Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Selecting fiction as part of everyday life information seeking

Selecting fiction as part of everyday life information seeking Purpose – This study seeks to examine, from the viewpoint of 12 adult fiction readers who are members of book clubs, how they go about selecting fiction books to borrow from the public library. Design/methodology/approach – Each participant took part in an individual, semi‐structured, face‐to‐face interview. Using Williamson's Ecological Model of Information Seeking and Use as the conceptual framework, the study examined the role that fiction readers' “internal environments” and “external contexts” played in their book choices. Findings – The selection of fiction books at the public library occurred, to a large extent, outside it. Fiction books were selected as part of everyday life information seeking, influenced by study participants' personal characteristics and circumstances as well as sources from their everyday lives, which typically included family, friends, book club and the mass media. While the public library was the main means by which study participants obtained their fiction books, it was not the first source to which they turned for ideas on what to read. Originality/value – The study moves from a preoccupation of readers' actions at the public library to examine, more holistically, how everyday life information sources influence their choices of fiction books at the public library. It highlights the purposive and serendipitous dimensions of book selections and also underscores the importance of recognizing trust as a determining factor in book selection. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Documentation Emerald Publishing

Selecting fiction as part of everyday life information seeking

Kamy Ooi; Chern Li Liew
Journal of Documentation , Volume 67 (5): 25 – Sep 6, 2011
Download PDF
25 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/selecting-fiction-as-part-of-everyday-life-information-seeking-XTMRSQCtyP
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0022-0418
DOI
10.1108/00220411111164655
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – This study seeks to examine, from the viewpoint of 12 adult fiction readers who are members of book clubs, how they go about selecting fiction books to borrow from the public library. Design/methodology/approach – Each participant took part in an individual, semi‐structured, face‐to‐face interview. Using Williamson's Ecological Model of Information Seeking and Use as the conceptual framework, the study examined the role that fiction readers' “internal environments” and “external contexts” played in their book choices. Findings – The selection of fiction books at the public library occurred, to a large extent, outside it. Fiction books were selected as part of everyday life information seeking, influenced by study participants' personal characteristics and circumstances as well as sources from their everyday lives, which typically included family, friends, book club and the mass media. While the public library was the main means by which study participants obtained their fiction books, it was not the first source to which they turned for ideas on what to read. Originality/value – The study moves from a preoccupation of readers' actions at the public library to examine, more holistically, how everyday life information sources influence their choices of fiction books at the public library. It highlights the purposive and serendipitous dimensions of book selections and also underscores the importance of recognizing trust as a determining factor in book selection.

Journal

Journal of Documentation – Emerald Publishing

Published: Sep 6, 2011

Keywords: Fiction readers; Everyday life information seeking; Book clubs; Readers' advisory tools; Public libraries; Lending services

References

  • People, place, and questions: an investigation of the everyday life information‐seeking behaviours of urban young adults
    Agosto, D.E.; Hughes‐Hassell, S.
  • Mass media
    American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language
  • A decade's worth of research on browsing fiction collections
    Baker, S.L.
  • Understanding our value: assessing the nature of the impact of library services
    Bawden, D.; Calvert, A.; Robinson, L.; Urquhart, C.; Bray, C.; Amosford, J.
  • Anomalous state of knowledge as a basis for information retrieval
    Belkin, N.J.
  • When adults talk in circles: book groups and contemporary reading practices
    Bessman Taylor, J.
  • Buy, borrow or beg? An investigation into how fiction readers get their books
    Bolam, F.
  • Public library services to the romance reader: an online survey of romance readers
    Bryson, M.K.
  • Gaining access to everyday life information seeking
    Carey, R.F.; McKechnie, L.E.F.; McKenzie, P.J.
  • Looking for Information: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs, and Behavior
    Case, D.O.
  • The information world of low‐skilled workers
    Chatman, E.A.
  • Readers' Advisory 101
    Chelton, M.K.
  • Value, Collins English Dictionary: Complete and Unabridged
    Collins English Dictionary
  • Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches
    Creswell, J.W.
  • Fiction in Wellington: a survey of user preferences in public libraries in greater Wellington
    Davidson, J.; Cave, R.
  • Users as research inventions: how research categories perpetuate inequities
    Dervin, B.
  • Information seeking and use by battered women: a person in progressive‐situations approach
    Dunne, J.E.
  • Information encountering: a conceptual framework for accidental information discovery
    Erdelez, S.
  • Finding pleasure in information seeking: leisure and amateur genealogists exploring their Irish ancestry
    Fulton, C.
  • The representation of fictional information
    Gerrig, R.J.; Prentice, D.A.
  • The creativity of reading fiction: an exploration of the creative processes and responses of fiction readers
    Glen, L.
  • Browsing in Public Libraries
    Goodall, D.
  • Qualitative Research for the Information Professional: A Practical Handbook
    Gorman, G.E.; Clayton, P.
  • Use of fiction categories in major American public libraries
    Harrell, G.
  • Information activities and resources in an episode of gourmet cooking
    Hartel, J.
  • Reading Groups
    Hartley, J.
  • Everyday information needs and information sources of homeless parents
    Hersberger, J.
  • Trust in information sources: seeking information from people, documents, and virtual agents
    Hertzum, M.; Andersen, H.H.K.; Andersen, V.; Hansen, C.B.
  • The Practice of Qualitative Research
    Hesse‐Biber, S.N.; Leavy, P.
  • Taking back readers' advisory
    Hoffert, B.
  • Improving the model for interactive readers' advisory services
    Hollands, N.
  • Conceptualizing a center for the reader
    Holt, G.
  • The attitudes and qualities of selectors of fiction in New Zealand public libraries
    Houghton, C.R.
  • How readers select fiction: a survey in Kent
    Jennings, B.; Sear, L.
  • Choosing people: the role of social capital in information‐seeking behaviour
    Johnson, C.A.
  • Emerging technologies changing our service delivery models
    Kajewski, M.A.
  • Paranormal information seeking in everyday life: the paranormal in information action
    Kari, J.
  • Information and higher things in life: addressing the pleasurable and the profound in information science
    Kari, J.; Hartel, J.
  • Concepts of information seeking and their presence in the practical library literature
    Kingrey, K.P.
  • Adult readers of science fiction and fantasy: a qualitative study of reading preference and genre perception
    Kofmel, K.G.
  • Information‐seeking behaviour
    Krikelas, J.
  • Asking questions: techniques for semistructured interviews
    Leech, B.L.
  • Teens and social media (PEW Internet & American Life Project Report)
    Lenhart, A.; Madden, M.; Rankin Macgill, A.; Smith, A.
  • Factors influencing distance‐education graduate students' use of information sources: a user study
    Liu, Z.; Yang, Z.Y.
  • Book Clubs: Women and the Uses of Reading in Everyday Life
    Long, E.
  • A model of information practices in accounts of everyday life information seeking
    McKenzie, P.J.
  • Finding what you're looking for: a reader‐centred approach to the classification of adult fiction in public libraries
    Maker, R.
  • Library 2.0 theory: Web 2.0 and its implications for libraries
    Maness, J.M.
  • A look at readers' advisory services
    May, A.K.; Olesh, E.; Miltenberg, A.W.; Lackner, P.
  • Learning from leisure reading: a study of adult library patrons
    Moyer, J.E.
  • The education of public librarians to serve leisure readers in the United States, Canada and Europe
    Moyer, J.E.; Weech, T.L.
  • I'll read anything as long as it's a mystery: the readers of large print materials
    Murray, J.
  • The complementary relationship between the internet and traditional mass media: the case of online news and information
    Nguyen, A.; Western, M.
  • Parents and their information needs. A case study: parents of children under the age of five
    Nicholas, D.; Marden, M.
  • Concise Oxford English Dictionary
  • Fiction retrieval: experimental design and evaluation of a search system based on users' value criteria (Part 1)
    Pejtersen, A.M.; Austin, J.
  • Research Methods in Information
    Pickard, A.J.
  • Purls of wisdom: a collectivist study of human information behaviour in a public library knitting group
    Prigoda, E.; McKenzie, P.J.
  • Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy and Popular Literature
    Radway, J.A.
  • The new literary scholarship and a basis for increased subject catalogue access to imaginative literature
    Ranta, A.J.
  • Readers in reading groups: an online survey of face‐to‐face and virtual book clubs
    Rehberg Sedo, D.
  • Richard & Judy's Book Club and ‘Canada Reads’: readers, books and cultural programming in a digital era
    Rehberg Sedo, D.
  • On the web at home: information seeking and web searching in the home environment
    Rieh, S.Y.
  • Finding without seeking: the information encounter in the context of reading for pleasure
    Ross, C.S.
  • Finding without seeking: what readers say about the role of pleasure reading as a source of information
    Ross, C.S.
  • Making choices: what readers say about choosing books to read for pleasure
    Ross, C.S.
  • What we know from readers about the experience of reading
    Ross, C.S.
  • People aren't afraid anymore, but it's hard to find books: reading practices that inform the personal and social identities of self‐identified lesbian and queer young women
    Rothbauer, P.M.
  • The internet in the reading accounts of lesbian and queer young women: failed searches and unsanctioned reading
    Rothbauer, P.M.
  • Finding and creating possibility: reading in the lives of lesbian, bisexual and queer young women
    Rothbauer, P.M.
  • Understanding information behaviour: how do students and faculty find books?
    Rowlands, I.; Nicholas, D.
  • Readers’ Advisory Service in the Public Library
    Saricks, J.G.
  • Everyday life information seeking: approaching information seeking in the context of way of life
    Savolainen, R.
  • The nature of the readers' advisory transaction in adult reading
    Shearer, K.
  • Preface
    Shearer, K.D.; Burgin, R,
  • Young people's use of non‐fiction books at home: results of a research project
    Shenton, A.K.
  • One reader reading: a case study
    Smith, D.
  • Talking with readers: a competency‐based approach to readers' advisory service
    Smith, D.
  • A survey of reading patterns of elderly people using the Age Concern Centre Library, Leicester
    Speak, M.
  • The provision of fiction for public libraries
    Spiller, D.
  • Information and poverty: information‐seeking channels used by African American low‐income households
    Spink, A.; Cole, C.
  • Question‐negotiation and information seeking in libraries
    Taylor, R.S.
  • Promoting leisure reading to adults in New Zealand public libraries
    Thomas, J.
  • Promoting recreational public reading
    Thomas, J.
  • Checking the books: the value and impact of public library book reading
    Toyne, J.; Usherwood, B.
  • Advising readers online: a look at internet‐based reading recommendation services
    Trott, B.
  • Contextual metadata: faceted schemas in virtual library communities
    Weaver, M.
  • Fiction web page
    Wellington City Libraries
  • Homepage – Wellington City Libraries
    Wellington City Libraries
  • My gateway info: books and authors
    Wellington City Libraries
  • Borrowing
    Wellington City Libraries
  • Discovered by chance: the role of incidental information acquisition in an ecological model of information use
    Williamson, K.
  • Research techniques: questionnaires and interviews
    Williamson, K.
  • Ecological theory of human information behaviour
    Williamson, K.
  • User problems with access to fictional characters and personal names in online public access catalogs
    Yee, M.; Soto, R.