This research explored the information needs of patient families and hospital staff at a pediatric hospital system in Dallas, Texas. Library statistics recorded in four hospital libraries from 2011 - 2013 were used to analyze the information requests from patient families and hospital staff. Crosstabulations revealed the extent to which patient families and hospital staff used the libraries to satisfy their information needs. The data showed that patient families used the libraries very differently than hospital staff. Chi-square tests for independence were performed to identify the relationships between the Classification (Patient Family, Hospital Staff) and two descriptors of information needs (Request Type, Resources Used). There were a total of 1,406 information requests analyzed. The data showed that patient families and hospital staff information requests differed greatly in the number of information requests, the type of information requested, the resources used and the time the library staff spent on the requests. Chi-square analyses revealed relationships statistically significant at the p < .05 level; however, the strength of the relationships varied.

This study explores the everyday life information seeking (ELIS) behavior of Catholic clergy in Northern Nigeria and describes their information use environment (IUE). It employed a mixed-method case study using survey and episodic interview techniques of data collection. The ELIS of Savolainen, the IUE of Taylor and the small world of Chatman were theoretical frameworks that guided this study. Findings showed that the IUE of these Catholic clergy is shaped by four elements: (1) geographical location and culture, (2) the celibate clergy, (3) their information needs, and (4) the information sources used to resolve these needs. Three types of information needs were identified: essential needs, circumstantial needs and intermittent needs. There was a high interrelatedness between the effects of culture and celibacy on the information seeking of these clergy. They are not likely to cross boundaries of their world to seek particularly essential information about their ministry or private lives. The findings of this study align with Chatman’s proposition that members who live in the round will not cross the boundaries of their world to seek information. The study found problems with access and availability of information, which included lack of familiarity with electronic/online library databases among the clergy, and the lack of archives and documentation of records and historical materials. It recommended the development of an archiving and documentation plan that digitizes paper documents for electronic management, including policies on data curation for the Catholic religious institutions in Nigeria.

in English Introduction. This thesis aims to qualitatively map the current situation of the information behavior and fulfilment information-seeking needs of students of the 3rd Medical Faculty of Charles University, which can be reflected in subsequent professional practice of graduates. Methods. Analysis of selected Czech information behavior studies defined the research questions used in semi-structured interviews with the respondents from the 3rd Medical Faculty of Charles University. Conclusions were deducted through the complex analysis of the interview records and then compared with selected foreign researches. Result. The interviews were conducted with 20 respondents from General Medicine, General Nurse and Physiotherapy across different years of study. The result is very complex and detailed probe into their information behavior. Conclusion. Research has provided a great deal of knowledge about respondents' information behavior from their own perspective and a deeper insight into the issue. This knowledge can serve as a valuable basis for further research.

This diploma thesis focuses on the problem of information behavior in the process of providing medical and health information. Research focuses on identifying information barriers. Research was implemented in several specialized workplaces: Homolka Hospital Library, National Medical Library, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine: Scientific Medical Library, Institute for Postgraduate Medical Education: Department of Scientific Information and Bulovka Hospital Library. The following part is my own research listing the reference workstations and utilizing the information about the problem provided by the local employees. The information was gathered during monitored interviews. The thesis also introduces basic theoretical concepts of the area of information behavior, which are related to the topic. The final part is the evaluation of the results from the collection of information. The components are suggestions for changes to improve.

Mgr. Lenka Němečková An analysis of research support in engineering with the emphasis on a university environment and based upon a survey of information behavior and information needs at the CTU in Prague and UCT Prague (dissertation thesis) Analýza informační podpory uživatelů z oblasti technických oborů a věd s důrazem na vysokoškolské prostředí a opírající se o výzkum informačního chování a informačních potřeb provedený na ČVUT v Praze a VŠCHT Praha (disertační práce) Abstract This thesis is focused on the analysis of researchers' information behavior and information needs in engineering in academia and in industry. It is aimed at identifying trends in research support by university libraries based on research of information behavior and information needs that has been conducted at the CTU in Prague and UCT Prague and by a brief insight into industrial environment. Initial parts of the thesis provide an overview of classification schemes in engineering. It also describes brief differences between university and industry environment with the aim at defining the differences in user information needs. It further provides brief summary of theories and models of information behavior and identifies differences between information needs of students and researchers concluding in defining research skills as basic...

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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The classification of consumable media by mining relevant text for their identifying features is a subjective process. Previous attempts to perform this type of feature mining have generally been limited in scope due having limited access to user data. Many of these studies used human domain knowledge to evaluate the accuracy of features extracted using these methods. In this thesis, we mine book review text to identify nontrivial features of a set of similar books. We make comparisons between books by looking for books that share characteristics, ultimately performing clustering on the books in our data set. We use the same mining process to identify a corresponding set of characteristics in users. Finally, we evaluate the quality of our methods by examining the correlation between our similarity metric, and user ratings.

Social media is today used in Sweden by 88% of the population. On social media platforms discussions of mental health take place, which can be seen as problematic, because of the risk of misinformation being spread. On the other hand these discussions can create connection and provide strategies to individuals struggling. In this study information about depression, on the most used social media platform in Sweden, YouTube, will be explored further. The purpose of the study is to examine what YouTube creators from Sweden express about information sharing and information use, when talking about depression. This has been done by transcribing, thematising and analysing seven YouTube videos. To analyse the videos the theoretical concept cognitive authority has been used. The result of this study shows that information use is expressed in the videos by referring to different sources, presenting factual claims and discussing personal experience. The video creators also explain how information use effects them personally. Information sharing is expressed in the videos by discussing motives and obstacles to sharing information. A conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that prominent patterns can be identified in the videos. These patterns include that the creators mostly discuss their own experiences in their videos, but they also refer to health care professionals regularly. Another pattern identified is that most creators express wanting to share information to create awareness, but they also share information to help others and for the benefit of their own. Further, obstacles for sharing information are discussed in multiple videos, these obstacles are other people and the creators’ emotional reactions. Lastly the study shows that the creators can construct cognitive authorities by using information in a convincing way, by sharing experiences, presenting factual claims, and by referring to different sources. The creators can also construct cognitive authority by sharing information that seems honest and competent, by sharing personal information and explaining how they successfully overcame depression. The cognitive authority can also be constructed by developing personal trust with the viewers, by being personal and showing emotions. / Idag används sociala medier av 88% procent av Sveriges befolkning. På dessa sociala medier diskuteras bland annat psykisk ohälsa, vilket kan problematiseras på grund av risken att desinformation sprids. Å andra sidan kan dessa diskussioner skapa gemenskap och ge strategier till individer som mår dåligt. I denna studie undersöks delande och användning av information om depression på den mest använda sociala medieplattformen i Sverige, Youtube. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad kreatörer på YouTube uttrycker om informationsanvändning och informationsdelning i videos på svenska som handlar om depression. Detta har gjorts genom att sju YouTube-videos transkriberats, tematiserats och analyserats. För att analysera videorna har det teoretiska begreppet kognitiv auktoritet använts. Undersökningens resultat visar att informationsanvändning uttrycks i videorna genom att kreatörerna refererar till olika källor, genom att presentera faktapåståenden, diskutera personliga erfarenheter och effekter av information. En slutsats som kan dras av undersökningen är att vissa framstående mönster kan identifieras i videorna. Dessa mönster är att de flesta kreatörerna uttrycker en vilja till att dela information för att skapa medvetenhet, med flertalet vill även dela information för att hjälpa andra eller för sin egen skull. Vidare har hinder för informationsdelning identifierats, dessa innefattar andra människor och kreatörernas känslomässiga reaktioner. Slutligen visar undersökningen att kreatörer kan skapa kognitiva auktoriteter genom att de använder information på ett övertygande sätt, delar erfarenheter, faktapåståenden och refererar till olika källor. Kreatörerna kan också skapa kognitiv auktoritet genom att de delar information som verkar ärlig och kompetent och berättar hur de överkommit sin depression. Den kognitiva auktoriteten kan även skapas genom att kreatörerna utvecklar personlig tillit till sin publik, vilket görs genom att kreatörerna visar känslor och är personliga.

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The human being and her behavior is complex. Research has shown serendipity and chance to play a great part in the scientific research praxis, still the complexity of human information retrieval is not fully acknowledged in modern libraries. This master thesis compares two different worldviews; the mechanistic and the organic. This in order to understand why information seeking today is increasingly linear when human information behavior is not. The way people believe the world to work reflects on how libraries and information seeking work. The mechanistic worldview, comparing the world to a machine, is rooted in humanity since the seventeenth century and is still shaping our world and institutions. Today databases and linear searches are pushing physical books off shelves to make room for computers and searching on limiting linear mechanical terms instead of complex human ones. This pattern often occurs without adequate questioning and online information is argued to be even more available to patrons than the physical library.  This thesis uses complexity theory and philosophical method to broaden perspectives and question linear searches in scientific information retrieval. It aims to highlight the importance of complex information retrieval and physical browsing for scientific innovation and creativity. Erdelez's original information encountering method was used to obtain source material for philosophical analysis. Philosophical method and complexity theory is used throughout the text to analyze the linear worldview leading up to a joint argumentative summary at the end of every chapter bringing the text forward.  The thesis contains a field study with semi-structured interviews with librarians at the Picture Collection, New York Public Library. This highlights the value of physical browsing through the strong criticism that arose from patrons when the library wanted to archive the unique and browsable research collection.  The result of the thesis argues that the linear technological development in libraries with less physical collections, librarian encounters, passive information gathering and random information paths without underlying commercial drivers create more like-mindedness instead of innovation. This significantly reducing the possibility of interdisciplinary discoveries. A technical development that at an alarming rate shifts information from being sought by people, to people being sought by information.  This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.