Many Library and Information Science (LIS) scholars have long articulated the importance of physical and social settings—the environment—when examining how individuals acquire, store, organize, maintain, dispose of, and use information in one of their home or work lives. Yet, few have raised the question of how these information practices are altered and affected in home office spaces, fused living and working environments that lie at the intersection of the personal and the professional. This thesis resulted from an exploratory, ethnographic research study centred upon describing and analyzing the habits of information management and information use that characterize home office settings—specifically, professional home offices that each serve as their user’s only workplace. It argues that the professional home office differs from both traditional professional offices in corporate or institutional settings and from personal home offices used for non-professional tasks and pursuits. The professional home offices of four printing company account managers provided the field from which data was gathered, collected by way of guided tours, diagramming, photography, interviews, and observation. Findings suggest that information practices in professional home offices are a continual negotiation between the two spheres of household and organization, but that this will not necessarily imply a compromise of one for the other.

Many Library and Information Science (LIS) scholars have long articulated the importance of physical and social settings—the environment—when examining how individuals acquire, store, organize, maintain, dispose of, and use information in one of their home or work lives. Yet, few have raised the question of how these information practices are altered and affected in home office spaces, fused living and working environments that lie at the intersection of the personal and the professional. This thesis resulted from an exploratory, ethnographic research study centred upon describing and analyzing the habits of information management and information use that characterize home office settings—specifically, professional home offices that each serve as their user’s only workplace. It argues that the professional home office differs from both traditional professional offices in corporate or institutional settings and from personal home offices used for non-professional tasks and pursuits. The professional home offices of four printing company account managers provided the field from which data was gathered, collected by way of guided tours, diagramming, photography, interviews, and observation. Findings suggest that information practices in professional home offices are a continual negotiation between the two spheres of household and organization, but that this will not necessarily imply a compromise of one for the other.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to an increased understanding of the importance of user education in relation to undergraduates´ bachelor thesis. The secondary purpose of the study was to investigate how institutional impact is reflected in student text production. The starting point of the study is an observation of user education at Södertörn University Library, where students in the process of writing their bachelor thesis in tourism participated. This student group became the focus of the study.         Through a survey, feedback was collected concerning what the students think the user education might have contributed to in relation to their thesis writing. Whether the importance of user education reflected in the papers has been investigated based on a comparative reference analysis that included bachelor theses in tourism science published between 2015 and 2017. The students' questionnaire answered in general in the support of the user education, where an increased focus on searching in databases and after scientific articles was emphasized. The comparative reference analysis also did not dispute what was expressed in the questionnaire survey although the difference was marginal to those who participated and those that did not. Based on Norman Fairclough's critical discourse analysis, it was investigated how institutional impact was reflected in selected papers. By analysing the user education and guidelines, it was possible to see how a certain type of academic discourse was reproduced in the theses. This study describes the importance of library education in several ways. The discourse analysis showed that library education has a role as a genre of governance where academic and disciplinary discourse is reproduced. The survey also showed that library education constitutes a cognitive authority towards the students, which correlated with the reference analysis.

Abstract This dissertation focuses on the information use in the bachelor’s theses at Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (UASs, polytechnics). The study was carried out as a multiple case study based on qualitative data consisting of a sample of bachelor’s theses and research literature. The approach is oriented towards theory building. The study was motivated by earlier research findings about the complex and discursively controversial nature of the Finnish UASs. An approach based on structuralist semiotics and a typology of systems was employed to support the qualitative data-driven analyses. The following types were found: (i) structure-driven, (ii) those emphasizing students’ unique situations, and (iii) reflective combinations of the two. Several strategies related to each type were identified. A model including eight levels was formed proceeding from dichotomies in meaning and issues of agency, to the information use typical of the two main genres, research or practice based thesis, and finally, to the means of manifesting them in textual blocks. The model introduced in the dissertation can be applied in the guidance of thesis processes and in thesis-like project approaches. Writing a thesis appears as a unique episode. The insitutional processes appear as recurring loops in the life span of the UAS. The guiding of the thesis process is manifested as case-by-case interventions combining unique making and institutional routines. The problems encountered by the actors of the thesis processes form potential targets for interventions. The results indicate that the present views on the relevant actors related to the thesis process are too narrow, if they only comprise the student, the teacher and the representatives of project partners as recognized actors. The problematic issues in information seeking and use indicate that the personnel of the library should also be included in the actors of thesis processes. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimus tarkastelee tiedonkäyttöä ammattikorkeakoulun opinnäytetöissä ja esittää mallin tiedonkäytön ilmiöiden konteksteista. Tutkimus on toteutettu teoriaa luovana, aineistolähtöisenä laadullisena monitapaustutkimuksena. Kirjallisuutta luetaan tutkimuksessa yhtenä aineistoryhmänä. Tutkimuksessa käytetään aineistolähtöisen lähestymistavan tukena strukturalistisen semiotiikan klassisesta perinteestä täydennettyä generatiivisen kulun mallia. Opinnäytetyötoiminnan lähtökohtia jäsennetään myös kolmijakona objektivistisiin konemaisiin systeemeihin, yksilöllistä tilannetta painottavaan näkemykseen ja näitä yhdistäviin systeemirakenteisiin. Tutkimusta motivoivat osaltaan tulokset ammattikorkeakoulun kompleksisesta ja diskursiivisesti jännitteisestä luonteesta, joka heijastuu opinnäytetyötoimintaan. Tutkimus on yksittäisistä ammattikorkeakouluista ja niiden yhteenliittymistä riippumaton. Aiempi vastaava tutkimus ammattikorkeakoulun opinnäytetyötoiminnasta on ammattikorkeakoulun henkilökunnan tekemää. Aineistosta on tunnistettu tiedonkäytön ilmiöitä, jotka on jaoteltu tiukkarajaisia järjestelmiä tavoitteleviin, kunkin opinnäytetyötilanteen ainutkertaisuutta korostaviin sekä informaatiokäytäntöihin liittymisen dynamiikkaa hyödyntäviin. Tiedonkäytön ilmiöitä mallinnetaan 8-tasoisena rakenteena edeten merkityksen läsnä- tai poissaolon dikotomiasta toimijuuteen, tekstilajin tiedonkäytöllisiin ominaisuuksiin ja näiden tuottamiseen tekstijaksoissa. Mallia voidaan soveltaa opinnäytetöiden ohjauksessa ja hanketoiminnassa. Opinnäytetyön tekeminen ilmenee ainutkertaisena elämäntapahtumana. Teettäminen on ammattikorkeakoululle toistuva rutiini ja tilaajalle ainutkertaista tai rutiinia. Ohjaaminen on tapauskohtaisia interventioita, liittymisiä tekemis- ja teettämistoimintaan. Tiedonkäytön rakenteita ja ongelmia on syytä käsitellä mahdollisina interventiokohteina ammattikorkeakoulun opinnäytetyötoimintaan ja tietokäsityksiin. Tutkimuksessa tunnistetut ongelmat tiedonhankinnassa ja -käytössä osoittavat, että kirjaston henkilökuntakin tulee käsittää opinnäytetyön toimijaksi.

This qualitative study uses narrative analysis to explore the outcomes of information seeking and use among public library users. Twelve women between the ages of 51 and 72, all residents of Fayetteville, Arkansas who self-identified as regular library users, were interviewed to gather their life stories and their experiences using the public library. The participants in this study used information to enable learning and, often, a change in their affective state. The participants used the new information they encountered constructively, to engage with the knowledge and experience they possessed; this use of information always involved reflection, dialogue, or both. The outcomes from these actions are the creation of new knowledge, a change in the participants' meaning schemes, and/or an affective change. In addition, the narratives strongly suggest that information seeking and use by adults in public libraries can sometimes facilitate or, on its own, precipitate a perspective transformation and the adoption of new meanings. Overall, the findings support Mezirow's theory of transformative learning as a model for understanding information use and outcomes among users of the public library. The major implications of this study are two-fold. One, it introduces to information science Mezirow's theory of transformative learning which could provide greater understanding of how adults use information, and the outcomes that arise from this use. Two, it provides library professionals with information about the library in the lives of their users and concrete information about how libraries can enable transformative learning.

The web information behaviors of users as they interacted with a metadata navigator, the Personal Information (PI) Agent, and reflected upon their interaction experiences were studied. The process included studying the complete iterative (repeated) cycle of information needs, information seeking, and information use of users interacting with an internet-based prototype metadata PI Agent tool. Detlor’s theory of web information behaviors of organizational users was utilized as a theoretical foundation for studying human-information interactions via the PI Agent tool. The qualitative research design allowed for the use of triangulation within the context of a one-group pretest-posttest design. Triangulation occurred in three phases: (a) observe, (b) collect, and (c) reflect. Observations were made as participants solved three problem situations. Participants’ computer log and print screen data were collected, and follow-up interviews were conducted once all posttest sessions ended to enable users to reflect on their experiences. The three triangulation phases ensured saturation of data and greater depth regarding the participants’ information behaviors. Content analysis occurred via exploratory pattern analysis using the posttest Problem Steps Recorder (PSR) log data and on the six interviewees’ follow-up interview data. Users engaged in iterative cycles of information needs, information seeking, and information use to resolve the presented problem situations. The participants utilized the PI Agent tool iteratively to eliminate their knowledge gaps regarding the presented problem situations. This study was the first to use PSR log data for capturing evidence of the iterative search process as defined by Detlor. The implications for best practices were inspired by participant feedback, and recommendations for further study are made.

Background: Health information system (HIS) performance has been defined as “data quality and the continuous use of information †. The quality of data, as well as the culture of data use in an organisation has been shown to shape the way data is used. In order to fully understand data use practices with the aim of strengthening the HIS, one needs to first understand whether the context and “culture†in the organisation is conducive to data use. Are the policies, structures, processes and people within the organisation aiding data use? In what ways do managers view and use data? Aim: In this study, we sought to explore the culture of health information use on a district and sub district management level. The aim was to contribute to the wider knowledge on information use by exploring the data use practices and factors that shape its use among these managers. What is the culture of data use in the district management structures? When, why and in what way does data get brought into the management discussion? Do managers feel that the information produced are useful in aiding their decision making, and what do they recommend be changed? What are the key factors that affect data use practices? Methods: This thesis comprises a literature review of published articles, conducted in order to provide context for the study of the culture of data use, whilst defining the problem to be investigated. The full thesis comprises the literature review, the original study protocol, a full manuscript in the format of a publishable article and a set of appendices. The study was granted ethical approval and permission from the provincial department of health. Given the exploratory purpose of the study, we conducted a mini ethnographic case study using qualitative research methods in a rural health district of the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The researcher employed ethnographic methods that included participant observation, in depth key informant interviews, document reviews as well as informal conversations to collect data. We used the PRISM framework as a guide for analysing our findings. Findings: Our findings suggest that there is a strong focus in this district on reporting requirements and technical aspects of producing good quality data. The drive to achieve excellence in production of quality data may be in tension with another important organisational value, which is the need of managers, for ease of access to relevant data, to facilitate decision-making and improvement of health service delivery. Managers’ overall experience is of not receiving the health information support they require. Instead, they experienced an organisational culture of using health information to narrowly measure targets and performance, which left them feeling unsupported and frustrated. Managers were resilient in managing these challenges and created alternative ways of accessing the data they needed for decision-making. Conclusion: We conclude that in our setting where the technical component of producing good data was well performed, this was not sufficient to guarantee effective use of data for quality improvements. Behavioural and organisational factors were found to play an important role as both obstacles and facilitators in shaping the culture of data use, information that is useful to inform design of interventions for health information strengthening.

Professional development is a lifelong learning process and technology has provided and will continue to provide new and different delivery methods. Regardless of the delivery method, the intention of professional development is to increase teacher knowledge, which in turn, increases student achievement. At a southeastern community college, meaningful professional development and technology training became a service requested by faculty and staff. The college identified the need to provide in-service training that could fit within their employees’ schedules and incorporate the college’s existing infrastructure. This need grew into the creation of virtual training sessions hosted by the eLearning department of the college. The virtual training sessions were conducted initially as a synchronous live web conference and recorded for later use as an asynchronous recorded webcast. Specifically, 7 research questions were developed determine if live web conference or recorded webcast training sessions were an effective delivery method of training, if the sessions were having an impact on professional learning, and if there were factors that were affecting participation in the sessions. The primary mode of data collection was though a survey instrument designed by the researcher. Results of the statistical analysis showed that faculty are participating in the sessions beyond minimum requirements, with the highest participation in recorded webcasts. The training program studied was very effective as indicated by high session attendance, high levels of information usage and moderate to high ability of participants being able to utilize the information gained from the sessions. Participants valued the elements of the live sessions including interaction and the ability to clarify information without delay. Several barriers raised for attending the live sessions included the following: lack of time, presentation speed, and lack of topic detail. Participants indicated the appreciated elements of a recorded webcast included the following: convenience, ease of use, and flexibility. Participants did not raise many barriers for attendance in recorded webcasts, although lack of time and repetitive topics were mentioned. The valued characteristics of both live web conference and recorded webcast mirrored the valued elements of the both individual delivery methods. The study concludes with implications and recommendations for further research.

Models of the need-driven information search and the information appraisal process were formed from a comprehensive literature review of factors affecting perceived credibility and trust in online information. The social component of online credibility has not, to date, been thoroughly researched. This component's impact on the development of the perceived credibility of online information was examined in two experiments. In the first experiment, the impact of positive, mixed, and negative social feedback on the development of the perceived credibility of a web page was evaluated. In the second experiment, the effect of social feedback on credibility was examined under two levels of motivation for information use to investigate whether social feedback becomes less important as motivation to obtain quality information increases. The results of Experiment 1 suggest that type of feedback can influence perceived web page credibility. Pages with negative audience feedback received the lowest credibility ratings, while pages with positive audience feedback received the highest credibility ratings. Pages with mixed or no audience feedback received higher credibility ratings than pages with negative feedback, but lower credibility ratings than pages with positive feedback. In Experiment 2, high motivation did not impact the number of web page elements participants reported that they used to determine credibility. High motivation for information use also did not reduce the impact of audience feedback on perceived credibility.

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