This fifth edition of Looking for Information is redesigned to reflect the breadth of research across information behaviour studies, with a new streamlined, six-chapter structure, presenting a refreshed look at people’s information needs and seeking practices, while also embracing contemporary concepts such as information use, creation, and embodiment. This edition retains its core purpose by highlighting essential aspects of research on people’s information behaviours, including detailed examples from more than 1200 research publications. The authors present historic works (including those focused on people’s occupations) alongside contemporary research addressing the situations and contexts that shape people’s experiences. Studies using innovative methodological or theoretical approaches, and those reflecting ongoing shifts towards interdisciplinarity are also featured. The authors carefully balance quick access to summaries and highlights, alongside long-form narratives, while retaining the content and focus that readers of Looking for Information have come to expect. Each chapter serves as a stand-alone piece of writing, with its own reference list and Must-Read recommendations, facilitating e-reading and inclusion on course syllabi. All these features will enhance readers’ experiences of this new edition.

Advocates of lifelong learning promise positive change for individuals and society; however, the transition to university is not easy for mature students. The discourse of the typical 'student' identity (marked by a youthful freedom from parental control) marginalizes many adult learners, who are portrayed as focusing mainly on parenting, employment or other 'adult' issues. The social acceptance of these competing discourses, and their influence on academic policy, affects both the construction of a 'student' identity and students' academic information behaviours. This book presents the results of a study, grounded in a postmodern framework of social constructionism, which explores 'student' identities and the academic and informational experiences of mature students returning to undergraduate studies. The project combined qualitative interviews with students, discourse analysis of the university and social texts on student life, and a quantitative examination of the Canadian Census. The findings call for future research and academic practices that are designed to suit students' individual academic and informational needs, rather than stereotypical discursive constructions.

This text provides an overview of major critical theorists from across disciplines—including the humanities, social sciences, and education—that discusses the importance of these critical perspectives for the advancement of LIS research and scholarship. The practical application of library and information science is based upon 75 years of critical theory and thought. Therefore, it is essential for students and faculty in LIS to be familiar with the work of a wide range of critical theorists. The aim of Critical Theory for Library and Information Science: Exploring the Social from Across the Disciplines is to provide a comprehensive introduction to the critical theorists important to the LIS audience, and to give insights into how such theory can be incorporated into actual LIS research and practice. This book consists of chapters on individual critical theorists ranging from Aglietta to Habermas to Spivak, written by an international group of library and information science scholars. Each chapter provides an overview of the theoretical stance and contributions of the theorist, as well as relevant critical commentary. This book will be particularly valuable as a reference text of core readings for those pursuing doctoral or masters level degrees in LIS.

Exploring 100 key questions (and answers) on the nature and practice of qualitative inquiry, this unique book addresses the practical decisions that researchers must make in their work, from the design of the study, through ethics approval, implementation, and writing. The book's quick-scan, question-and-answer format make it ideal as a supplementary text or as a ready reference for graduate students preparing for comprehensive exams and writing research proposals, undergraduates in affiliated programs who will not be taking a primary course in qualitative research methods, and researchers working across disciplines in academic or practice environments.