Information Seeking In Libraries Research Articles

Question-Negotiation and Information Seeking in Libraries: A Timeless Topic in a Timeless Article

David A. Tyckoson is Associate Dean at California State University, Fresno; e-mail: davety@csufresno.edu. © 2015 David A. Tyckoson, Attribution-NonCommercial (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) CC BY-NC. It has been almost 50 years since Robert Taylor published this classic article in CR yet much of what that article discussed is as fresh today as it was back then.1 As Taylor wrote, “Without doubt, the negotiation of reference questions is one of the most complex acts of human communication” (180). Of course, that is what makes it a classic—it has enduring themes that have prevailed over time. Taylor’s article is still being frequently cited—and this is by no means the first time that it has been identified as a classic. In a 2009 article on the most highly cited articles in Library and Information Science, the authors used the Web of Science database to analyze all of the more than 82,000 papers in the Web of Science subject category of Information Science and Library Science (ISLS).2 In that universe of source material, Taylor was found to be the 17th most cited ISLS article. Given the tendency of Web of Science to focus more on the hard sciences than other disciplines, most of the top articles were either information retrieval or computer science papers. In fact, Taylor is the only one in the top 82 that used any variation of the word library in its title. Based on that Web of Science data, Taylor’s paper is the single most cited library science journal article of all time. My own similar analysis of the Taylor article in Fall 2014 found 364 citations in the Web of Science—and more than 1,000 in Google Scholar. Interestingly, the rate of citation per year has risen over time rather than declined. There were more citations to Taylor in 2011 than in any other single year—and more citations in the last decade (2005–2014) than in any single prior decade. Very few articles in our discipline have either the quantity or the longevity of citation relevancy as Taylor’s paper. This is clear evidence that Taylor’s work remains relevant. The methodology that Taylor used was very innovative for its time. Instead of taking surveys, Taylor conducted in-person interviews with researchers about the processes that they used to find information in real life. He also had a class of undergraduate students log their own process of searching for information while working on a project. This approach focused on actual behaviors of users (and librarians) and anticipated many of the anthropological and ethnographic research studies that are being conducted today. Based on the information obtained from those interviews and research logs, Taylor created a hierarchy of levels of understanding that can be applied to any research query. These include the actual, unexpressed need (visceral need); the conscious, within-brain description of the need (conscious need); the formal statement of that need (formalized

Question-Negotiation and Information Seeking in Libraries

Seekers of information in libraries either go through a librarian intermediary or they help themselves. When they go through librarians they must develop their questions through four levels of need, referred to here as the visceral, conscious, formalized, and compromised needs. In his pre-search interview with an information-seeker the reference librarian attempts to help him arrive at an understanding of his “compromised” need by determining: (1) the subject of his interest; (2) his motivation; (3) his personal characteristics; (4) the relationship of the inquiry to file organization; and (5) anticipated answers. The author contends that research is needed into the techniques of conducting this negotiation between the user and the reference librarian.

The influence of Taylor’s paper, Question-Negotiation and Information-Seeking in Libraries

This study uses bibliometric analysis and citation context analysis to identify the influence of the main concepts embedded in Taylor’s 1968 classic article entitled Question-Negotiation and Information-Seeking in Libraries. This study analyses articles published between 1969 and 2010 which cite Taylor’s article. The results show that Taylor’s article on a question-negotiation model is increasingly visible and its influence is not limited to the discipline of library and information science. Of the 14 cited concepts identified, the concept of “four levels of information needs” was cited most (31.7%), followed by “question negotiation” (20.5%) and “other concepts relating to information needs” (17.9%). The results indicate an increasing trend in the citations of “four levels of information needs” and this concept also received the most attention from information retrieval research. A decreasing trend was evident for the concept of “question negotiation” and this concept was frequently cited by reference service researchers. In addition, among the 10 citation functions, “related literature” was dominant (30.8%). Both “evidence” and “views” were in second place with the same percentage (18.7%), followed by “terms” (9.2%) and “background information” (7.2%). A decreasing trend was identified in the top three citation functions, whereas an increasing trend was observed in the “term” and “background information” functions.

Communication is the Key Skill for Reference Librarians

A review of:
 Taylor, Robert S. "Question-Negotiation and Information Seeking in Libraries." College & Research Libraries 29.3 (1968): 178-94.
 
 Objective – To better understand the question negotiation process in libraries both in intermediated and in self-help situations. To achieve a richer understanding of the relationship between library users and library systems in order to establish a research agenda and inform librarian education.
 
 Design – The first part consisted of qualitative research involving interviews. The second part consisted of a diary study.
 
 Setting – Special engineering libraries in the United States and a university campus (Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania).
 
 Subjects – The participants in the interviews were special librarians. Special librarians were selected because they have more specialized knowledge and respond to more substantive questions in greater depth than do public and academic librarians who emphasize instruction and who encounter staffing restrictions that prevent them from spending too much time on each inquiry. Detailed information on the selection of the individual participants is not provided.
 
 The participants in the diary study were twenty undergraduate students who were enrolled in an information science course.
 
 Methods – The interviews were open-ended and unstructured. The interviews lasted sixty to ninety minutes and were taped. No information is provided on transcription or analysis methods or paradigms.
 
 In the second part, the students were given a reading assignment on information seeking. They then had to select a search topic and document the steps they took, decisions they made, and resources they used to answer the question. The participants were asked to analyze their original question, the type of answer required, and decisions they made in the process. No details are provided on the analysis of the diaries.
 
 Main results – Taylor found five filters required for search definition:
 1. Determination of subject;
 2. Objective and motivation;
 3. Personal characteristics of the inquirer;
 4. Relationship of inquiry description to file organization;
 5. Anticipated or acceptable answers (183)
 
 These five filters provide general information necessary for the for the search definition. These types are not mutually exclusive and may occur simultaneously.
 
 In the diary portion he found:
 1. All participants consulted other people including librarians and fellow students;
 2. None considered the library as a whole;
 3. All inquiries required multiple sources; all answers were synthesized from multiple sources;
 4. Participants were familiar with library research: they used the classification schedule to search, used subject headings, and used indexes or tables of contents.
 5. Question or research problems changed as a result of information found
 
 Conclusion – Question negotiation is a dynamic process which requires feedback and iteration to come to a conclusion. The librarian’s job is to work with the inquirer to understand the information need and then to translate the negotiated need into appropriate search strategies.
 
 The author suggests that library school reference courses be updated to include instruction related to communication and negotiation in addition to the instruction on resources. He suggests more emphasis on questions instead of commands; that is, a cooperative process to determine what information is needed and how to best fulfill the need instead of assuming the inquirer “knows exactly what he wants, can describe its form (book, paper, etc.) and its label (author and title)” (191).
 
 To aid self-help situations, the author recommends better subject description of resources and inquiry-oriented instead of object-oriented systems. He suggests building better query negotiation into self-help systems. At minimum the system should request the user state his objective, if for no other reason than to force the user to reflect on or analyze his question. Help should be available at the time of need, and this can be offered through technology instead of through staffing.

A Study of Humanities Faculty Library Information Seeking Behavior

The purpose of this study is to obtain information which would help planners of the online catalog design a catalog which would be relevant to the needs of university faculty. Data was obtained by means of a questionnaire mailed to the faculty, College of Humanities, University of Utah. It was found that (1) references in books or articles they read; (2) the Subject Catalog; and (3) printed indexes, bibliographies and research guides in that order were the three most utilized information sources. Browsing was an important fourth. The faculty would like more in-depth coverage of the local library collection rather than access to other library catalogs or online databases from the catalog terminal. Feedback and comments in response to an open-ended question varied.

Question-Negotiation and Information Seeking in Libraries

Seekers of information in libraries either go through a librarian intermediary or they help themselves. When they go through librarians they must develop their questions through four levels of need, referred to here as the visceral, conscious, formalized, and needs. In his pre-search interview with an information-seeker the reference librarian attempts to help him arrive at an understanding of his compromised need by determining: (1) the subject of his interest; (2) his motivation; (3) his personal characteristics; (4) the relationship of the inquiry to file organization; and (5) anticipated answers. The author contends that research is needed into the techniques of conducting this negotiation between the user and the reference librarian.