Library & Information Science Research最新文献

Gender difference is a new perspective on understanding the levels of information needs proposed by Taylor in 1968. Drawn from Ruthven's research methodology, gender differences between conscious and formalized information needs using 4000 postings to four major online discussion topics were analyzed. Descriptive statistical analysis was based on text length and vocabulary usage. The analysis confirmed Ruthven's conclusion in the Chinese context that the statements describing conscious information needs are more narrative with more emotional and sensitive words. Females, on the other hand, frequently express their information needs consciously. Problematic situations generate information needs. Consequently, understanding the information needs levels should consider additional contextual aspects, and the initial stages of information needs are essentially the awareness in problematic situations. Language and gender distinction in the Chinese context is mainly helpful to refine the concept of information need levels and can also be an extension of Ruthven's research.

Although creating sustainable information systems is highly important to facilitate information flow in natural disaster information management (NDIM), only a few LIS studies have focused on evaluating the feasibility of related technological solutions. An open access repository (OAR) for NDIM has been assessed by Technical, Economic, Legal, Operational, Scheduling, Cultural, and Behavioral (TELOS-CB) dimensions, using the PSI technique. Five NDIM stakeholder groups participated including governmental, public, and research institutions, NGOs (non-governmental organizations), and LIS specialists. The results indicate that the NDIM-OAR is technically more feasible, while the cultural dimension has been considered the most challenging. NGOs have the largest scoring range and governmental stakeholders have the most coherent scoring. Despite of the wide range and seemingly excessive sensitivity of NDM information in Iran, more in-depth, interpretive, cross-disciplinary studies are required reaching a comprehensive decision for an NDIM-OAR. The research is among the first multi-disaster, multi-stakeholder feasibility analyses in LIS.

Qualitative content analysis is a methodological approach for the subjective interpretation of data. Using empirical research to illustrate the methodological advantages and disadvantages of qualitative content analysis, this article examines the suitability of qualitative content analysis for the field of LIS and illustrates how the method can be used to inform LIS information practices research of marginalized populations through emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs). Specifically, this article examines the suitability of qualitative content analysis through its application in an ongoing study exploring how individuals who engage in nonsuicidal self-injury circumnavigate algorithmic exclusion in the emerging ICT TikTok. Qualitative content analysis can advance LIS research and practice by refuting deficit thinking and understanding information creation practices in context. Methodological shortcomings relate to the reduction of data and the inability to determine cause-and-effect relationships. The author recommends that researchers supplement qualitative content analysis with additional qualitative approaches to address these limitations.

Despite the abundance of research on library makerspaces, systematic reviews of library makerspace research are lacking. As research on library makerspaces advances, the field needs reliable empirical findings to examine the impact of library makerspaces and identify research areas that are valuable for future research. Guided by the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement, 43 out of 838 records were selected for the systematic review. The overall trend of research methodologies and theories, settings, participants, research purposes, as well as tools, technologies and programming in library makerspace research were identified. The findings reveal that qualitative studies that were descriptive in nature were the predominant approaches. While appropriate literatures were explored, theoretical frameworks were less used. This systematic review contributes new areas and directions for future research, including the need for expansion of research methodologies and theoretical frameworks and investigation of diverse users and types of making.

Visual information dominates our modern information landscape and plays a critical role in the production of knowledge. However, research in information studies has not fully considered how people engage with visual information, in the form of images, visualization software and instruments, as well as audiovisual media, at the level of visual information in practice. This gap is addressed by first outlining the methodological challenges visual information practices pose to research, then reviewing recent information practices research projects that consider visual information, and concluding by offering a methodological framework drawn from the author's dissertation research for studying visual information practices, with suggestions provided for researchers who are interested in conducting research in this area.

Long distance hikers' information practices are considered via an ‘in-field’ methodology that generated rich experiential data. Participants documented and reflected on their experiences and use of mobile digital technology while undertaking a two-week coast-to-coast walk across the Scottish Highlands. Empirical evidence on the adoption and use of mobile digital technology by backpackers, and the implications this has for their practices and interactions is scarce. “Research in the Wild” (RITW) mixed methods facilitated exploration of how and why mobile digital technology is employed via analysis of in-field video-logs, interviews with eight participants, and a survey. Analysis of the research interview data provides insights into fieldwork participants' reactions to, and experiences with, the methods employed. The affordances and issues of the approach are discussed, highlighting the benefits and challenges of mixed methods for Human Computer Interaction and Information Behavior research in the arena of outdoor recreation.

Prior research has suggested the value of and the need to provide consistent research data management (RDM) instruction specifically for graduate students. However, there is a lack of RDM instruction that is tailored for the social science disciplines. The effect of a four-hour, online RDM instruction intervention, designed based on the research data life cycle, on the RDM knowledge of graduate students in social science disciplines was investigated. A total of 84 students completed both pre/post knowledge assessments with 40 students randomly assigned into the intervention group receiving online instruction and 44 in the control group. A one-way ANCOVA was used for the data analysis. Results indicated that social science graduate students who received online RDM instruction had a significantly higher score in RDM knowledge than students in the control group. Moreover, the effect of the instruction on participants' RDM skills varied by their disciplines.

There is a dearth of information behavior research employing a community-engaged approach. This research takes the concept of community engagement as its central focus, reviewing its proximal use in information behavior research and arguing its potential as an integrative process that can restore and reposition the community-researcher relationship in the information behavior field. The “why – what – how” of undertaking community-engaged information behavior (CEIB) research were elaborated and a methodological framework was developed based on these discussions. The CEIB methodology introduced advances a new approach to study human-information interactions, consisting of principles and core components and characteristics of CEIB research that moves beyond the one-sided, researcher-led information behavior study.

Human behaviour is complex and demographics are insufficient to understand information behaviour. More nuanced analyses are required to understand the factors that drive action. Focusing on digital archiving and online protection strategies as manifestations of information behaviour, factors that influence perceptions of online risk were investigated. The relationship between perception and behaviour was analyzed by focusing on people’s risk responses and their archival habits. Using Bates’ theory of Information Behaviour, information behaviour paradoxes, what people do versus what they say they would do in online situations, were analyzed. By applying a mixed-method approach to 101 semi-structured interviews, individuals’ self-perceived internet skills and having a third-party negative experience are two key factors that influence perceptions of risk online. A three-part typology of internet users (cautiously optimistic offliners, confident onliners, and utopic onliners) is introduced. Perceptions of online risk have consequences for information behaviour and informs a theoretical modification.

Research on information behavior, practice, and experience focuses on complex topics embedded in multiple circles of context. LIS researchers in these areas often adopt interpretive, participatory, or critical methods. Yet, they just as often are ambivalent to measurements of rigor, or they unintentionally use positivist criteria to measure quality. Each of these decisions is indicative of a deep-seated assumption about the nature of objectivity and subjectivity. Bricolage offers researchers a way to think about research outside of this assumption: to understand the object of inquiry as it really is, not as the researcher frames it. Thinking like a bricoleur, researchers circumvent exact research protocols and cultivate difference by combining methods, methodologies, theories, and philosophical positions in creative ways. Bricolage already has a toehold in LIS research, but the diverse topics and methods that researchers bring to studies of information behavior, practice, and experience call for greater engagement with it.