This article reports on the third phase of a project studying the integration of information behavior theories and concepts into professional education for reference and information service (RIS). It also provides a synthesis of the results of all studies in the project, including a syllabus study, an interview study, and the survey. Results of…

Information behavior is an important area of conceptual knowledge for reference service providers, as it provides structure for understanding users' information seeking and use. This study explores the extent to which information behavior theories, models, and concepts have been integrated into professional education for reference and information…

Refugees and immigrants have adverse health outcomes after arriving in the United States. These negative outcomes tend to be disproportionate to those of the general population, regardless of the person's health status upon entry to the country. Research has shown that strong health literacy skills can improve health outcomes in this group. This…

The practice of reference and information service (RIS) should be based on an understanding of how users seek information to fill information needs and of what they do with that information once they have found it. RIS professional education, therefore, should provide students with a strong grounding in information behavior. This study explores if…

This article extends Kuh and associates' research describing high-impact learning as kinds and types of projects and assignments shown to benefit postsecondary students and increase rates of student retention and engagement. Given that the content and implementation of postsecondary courses have continuously evolved in recent years, this present…

Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) students represent a population for whom literature searching is a core practice and a learning outcome for an entry-level course on information searching. How LIS students learn to find information, though, is not completely clear. Many studies have explored undergraduate searching behavior, but…

This paper reports preliminary data from research that seeks to inform the readers about the way that human information behavior and the use of scholarly resources impacts on women in the STEM fields. By focusing on the information behavior and information needs of women in STEM, this could lead to an increased use of academic library resources…

The term discovery applies herein to the successful outcome of inquiry in which a significant personal, professional or scholarly breakthrough or insight occurs, and which is individually or socially acknowledged as a key contribution to knowledge. Since discoveries culminate at fixed points in time, discoveries can serve as an outcome metric for…

Discusses the relevance of communication, meaning, and identity in putting information work into a cultural context. The process of information seeking is discussed, the mediation of communication formats and devices in determining meaning is described, and implications for information specialists are suggested. (11 references) (LRW)

Thirty postgraduate librarianship students learned about PRECIS indexing using a system that responds as flexibly and intelligently as a human expert to natural language queries. Interactions were logged and analyzed. The evidence obtained supports the notion that individuals employ distinct strategies when interacting with information sources in…