Mapping the everyday life information needs of Catholic clergy

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 549-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Dankasa

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the pattern of everyday life information needs of a group of people in an area with limited access to information, and to investigate how the major dimensions of the everyday life information seeking (ELIS) model apply to information needs in the contexts of the Catholic clergy. Design/methodology/approach – The study applied the concurrent triangulation strategy of mixed-methods research. Data from 15 episodic interviews and surveys of 109 Catholic clergy in Northern Nigeria were collected and analyzed. Findings – A map of the everyday life information needs was developed. Three types of everyday life information needs were identified: essential needs; circumstantial needs; and occasional needs. The information needs of these clergy did not fit into the two major dimensions of Savolainen’s ELIS model. Research limitations/implications – The study was conducted only with Catholic clergy serving in the Northern Catholic dioceses of Nigeria. Originality/value – Although the ELIS model has been applied in several studies, not much attention has been given to comparing how the major dimensions of the model apply to information needs of a group of people in a variety of contexts. This study contributes to the ELIS model by pointing to other contextual situations where seeking orienting and practical information may not be sufficient to account for the everyday life information needs of some types of users.

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Loudon ◽  
Steven Buchanan ◽  
Ian Ruthven

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the everyday life information seeking behaviours of first-time mothers, as they encounter new, significant and pressing information needs which arise alongside their new responsibilities. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach combined narrative interviews with participatory methods to facilitate engagement and remain sensitive to the social context. Findings – Mothers particularly valued the experiential nature of information received from peers or family members. However, fear of judgement influenced their use of interpersonal sources, both on- and off-line. Their accounts of information seeking contained instances of confusion, tension, conflict and information overload. Feeling under pressure to be “good mothers”, they withheld information needs from others, including healthcare professionals. Research limitations/implications – There was a notable absence of younger ( < 20 year old) and/or less educated mothers in the study. This corresponds to previous findings which report that very young mothers are reluctant to participate in support groups with older mothers. They remain an understudied and potentially marginalised group. Practical implications – The findings show how social support groups can mitigate for societal pressures which impact upon mothers’ information behaviour, allowing them to connect and share information within a trusted environment. The study highlights the importance of healthcare and information services professionals remaining sensitive to such pressures. Relatedly, the finding that public libraries are used very little has implications for audience engagement and service provision. Originality/value – Focused upon first-time mothers’ information behaviours during the early stages of parenthood, the study provides insight into how relationships and experiences with others influence information seeking behaviours. It provides evidence that fear of judgement can influence information seeking behaviour, helping us to understand why some information sources, although considered important and useful, can be used very little.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly Hirsh

This literature review explores the Everyday Life Information-Seeking needs of adolescents. Adolescents are at a unique stage in their development and have needs that distinguish them from both younger children and adults. This review first defines Everyday Life Information-Seeking and adolescence. It then explores arguments that ELIS needs grow out of developmental needs. It describes several typologies of adolescents’ ELIS needs. Finally, it examines the ELIS needs of specific adolescent populations.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Asif Naveed ◽  
◽  
Syeda Hina Batool ◽  
Mumtaz Ali Anwar ◽  

Introduction. This study seeks to investigate the everyday-life information seeking behaviour of postgraduate students living in the residence halls of the University of the Punjab, Lahore. Method. A critical incident technique, a qualitative research approach, was used in order to achieve its objectives. Face to face interviews of twenty postgraduate students, having a rural background, selected through purposive sampling, using a semi-structured interview approach were conducted. Analysis. The verbal data was organized and analysed using thematic analysis. The important data was coded and grouped for deriving themes. Results. The participants' situations were centred on health, socio-economic, cultural, technological, and legal issues. These students mainly relied on inter-personal information sources in order to resolve their everyday-life issues. The role of university libraries was non-existent in meeting the everyday-life information needs of these participants. Some participants suspected the quality and scope of information received from news and social media. These participants were mostly unsuccessful in accessing needed everyday-life information on time due to lack of information sources. Conclusions. The results have implications for both theory and practice. It extends the scope of the everyday-life information seeking model by adding a new dimension and provides insights into trans-national perspectives. If the everyday-life issues of resident postgraduate university students remained unresolved due to lack of information and institutional support, it might affect their academic achievement and research productivity. Therefore, the university administration should plan on-campus consultancy services within student affairs offices for supporting such students to overcome difficulties in light of their everyday-life information needs. The library staff should also design services to support those provided by the university administration.


Author(s):  
Alison J Head ◽  
Michael B. Eisenberg

This paper reports on college students’ everyday life information-seeking behavior and is based on findings from 8,353 survey respondents on 25 U.S. college campuses. A large majority of respondents had looked for news and, to a slightly lesser extent, decision-making information about purchases and health and wellness within the previous six months. Almost all the respondents used search engines, though students planning to purchase something were more likely to use search engines, and those looking for spiritual information were least likely to use search engines. Despite the widespread use of search engines, the process of filtering relevant from non-relevant search results was reportedly the most difficult part of everyday life research. As a whole, these students used a hybrid information-seeking strategy for meeting their everyday life information needs, turning to search engines and Wikipedia almost as much as they did to friends and family. A preliminary theory is introduced that describes the relationship between students’ evaluation practices and their risk-associated searches.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Paiva

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how material gathering and elicitation can induce metacognition and metaemotions in interviewees and its usefulness for the study of affective phenomena. Design/methodology/approach – The author will draw on the exploratory study on sound affects conducted with five individuals in Lisbon’s metropolitan area in order to discuss these aspects. After presenting the methodology, the author will address the concepts of metacognition and metaemotion. Afterwards, the author will explain how these occur during the gathering of data by ordinary people and the use of elicitation of materials during interviews. Findings – Metacognitive and metaemotional experiences can be triggered through material gathering and their elicitation during interviews with the purpose of identifying aspects of the everyday experience that are usually unnoticed. Furthermore, they are instrumental to obtain empirical data that illustrates subjects in their everyday lives as simultaneously affective-reactive and reflexive, meaning-making individuals. Originality/value – The interview has often been disregarded as a method for interpreting affective phenomena. However, the author argue that this method remains very useful to address the distinct interpretations that subjects make of themselves and their emplaced experiences, by calling for attention to the role of metacognition and metaemotions, an instrumental yet unrecognized tool for interpreting affective phenomena.


Author(s):  
Hawa Alnaki

The study will examine the everyday life information seeking behavior of new Muslim immigrants in Montreal, as well as their information needs and the challenges they face. While there has been some work that focuses on the information needs and information seeking behavior of new immigrants in the United States, to date there has been little research within the Canadian context. Specifically, there is a failure to account for new Muslim immigrants' information needs in Montreal from the perspective of the library and information science field. Most information behavior research categorizes Muslim immigrants in Canada according to nationality or gender.


2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (6) ◽  
pp. 1298-1316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Hertzum ◽  
Jette Seiden Hyldegård

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how four international students at a Danish university cope with their study-related and everyday information needs, behaviorally as well as affectively, and how their information seeking blends with their cross-cultural adaptation. Design/methodology/approach Each of the four participants contributed ten diaries and took part in three interviews during the first semester of their stay. Findings International students’ information needs and seeking behavior are shaped by their host university but also by cross-cultural, personal and situational issues. While the cross-cultural issues set international students apart from domestic students, the personal and situational issues create individual differences that call for more individually tailored support. The studied international students lacked information about both study-related and everyday issues. These two types of issues were intertwined and experienced as equally stressful. However, study-related information needs were more important, whereas everyday information needs were more difficult to resolve. In addition, participants tended to feel on their own when it came to finding needed information, but studying abroad also had elements of personal growth in meeting life’s challenges. Research limitations/implications More participants are needed to investigate how international students’ information seeking evolves over time. Originality/value This study contributes detailed information about international students’ study-related and everyday information seeking during their first semester abroad. The study has implications for everyday-life studies of international students’ information behavior and the international classroom in general.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3884
Author(s):  
Sadaf Rafiq ◽  
Abid Iqbal ◽  
Shafiq Ur Rehman ◽  
Muhammad Waqas ◽  
Muhammad Asif Naveed ◽  
...  

Purpose: Everyday life information seeking (ELIS) is essential for the mastery of life and plays a central role in the daily problem-solving activities of all human beings. This study aimed to investigate the everyday life information seeking of female university students residing at hostels in Lahore, Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative research approach using a survey method was adopted to identify the dimensions of ELIS and to fill the paucity of research on the topic. Two-hundred and forty-eight female students living in various university and private hostels in Lahore, Pakistan, were surveyed, and the collected data was analyzed using Statistics Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Findings: Results of the study revealed that hostel living expanded the social circle of students, as it offered exposure to diverse multicultural social groups. Female students living in hostels required information related to their academic needs, safety concerns, social life, and self-help issues. They relied mainly on mobiles phones, the internet, social media, and inter-personal relationships for everyday information. Cultural differences, natural hesitation, language barriers, time concerns, and difficulty in identifying reliable information were the primary obstacles in meeting everyday life information needs. Originality/value: The findings of this study can be used as a premise for developing interventions and information services for female students that allow them to live comfortably in a safe environment in hostels and achieve their educational goals. The study results may also provide useful insights for university administrations to establish libraries in hostels to better cater to their female residents’ information needs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 398-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa G. Ocepek

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to argue that scholars in the information behavior (IB) field should embrace the theoretical framework of the everyday to explore a more holistic view of IB. Design/methodology/approach The paper describes the theory of the everyday and delineates four opportunities offered by scholars of the everyday. The paper concludes with three examples that highlight what a more everyday-focused everyday information behavior might look like. Findings The theory of the everyday provides a useful theoretical framework to ground research addressing the everyday world as well as useful concepts for analysis and research methodology. Originality/value The theoretical framework of the everyday contributes to IB research by providing a theoretical justification for work addressing everyday life as well as useful concepts for analysis. The paper also outlines the benefits of integrating methods influenced by institutional ethnography, a methodology previously used to address the nuances of the everyday world.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document