Abstract
Affected variables of information needs occurrence of an information seeker which discussed in this paper are an important research area of the user studies. This paper is drawn on literary reviews focusing, in particularly the information needs concepts, theories, and its affected variables which explored the cognitive metaphors and methods. Even though researchers reviewed a range of several existing published pieces of literature on the target topic, the main objective of this paper is to discuss the key concepts of information needs from different angles to unify the concept of information needs through a new dimension while designing a very comprehensive hypothetical model of information needs occurrences. This paper found that information needs occurrences happen through a complex process of involving the individual's insufficient knowledge structure. The complexity arose due to two kind of basic variables such as cognitive and socio variables. The problem of insufficient knowledge became apparent when a variety of void areas were identified in the current state of knowledge. These voids were identified through cognitive environment. The cognitive variables were found as a set of features which expresses the individual's knowledge identity and capacity. This paper suggests that some specific cognitive factors such as skill factors, knowledge factors and psychological statuses of the overall intellectual power which affected with the insufficient needs. In this context, different avenues of information needs occurrences were discussed in order to identify the nature of the needs and the characteristics involved with that process. Key words: Information needs, Information needs occurrence, Information seeking, Information seeking models doi: 10.4038/jula.v11i0.323 Journal of the University Librarians Association of Sri Lanka (Vol. 11) 2007 p.50-78
Highlights
Affected variables of information needs occurrence of an information seeker which discussed in this paper are an imporfantresearch area of the user studies
Identification of the nature of the information needs and the affected variables of those needs is a significant part of the professional role
Even though there is a considerable interest in the role of information needs, it has been decided to examine several voluminous studies in this paper in order to have a clear understanding of the affected variables and the basic stages of information needs occurrences and investigate those in different contexts to make a unified framework
Summary
Lack of understanding the subtle differences of a user's information needs is one of the crucial problems for information providers. The essays discussed have focused especially on the impact of cognitive variables on information needs occurrences from different angles This situation expressed in various ways and terms in the above discussion such as a process of question negotiation (Taylor, 1962-1968), Perception or gap of knowledge (Allen, 1996), Making sense (Dervin , 1982-1992), As a stress (Wilson, 1981,1996), As an antecedent factor (Johnson, 1997), As a process of uncertainty (Kuhlthau, 1991). The users expect more dynamic ways of finding those needs such as formal or semi formal channels(Table:O l)
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