“Only librarians like to search, everyone else likes to find.”

Roy Tennant

Information seeking is a term used to describe the common human cycle of needing, looking for, choosing, and using some kind of information. (Case, 2018) Information seeking is universal to human nature. We live in a world that suffers from an overload of too much information from too many sources; information professionals play an important role in filtering, curating and guiding information seekers to the accurate, relevant and appropriate information they need.

There are many theories relevant to information seeking. For example, with the Principle of Least Effort, or Zipf’s Law, the linguist George Zipf developed a broad explanation for human activity regarding resources. The idea behind Zipf’s Law is that in performing tasks, such as for example writing or speaking, individuals adopt a course of action that expends the least effort. (Case, 2018) Zipf’s Law is applicable to all sorts of human activity involving resources, but is particularly applicable to information seeking behaviors. Another theory relevant to information seeking is a model of searching called “berrypicking”. The theory of “berrypicking” asserts that typical search queries are not static, but rather evolve, and that searchers also commonly gather information in bits and pieces, instead of in one grand best retrieved set. The theory also observes that searchers use a wide variety of search techniques and sources which extend beyond those commonly associated with bibliographic databases. (Bates, 1989)

Info 282 - Information Vendor Landscape

This course examined digital content providers and vendors: types of vendors, access and pricing models, use cases, implementation, communications, and negotiation. We looked at the spectrum of information available and how to evaluate and negotiate subscriptions and contracts. Course content was aimed toward a practical understanding of information vendors and working with vendors effectively.

I learned how to outline and plan the purchase, acquisition, deployment, and integration of digital content solutions into an organization, including identifying user needs, comparing solutions, developing a launch plan, creating a communications strategy, and evaluating impact. I developed an understanding of key negotiation factors in working with digital content providers and vendors, including the main points to consider when negotiating a contract (access models, pricing models, etc.). I also learned how to differentiate the various types of information vendors and content providers, subscription models, and the various types of content available, in the current market: eBooks, journals, databases, online courses, news, reports, competitive intelligence, market research, technical, and business information.

Assignments that contributed to these learning outcomes included discussions, a communications strategy, an audience analysis, and a vendor intelligence project.

Audience Analysis Prezi

For this artifact for Info 282 - Information Vendor Landscape, I learned about analyzing an audience in order to determine requirements for a content service and to ensure delivery of a service that meets user needs. The skill set focused on audience analysis, identifying communications channels, being user focused, and writing engaging communication headlines. This skills acquired also helped me to identify the right service from a vendor and then execute on delivering that service to my audience, in this case, the patrons of the Boulder City Library.

Blog Post: Conspiracy Information Community Information Behaviors

This artifact is a blog post for Info 200 - Information Communities. In it, I describe the information behaviors of the information community I chose to explore for the course and the research paper, the conspiracy information community. I utilized Durrance and Fisher’s definition and characteristics of Information Communities to analyze my choice.

Infographic: A Rabbit Hole

For my Info 200 - Information Communities blog, I created a media-based artifact, in this case an infographic, from my research and explorations of my community’s use of emerging technologies. Infographic elements demonstrate a strong synthesis of my research of information seeking behaviors and the exploitation of technology via information gathered about the conspiracy information community.

Reference Observation

The reference observation assignment for Info 210 - Reference Services gave me experience with reference interaction in a real world setting. In today’s information environment, reference service can take many shapes. It can be a shift at a traditional reference desk or it can be the design and implementation of an information literacy class or a community-oriented library program. Employing ethnographic techniques of participant observation, I shadowed a reference librarian at the Boulder City Library for one "shift" and observed their interactions with customers. I kept a field journal of the observations and then wrote an analysis of what I observed. This artifact is a reflection on my observations.

Reflection

Information seeking is a human characteristic, as every one of us has information needs. As information professionals, it is important to understand information seeking behaviors in order to provide appropriate information resources to fulfill those needs. After exploring the myriad of services available to fulfill information seeking behavior needs, I am confident in my ability to do just that.

References

Bates, M. (1989). The design of browsing and berrypicking techniques for the online search interface. Online Review, 13(5), 407­-424.

Case, D. (2018). Information Seeking. In K. Haycock & M. Romaniuk (Eds.), The Portable MLIS (2nd ed., 49-56). Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited.

Fisher, K., & Durrance, J. (2003). Information communities. In K. Christensen, & D. Levinson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of community: From the village to the virtual world. (pp. 658-661). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Tennant, R. (2001) Cross-Database Search: One-Stop Shopping. Library Journal. Retrieved from: https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=cross-database-search-one-stop-shopping