College & Research Libraries· 2015Q1
Question-Negotiation and Information Seeking in Libraries
- 728citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2015year
Short summary
Librarians can help information seekers clarify their needs through a four-stage negotiation process, moving from a visceral need to a compromised, actionable one.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Information seeking involves either self-service or librarian assistance.
- Librarian interaction requires negotiating user needs through four stages: visceral, conscious, formalized, and compromised.
- The reference librarian's pre-search interview focuses on understanding the 'compromised' need by assessing five key areas.
- Further research is recommended into effective question-negotiation techniques between users and librarians.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Seekers of information in libraries either go through a librarian intermediary or they help themselves. When they go through librarians they must develop their questions through four levels of need, referred to here as the visceral, conscious, formalized, and compromised needs. In his pre-search interview with an information-seeker the reference librarian attempts to help him arrive at an understanding of his “compromised” need by determining: (1) the subject of his interest; (2) his motivation; (3) his personal characteristics; (4) the relationship of the inquiry to file organization; and (5) anticipated answers. The author contends that research is needed into the techniques of conducting this negotiation between the user and the reference librarian.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. College & Research Libraries, 2015 · DOI ↗
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Field: Library and Information Sciences
Library and Information SciencesSocial Sciences