Juanita Leatham e-portfolio

Competency J: Describe the fundamental concepts of information-seeking behaviors and how

they should be considered when connecting individuals or groups with accurate, relevant and

appropriate information.

Introduction

Information-seeking behaviors vary from person to person. Whether it’s from a step by step process, or whether information comes from various sources, or it comes from an internal or external world, these steps and sources bring information to us. This is so we may learn from a more vast world of knowledge.

Kuhlthau’s Information Through Research

In order to perform information-seeking behavior, Carol Kuhlthau believed that course participants who are doing research do seven things. “1. Initiation: Beginning to search for information 2. Topic selection: Identifying a topic 3. Exploration: Learning more about the selected topic 4. Formulation: Narrowing the focus 5. Collection: Gathering and organizing information 6. Presentation: Synthesizing and sharing the information 7. Assessment: Reflecting on their learning” (Saunders & Wong, 2020). I find myself doing these exact steps while writing this paper. It’s so relevant! Kuhlthau’s information-seeking through research steps makes it easy to follow along. As for being a librarian, I can better help my patrons who need help with their research projects by following these same steps. I can ask them questions which would lead them to a particular step and I can go from there and recommend what they are to do next. 

Dervin’s Internal and External Information

Brenda Dervin wants to help people make sense of their internal and external worlds. She says, “Dervin sees Information[3] as all the ways in which people make sense of their worlds, the set of techniques they have to make this reconciliation between internal and external worlds. She then provides examples of different ways that people make sense of their experiences: by “decisioning,” by using a “liking–disliking procedure,” by a “relating to others” strategy, that is, getting advice from others. In sum, we can say that in Dervin’s terms, Information[1] is the external world, Information[2] is the internal world, and Information[3] is the procedures used to reconcile these two worlds” (Bates, 2010). So, internal and external worlds are each being balanced. The “liking-disliking procedure” reminded me of Facebook/Meta’s and Instagram’s like button. This is how we spend a lot of our time – in reacting to posts online. As a future librarian I see this quote and think we are learning about each other or relating through our external likes and our internal dislikes. The dislikes are the social media comment section or located in the mind, where no one can see. While the likes and some dislikes are external to us and put on display. Dervin’s way of seeing our internal and external worlds makes a lot of sense and holds up to this day.  

Bates Information Seeking

Marcia J. Bates sees information as, “For example, the study of information seeking behavior needs to incorporate an awareness of all the forms of information a person takes in: 

People get information not just from paper sources, not just from other people, but also from the physical layout of their workspaces, from the design, not just the content, of informational genres, and above all, from the interaction of these various factors in a real situation. All the patterns of organization of matter and energy— cognitive, physical, architectural, social, linguistic—are informative [92]” (Bates, 2010). This to me as a future librarian says, we are the builders of our own worlds when information-seeking. Like concrete holds the building blocks together, information are the blocks and curiosity is the concrete. As a librarian, people need help putting all of this together. That is why there are different areas in a library; like Fiction, Non-Fiction, Kids, Teens, DVDs, and Buy a Book. We need to seek the correct area to be in for the topic at hand. The correct area of research falls into the physical, architectural, and social arenas.

Evidence

1 – INFO 202: Information Retrieval System Design: Project 1 Beta Prototype – Group 3 – INFO 202

For my first piece of evidence for Competency J I will discuss information-seeking of music search keywords as it relates to Kuhlthau’s seven research points. While creating the search index we had the searcher in mind. For instance, Initiation and Formulation as well as Collection and Presentation. “That same search in our database would give back pertinent information in our selected categories about the song, succinctly displayed for convenience. These categories include artist, song title, album, genre, featuring (as in additional artists), songwriter, composer, and the year that the song was originally released” (Booth, et al., 2024). For this piece I researched music keywords and contributed to the analysis in the quote after this sentence. “However, if they choose ‘rock’ and ‘christian’ for example, then only songs categorized as both will appear. This valuable feature is not currently available on any music search engine, which can be very frustrating; to search for multiple music genres, it is necessary to search for them individually. In addition, we also included the ‘contains’ comparison type for artist and song title to account for the aforementioned partial matches (e.g. Beatles vs. The Beatles)” (Booth, et al., 2024). As a music librarian I would initiate the music search by using the search engine to type the genre, then formulating or narrowing the focus to the song name. Then, I would collect as much metadata information in the search engine as possible like the artist, song title, album, genre, songwriter, composer and the year of release. Then the search engine would synthesize the information for me. I would then assess the information that pops up and give that information to the library visitor.

2 – INFO 200: Information Communities: INFO 200 Research Paper-Camfield Leatham J

For my second part of Competency J I will focus on Dervin’s internal and external worlds in information seeking behaviors. “This means that there is a focus on strategy but also storytelling and dramatics to create, play, and watch[ing] video games. There is a lot of passive and active seeking and scanning of the game environment while moving in the real world. This goes from the creation of avatars in game to playing as those characters with roles and the act of roleplay. When streamers focus on the communication in the chat, sometimes viewers are offered the chance to make decisions for the player in game” (Leatham, 2024). The internal and external world of VR shows itself when people play video games, especially games that require thought, especially in Virtual Reality. For instance, a literal board game in VR is where viewers can chat with the gamer in real time. The gamer also makes constant decisions like playing ping pong with each avatar actively learning by moving their body in the real world along with using a headset and controllers.

3 – INFO 200: Information Communities: Blog #3: Information-Seeking Behavior and Information Needs

For my third part of Competency J I will focus on Bate’s information-seeking model by using the assignment called Blog #3: Information-Seeking Behavior and Information Needs. Bates says, “All the patterns of organization of matter and energy— cognitive, physical, architectural, social, linguistic—are informative [92]” (Bates, 2010) For example from my blog post, it says, “Does game streaming fulfill a need? According to “Information Needs” by Charles M. Naumer and Karen E. Fisher there is a part of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs that fits into gaming and streaming at a “level [that] is a sense of love and belonging associated with friendship, family, and intimacy.” Some libraries have video game set ups with green screens on them for streamers to stream live. A video game streamer on Twitch can mentally be fulfilled by their fans. They may cognitively and socially feel a connection to their followers and the people in the chat. People who watch the streamer may also feel a social connection to the player and visit the live stream every chance they get. They may also feel a sense of belonging and friendship and a level of intimacy for having viewed the channel over time and watching them succeed and fail at playing certain video games. 

Conclusion

Whether it is looking for a song you like, how a librarian is to react if given a search query that brings up internal dislikes and external likes, or how streamers can interact with various types of information-seeking or information needs. Most everyone information-seeks at the library, at home, or on their mobile device. Carol Kuhlthau’s seven information-seeking through research steps makes the most sense to me in organizing how one would information-seek given any questions.

References

Bates, M. J. (2010). Information. In M. J. Bates & M. N. Maack (Eds.), Encyclopedia of library and information sciences (3rd ed., pp. 2347–2360). Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.1081/E-ELIS3-120045519

Booth, R., Leatham, J., Escobar Linares, L., & Nagy, K. (2024, March 18). Project 1 beta prototype – Group 3 – INFO 202. [Google Doc]. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W1HdW7vVodDxta994P6r8fMLqyJojplToTPHJxU6eVs/edit?usp=sharing. 

Leatham, J. (2025). INFO 250-Final Instructional design plan & two completed instructional material examples. [Google Doc] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-ln5He8Fj8_YyD-eMtpJjRYyu4J3_6-1_23fV_vPrT8/edit?usp=sharing. 

Leatham, J. (2024). INFO 200 Research Paper-Camfield Leatham J. [Google Doc]. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Duhn3ZUXAhU2vMNV-y1De8atXTpOtOWd0SC-Yam–sc/edit?usp=sharing. 

Leatham, J. (2024, February 28). Blog #3: Information-seeking behavior and information needs. Juanita’s Blog.  https://ischoolblogs.sjsu.edu/info/juanita/2024/02/28/blog-3-information-seeking-behavior-and-information-needs/. 

Naumer, C.M. & Fisher, K.E. (2018). Information needs. In J.D. McDonald & M. Levine-Clark (Eds.), Encyclopedia of library and information sciences (4th ed., pp. 2115-2121). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1081/E-ELIS4

Saunders, L. & Wong, M.A. (2020). Instruction in libraries and information centers. Windsor & Downs Press. https://iopn.library.illinois.edu/pressbooks/instructioninlibraries/chapter/identifying-audience-needs/.