This paper reports on an exploratory study that investigates the relationship between participants' learning style preferences and their perceptions of a professional workshop on collaboration and technology to support collaboration. The Learning Preference Scale-Students (LPSS) (Owens & Barnes, 1992) was administered to identify participants' learning style preferences as cooperative, competitive and/or individualized. Using cluster analysis two groups, or categories, of learning style preferences among the participants emerged. Group 1 showed a strong preference for the cooperative learning style, and Group 2 showed a strong preference for competitive and cooperative learning styles. Group 1 rated the workshop more positively than Group 2. However, Group 2 reported a larger increase in self-efficacy compared to those in Group 1 (18.9% vs. 6.0%). Both groups provided different suggestions regarding the content of the workshop. Group 1 suggested adding more discussions and group exercises, whereas Group 2 suggested adding explicit theory or rules to govern behavior. These findings indicate that learning styles should be considered as a potential variable that influences learning outcomes and preferences.

We propose a model of search term selection process based on our empirical study of professional searchers during the pre-online stage of the search process. The model characterizes the selection of search terms as the navigation of different discourses. Discourse refers to the way of talking and thinking about a certain topic; there often exists multiple, diverse discourses on the same topic. When selecting search terms, searchers appear to navigate a variety of discourses, i.e., they view the topic of a client's search request from the perspective of multiple discourse communities, and evaluate and synthesize differences and similarities among those discourses when selecting search terms. Six discourses emerged as sources of search terms in our study. These discourses are controlled vocabularies, documents and domains, the practice of indexing, clients' search requests, databases and the searchers' own search experience. Data further suggest that searchers navigate these discourses dynamically and have preferences for certain discourses. Conceptualizing the selection of search terms as a meeting place of different discourses provides new insights into the complex nature of the search term selection process. It emphasizes the multiplicity and complexity of the sources of search terms, the dynamic nature of the search term selection process, and the complex analysis and synthesis of differences and similarities among sources of search terms. It suggests that searchers may need to understand fundamental aspects of multiple discourses in order to select search terms.

Working with others within an organization can have a variety of positive effects, and the benefits of collaboration have been discussed in various disciplines. In information science, interest in collaborative information seeking, including collaborative information seeking by students in an online learning environment is expanding. This study was aimed at understanding graduate students' collaborative information seeking behaviors through the process of a group project, including factors that affected students' perceptions of collaborative work and their difficulties during the collaborative process. The research was based on Yue and He's model, which describes information users' collaborative communication and information behaviors, and Kuhlthau's model, which describes users' individual information seeking behaviors. The participants were 43 students enrolled in a master's level course delivered primarily online. The students were required to work together in groups to complete a research project. Data were collected through a background survey, behavior survey, and online communication texts and analyzed using descriptive statistics, statistical tests, and content analyses. The results showed significant changes in collaborative and information seeking behaviors and perceptions across three stages of the project during the semester. Theoretical, practical, and methodological implications for future research are discussed.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Library and Information Studies) / The study investigated the information behaviour of Nigerian undergraduates with a focus on online media, especially Web 2.0. Nigeria has a laudable vision tagged Nigeria Vision 20:2020 (NV 20:2020), which is to be one of the top 20 knowledge economies by the year 2020. To achieve this grand feat, the nation requires a skilled population with 21st century graduate attributes who are information literate. That is, graduates who possess the competencies and high capabilities to effectively use and disseminate information for optimum service delivery in this epoch of information proliferation and technologies that are yet evolving. To ascertain the preparedness of Nigeria for the laudable Vision 20:2020, the research work investigated the information behaviour of Nigerian undergraduates using a specialized university, the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, as the case study site. The university was established in 2007 to meet the demands of the petroleum industry which is the largest in Nigerian in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine how women seek health information on the Web in relation to information source characteristics, situational characteristics, and socio-demographic characteristics. The Web is conceptualized as three facets that reflect the three main modes of seeking health information on the Web: websites; Web-based bulletin boards and chatrooms; and Web-based listservs and newsgroups. The lack of analytical research on this gendered online activity prompted this study. The conceptual framework is based primarily on theoretical foundations from two academic disciplines: information science and health sciences. The independent variables in the conceptual framework are health information need, family caregiving, perceived Web self efficacy, perceptions of the quality and accessibility of the Web as a source of health information, and socio-demographic variables. The dependent variable is intensity (frequency) of seeking health information on the Web (FSHIW). Data was collected from 264 women from November 2000 until April 2001 using a Web survey questionnaire. The participants were predominantly well educated, English-speaking Canadians. A subset of 27 survey respondents completed at least one additional component of this multi-method study. Perception of the reliability of the Web as a source of health information was identified as the key variable influencing frequency of seeking health information on the Web (FSHIW). As well, perceived information source reliability was correlated with two information source characteristics, perceived information source relevance and cognitive access. Two situational variables, health information need and family caregiving, were weakly correlated with FSHIW. Three socio-demographic variables – racial identity, household income, and occupation – affected FSHIW. Qualitative interview data, Web use journals, and recordings of Web use sessions provided a contextualized understanding of the survey data. In particular, they highlighted the importance of situational and affective relevance. To-date, very few empirical research studies have been conducted on how women seek health information on the Web. This unique multi-method study contributes to a better understanding of women’s use of the Web as a source of health information for resolving personal health problems and caring for family members by identifying key variables that affect the frequency of this online behaviour and contextualizing these variables.

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine how women seek health information on the Web in relation to information source characteristics, situational characteristics, and socio-demographic characteristics. The Web is conceptualized as three facets that reflect the three main modes of seeking health information on the Web: websites; Web-based bulletin boards and chatrooms; and Web-based listservs and newsgroups. The lack of analytical research on this gendered online activity prompted this study. The conceptual framework is based primarily on theoretical foundations from two academic disciplines: information science and health sciences. The independent variables in the conceptual framework are health information need, family caregiving, perceived Web self efficacy, perceptions of the quality and accessibility of the Web as a source of health information, and socio-demographic variables. The dependent variable is intensity (frequency) of seeking health information on the Web (FSHIW). Data was collected from 264 women from November 2000 until April 2001 using a Web survey questionnaire. The participants were predominantly well educated, English-speaking Canadians. A subset of 27 survey respondents completed at least one additional component of this multi-method study. Perception of the reliability of the Web as a source of health information was identified as the key variable influencing frequency of seeking health information on the Web (FSHIW). As well, perceived information source reliability was correlated with two information source characteristics, perceived information source relevance and cognitive access. Two situational variables, health information need and family caregiving, were weakly correlated with FSHIW. Three socio-demographic variables – racial identity, household income, and occupation – affected FSHIW. Qualitative interview data, Web use journals, and recordings of Web use sessions provided a contextualized understanding of the survey data. In particular, they highlighted the importance of situational and affective relevance. To-date, very few empirical research studies have been conducted on how women seek health information on the Web. This unique multi-method study contributes to a better understanding of women’s use of the Web as a source of health information for resolving personal health problems and caring for family members by identifying key variables that affect the frequency of this online behaviour and contextualizing these variables.

This paper explores the experience of reading from the readerâ s perspective, drawing on research conducted by Louise Rosenblatt and Catherine Sheldrick Ross. Rosenblattâ s transactional theory of reading is described and contrasted with contemporary library practices, and these different approaches serve to exemplify the poles of what she calls the efferent-aesthetic continuum. Library educators and practitioners tend to reside at one end of the continuum and emphasize goal-oriented searching with pre-defined needs and specifically articulated questions; at the other end we encounter the complex cognitive, emotional, imaginative, associative and experiential transactions that engage pleasure readers. The medium of the book is briefly examined, as are the purposive skills that can emerge from the practice of reading for pleasure. To better serve readers, the largest body of library users, it is incumbent upon the library profession to understand the detailed processes and characteristics that constitute the reading experience.

The nature of work for librarians/information professionals is undergoing a profound transformation, due to the arrival of deadly diseases like AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) and the change in information needs of the local community. This change necessitates much more professional expertise, updated knowledge, critical thinking and involvement in developing effective AIDS literacy programs. Information professionals serving in different libraries or potential information dissemination centers can provide dedicated services to society by helping to access AIDS information not only in urban settings but also in rural environments. This paper outlines strategies for effective collaboration in the context of AIDS literacy promotion efforts. It identifies a number of obstacles in the process of empowering the community and suitable measures essential for success.

This paper discusses user needs for a system that indexes tables and figures culled from scientific journal articles. These findings are taken from a comprehensive investigation into scientistsâ satisfaction with and use of a tables and figures retrieval prototype. Much previous research has examined the usability and features of digital libraries and other online retrieval systems that retrieve either full-text of journal articles, traditional article-level abstracts, or both. In contrast, this paper examines the needs of users directly searching for and accessing discrete journal article components â figures, tables, graphs, maps, and photographs â that have been individually indexed.

Artificial Intelligence Lab, Department of MIS, University of Arizona / As new and emerging classes of information systems applications the applications become more overwhelming, pressing, and diverse, several well-known information retrieval (IR) problems have become even more urgent in this “network-centric” information age. Information overload, a result of the ease of information creation and rendering via the Internet and the World Wide Web, has become more evident in people’s lives. Significant variations of database formats and structures, the richness of information media, and an abundance of multilingual information content also have created severe information interoperability problems-structural interoperability, media interoperability, and multilingual interoperability. The conventional approaches to addressing information overload and information interoperability problems are manual in nature, requiring human experts as information intermediaries to create knowledge structures and/or ontologies. As information content and collections become even larger and more dynamic, we believe a systemaided bottom-up artificial intelligence (AI) approach is needed. By applying scalable techniques developed in various AI subareas such as image segmentation and indexing, voice recognition, natural language processing, neural networks, machine learning, clustering and categorization, and intelligent agents, we can provide an alternative system-aided approach to addressing both information overload and information interoperability.