scholarly journals Serendipity and information seeking: an empirical study

2003 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen Foster ◽  
Nigel Ford
2021 ◽  
pp. 096100062110429
Author(s):  
Ola Pilerot

A substantial part of the work conducted by librarians at Swedish regional libraries concerns staying alert and informed in ways that allow for continuous development of the kind of knowledge and abilities that are required for doing a qualified job, but this part of the work is elusive and hard to identify. This paper presents an empirical study that elucidates this specific kind of work of keeping abreast and updated with professional information. Empirical data were produced through interviews and logbooks with 10 members of staff at 4 regional libraries in Sweden. The data were analysed by employing Marcia Bates’ model of different information-seeking modes. The results of the study show that the activity in focus is seamlessly intertwined with other work activities and enacted in a variety of ways that are adapted after other work tasks (than the information seeking in itself) and dependent on individual preferences and routines. Since there is a certain conception of this activity as something that should be carried out in a certain systematic way and since it is something that one as a librarian ought to be good at, it is furthermore often associated with a normative dimension that provokes a sense of guilt among the study participants.


2017 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 739-755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Zeng ◽  
Jiuchang Wei ◽  
Dingtao Zhao ◽  
Weiwei Zhu ◽  
Jibao Gu

2022 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 241
Author(s):  
Maria Biezma ◽  
Bettina Braun ◽  
Angela James

While echo questions (EcQs) are often said to be identified by their prosodic properties, there is no empirical study actually supporting such claim. Focusing on wh-utterances we provide results from a production study, a classifier, and a perception study to argue that prosody is not a reliable cue to identify an inquisitive utterance as EcQ. We also offer a model that unifies the semantics of utterances inquiring about what has just been said (EcQs) and utterances inquiring about ‘non-discursive’ facts, information seeking questions (InfQs), while keeping the interpretation of the utterance true to form.


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