This course covers information use by people in various roles, situations, and contexts, individually and in groups. To do this we will study information behavior and the influence of learning and cognitive processes; value systems; and situational, psychological, sociological, and political perspectives. We will be examining community, disciplinary, and functional practices, as well as individual and social aspects of human information needs, seeking, and use based on theoretical and empirical research. We will also apply the study of user information behavior to textual, graphical, and visual representation of knowledge. This course includes both theoretical models and practical methodologies for the study of users and for user-centered design of information and knowledge systems and services. The main goal of this course is to familiarize students with the principles and research related to information behavior. Upon successful completion of the course, students will have learned how to identify and explain major concepts and findings of the literature on information needs, seeking, and use, including various research programs, questions, theories, and researchers, understand the impact of diverse information needs, learning preferences and styles, and cultural influences on the design, selection, use, and evaluation of information and knowledge systems, define the role of context related to how users derive meaning and create knowledge, apply concepts and frameworks from the research literature to examples or cases, and observe and analytically describe information behavior activities in various settings (SLO 2, ALA 6, PLG 4).