to the
literature over the last six years. For this I am grateful to the many
suggestions by readers and reviewers, and the results of various reviews and
citation analyses identifiying key studies and authors in information behavior.
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