Comp J | Info-Seeking Behaviours

Describe the fundamental concepts of information-seeking behaviours and

how they should be considered when connecting individuals or groups

with accurate, relevant and appropriate information

Section A | Definition of Competency

INFO 200 Information Communities study includes theories on information seeking behaviours and develops and understanding of connecting information seekers to accurate, relevant, and appropriate information. Competency J is verified through examining some of these theories and supported by evidence of a research paper and reflection assignment. There are many information seeking behaviour theories provided in INFO 200 readings and these selected theories will be demonstrated in the evidence as well.

Erdelez article on Information Encountering: It's More Than Just Bumping into Information defines information seeking as an “the active pursuit suggested in the term seeking” (Erdelez, 1999). The information professional creates systems that improves the information encountering experience and active pursuit for clients seeking information. Evidence of systems building is available in paper and assignment presented in section C.

Durrance et al. research on Community Problem-Solving Framed as a Distributed Information Use Environment found that for these seekers “information needs…appears to be largely shaped by their commitment to solving the problems that plague their neighbourhoods” (Durrance, 2006). For these civic groups “information is simply a contribution to the problem-solving activity, rather than an end in itself” (Durrance, 2006). Therefore, information professionals are in a position to provide the space and references that are accurate, relevant, appropriate for this community activity.

Section B | Background to the Competency

Competency J emphasises theories of information seeking behaviours and designing and providing services that assist people in accessing information based on that awareness. These theories were defined through course readings and creating systems based on that awareness is included in INFO 200 Information Communities and INFO 298 Peer Mentoring course syllabus. Evidence presents examples of intentional systems building.

Section C | Discussion of Evidence

INFO 200 | Open Data Information Community

https://medium.com/@kejobuchanan/open-data-information-community-library-and-information-centre-resources-and-services-5ac81ec56daa

Open Data Information Community is a research paper based the open data community and their “information seeking behaviour…derived from resolution, efficiency, and raw data collection” (Buchanan, 2017). This group is a grass roots voluntary blend of government workers, tech professionals, students and non-tech community members that require space and information to solve civic issues using technology and/or policy. As an Open Data advocate and member of various civic tech-based groups, I have attended meetups, hackathons as well as conferences designed around these problem-solving activities, mentioned by Durrance et al. and realize space as well as digital access is a primary service information centres are prepared to provide. Further evidence of connecting theories of behaviour seeking to this community group and the information professional role in providing needed services for competency J is available in detail of this research paper.

INFO 298 | Reflection Assignment

Document Available to Academic Advisor Only

Currently merged with J formerly competency I, Peer Mentoring included designing “service concepts and connecting people with information such as weekly announcements to students and sharing information through discussion posts that individuals and class may need” (Buchanan, 2019). This responsive and predictive approach within the Canvas platform for fellow students to connect to key and relevant content by improving the information encounter for clients as proposed in Erdelez’s theory. Evidence of connecting with peers and the reward of “being able to respond to inquiries with relevant information” (Buchanan, 2019) and proactively understanding information seeking theory on information encounter is demonstrated in this reflection assignment.

Section D | Conclusion

Competency J is centred on fundamental concepts of information-seeking behaviours and connecting individuals or groups with accurate, relevant, and appropriate information. Evidence of community and academic peer groups present the advantage of understanding clients information seeking behaviours. Along with techniques from other competencies such collaboration, awareness is an efficient method of connecting clients to best resources and services that meet their needs.

Section E | References

Buchanan, K. (2017). Open Data Information Community. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@kejobuchanan/open-data-information-community-library-and-information-centre-resources-and-services-5ac81ec56daa

Buchanan, K. (2019). Reflection Assignment: learning to peer mentor [Unpublished assignment]. San José State University.

Durrance, J. C., M. Souden, & D. Walker (2006). Community problem-solving framed as a distributed information use environment: bridging research and practice. Information Research, 11(4). Retrieved from http://www.informationr.net/ir/11-4/paper262.html

Erdelez, S. (1999). Information encountering: It’s more than just bumping into information. Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science, 25(3). DOI: 10.1002/bult.118