Customer Reviews

Theories of Information Behavior (Asist Monograph)

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I read about a third of this book for my Intro to Information Behavior class in my MLIS program. Although the sheer number of theories/paradigms/whatevers was overwhelming at first, and the information in the introductory chapters was debatable and at times clear as mud, I quickly came to appreciate this book.

Each of the 70+ chapters is a 1 - 3 page summary of a particular IB theory. These summaries are extremely helpful for beginning MLIS students who need a quick explanation of a theory mentioned in class, or an overview of a theory they read about a few weeks ago but can't quite remember, or who just want to browse through some more IB theories.

[...]

My concerns with the book are related to ``what is theory?'' and ``what are the important theories?''.

First, the ``what is theory?''. To say that some of the positions presented in each chapter are theories

is really pushing the label of theory. Certainly, many of the paradigms do not measure up to the

definition of theory that the editors of the book state in the preface or which are in the leading chapter

of section one.