Introduction

To understand how to best serve users, and how to design information retrieval (IR) systems and services for them we must understand their motivations and behavior. The field of information seeking behaviors has built upon itself over the last hundred years with multiple theories and models that are interwoven to provide a foundation for information professionals to know and respond appropriately to user needs. This competency dives into the psychological, sociological cognitive science, and child development of user groups to understand the user better in order to create services and systems that function for them. 

Statement of Competency

Knowing and understanding people’s behavior leads to better services and systems designed for them. Many of my courses and experiences have prepared me for this competency, the following assignments provide evidence that demonstrates my knowledge in this area. In INFO 200 I wrote a research paper that discussed prominent information seeking behaviors in the context of my information community and how libraries can serve and design systems for them. For this class I also had four blog posts that explore different elements of information seeking behavior, and how this behavior is manifested into foundations for better service and better design of systems to meet user needs. In INFO 210 I evaluate reference services from the understanding of an information seeker to show how understanding different information groups and their needs helps librarians provide appropriate relevant information. Going forward as an information professional I will need to keep these different models and theories in mind, with an understanding of the ever changing landscape of information-seeking behavior and how these changing behaviors influence who I serve and how I connect with others. 

Theory

There are many theories and models to create foundations for providing relevant and accurate information and services, the following are the ones I drew on most heavily throughout my time at SJSU. 

Bates:  Berrypicking 1989

Before Bates there was a classic IR model hypothesizing that the user’s query is an isolated event that the user forms at the beginning of their quest and remains unchanged throughout the process. Bates felt this model limited creative design and development of IR systems that could realistically meet the user’s needs and preferences in a functional way and wanted to put greater emphasis on user interest, which she felt was missing from the research (p. 408-410). Thus, Bates created her Berrypicking model in 1989 using the analogy of comparing information seeking behavior to picking berries in a forest, collecting bits at a time along the process or journey (p. 410). Bates hypothesized that information seekers' process is linear, but not a straight line, and that the path adapts along with the user’s every choice evolving along the way. Her information seeking model has four areas: evolving query, a piecemeal search process, a variety of search techniques employed, and a range of environments where the user finds the sources. The second of her four areas explored how a user does not end their search the way the classic model posits, but rather the user finds new information along their journey and forms new resolutions and ideas throughout the process (Bates, 1989). Bate’s later refers repeatedly to the “principle of least effort” and is quoted as saying “people are trying to solve problems in their lives, not seek information” and her model reflects this belief (Bates, 2017, p. 2080). Her ultimate goal was to identify realistic and functional user needs and preferences so that information professionals could design better IR systems and more effectively assist and serve user needs. 

Kuhlthau: Information Search Process (ISP) 1991

Kuhlthau is one of the most prominent names in information seeking and behavior theory as she first suggested a six-stage model of the user’s holistic experience and approach to information seeking in 1991 which became the foundation for further research. This model was called the Information Search Process (ISP) identifying three “realms of experience”: affective, cognitive and physical. It explored a user’s feelings and how those feelings affected the mental and physical elements of the user. As one of the first to study feelings with the search process Kuhlthau focused on the principle of uncertainty with the ultimate goal of helping information professionals better serve the needs of information seekers by specifying “zones of intervention” throughout all the ISP stages. Her research was one of the first to focus on the information seeking behavior/user and not the information system itself.  Her six stages of information seeking were described as: initiation, selection, exploration, formulation, collection, and search closure.  From this research Kuhlthau focused on the principle of uncertainty for information seekers and how it influenced their behaviors with six corollaries: process, formulation, redundancy, mood, prediction, and interest upon which future research was built (Kuhlthau, 2009).

Wilson: Uncertainty Resolution & Dervin: Sense Making 1999

Like Kuhlthau, Wilson looks at how uncertainty is a motivator for information seeking and can lead to gaps in understanding for the user trying to solve their information needs. Building on what Kuhlthau did, Wilson focused on information search behavior as a subset of information seeking behavior stating that searching was how people interacted with IR systems, and seeking is more focused on the ways people find and access information (1999, p. 263). His model has four stages people move through when they are in uncertainty within a search: problem identification, problem definition, problem resolution and solution statement. In addition Wilson found that people do not always move linearly through these stages because they often get caught in feedback loops.  

Related to Wilson’s model is Dervin’s sense-making theory which was first articulated in 1983 and later revisited in 1998. This theory has two central concepts: a gap and a bridge. The metaphor demonstrates that a user is in an information situation and they recognize their gap in knowledge, identifying their information need, and the other side of this gap is their knowledge/information outcome. Dervin makes no distinction between knowledge and information and Wilson refers to aspects of Dervin’s model as separate from others because it incorporates “context in which the information needs arise” which other models did not include (Wilson, 1999, p 257).

Chatman: Theory of life in the round 1999

Building off of the above theories Chatman focused on marginalized communities furthering the research within the field of Information Science. Chatman is well known for her ethnographic approach to information seeking, developing the theory of life in the round focusing on marginalized communities in everyday settings and setting the standards for future work in this field. Chatman used ethnographic qualitative research and interviews with eighty women in a maximum security prison to develop her theory that these women felt such pressure to conform and assimilate to their community that they created their own “small worlds” with shared beliefs and behaviors. These women redefined their social world in order to survive, often rejecting information or ceasing to seek for information and accepting high levels of ambiguity in order to feel “normal” and create a feeling of meaning in their lives. Chatman hypothesized that to feel some level of control over their lives and maintain a sense of order, they developed a behavior of defensive avoidant information seeking behavior she called “information poverty” where individuals actively avoid information as a defense mechanism or avoidant strategy to protect themselves from hopelessness and despair. Most future studies of marginalized communities and information poverty cite Chatman’s research as a foundation (Chatman, 1999). 

Dresang: Radical Change Theory 2009

Finally, youth literature researcher Dresang developed Radical Change Theory in 2009 evaluating how children raised in the digital age with technology environments seek, learn, create and connect information based on three principles: interactivity, connectivity and access. The goal of this theory was to understand the transformations taking place in school libraries  and how to best help students learn. With this knowledge librarians and teachers could better guide and assist students in their learning goals and relevant practical tools and applications. In 2015 Koh revisited this theory investigating behaviors of digital youth and their increased sense of control over learning, innovation and community creating a sense of agency and self confided learners (Koh, 2015).

Application to Information Seeking Service 

To understand information seeking behavior is to have the knowledge to design and provide better information services and systems. If I know how people interact with information, how they approach the issue of their information needs, I can best design services that will fulfill their needs, and systems that they can easily use to fulfill their information needs.  As Radical Change Theory shows us, with new technology environments, and that upbringings in a digital world has changed information seeking behavior, I must recognize that just as technology is always evolving, so will the needs of information users and therefore so must the information services provided.  

Conclusion 

Information seeking behavior is an ever-changing interdisciplinary field with research from many sources and theories exploring a vast array of behaviors, motivations and processes. At its core is understanding people so we can best serve them. Having knowledge of their behavior can provide invaluable information for creating and designing systems users will interact with on an individual basis. Information seeking behaviors and the models associated will continue to evolve along with our technology and we must adapt and grow with them utilizing new understandings to create better services.  

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