Looking for Information: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs, and Behavior (Library and Information Science) (Hardcover)

~ Donald O. Case (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Â…an excellent, long-needed text. Nothing quite like it is availableÂ…this will become the standard work in the area..."
—T.D. Wilson, Emeritus, University of Sheffield, U.K.

"Â…an ambitious bookÂ…particularly welcome as an academic textbookÂ…a wealth of concrete examples of information seeking in everyday contextsÂ…"
—Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology

"A welcome and ambitious book that should be received with open armsÂ…clear and readableÂ…highly accessibleÂ…cannot be overlookedÂ…"
—Information Research

“…an especially useful source, assembling and framing user-centered studies…Case has performed a significant service for students and researchers…”
—Journal of the Medical Library Association

“…It should appear on reading lists and bookshelves across a number of academic fields.”
—FIRST MONDAY.com -- Review

"...an ambitious book...particularly welcome as an academic textbook...a wealth of concrete examples of information seeking in everyday contexts..." -- Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology

"...an especially useful source, assembling and framing user-centered studies...Case has performed a significant service for students and researchers..." -- Journal of the Medical Library Association

"...an excellent, long-needed text. Nothing quite like it is available...this will become the standard work in the area..." -- T.D. Wilson, Emeritus, University of Sheffield, U.K.

"...an excellent, long-needed text. Nothing quite like it is available...this will become the standard work in the area..."
T.D. Wilson, Emeritus, University of Sheffield, U.K.

"...an ambitious book...particularly welcome as an academic textbook...a wealth of concrete examples of information seeking in everyday contexts..."
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology

"A welcome and ambitious book that should be received with open arms...clear and readable...highly accessible...cannot be overlooked..."
Information Research

"...an especially useful source, assembling and framing user-centered studies...Case has performed a significant service for students and researchers..."
Journal of the Medical Library Association

"...It should appear on reading lists and bookshelves across a number of academic fields."
FIRST MONDAY.com --T.D. Wilson, Emeritus, University of Sheffield, U.K.<

"A welcome and ambitious book that should be received with open arms...clear and readable...highly accessible...cannot be overlooked..." -- Information Research

Review

"This is an excellent, long-needed text. Nothing quite like it is available. The strength of the book is that it has a coherent structure and is soundly based on the research literature that it reviews. Donald Case has done an excellent job of making sense of, and drawing together a wide range of research approaches to the problems of information seeking behaviour and I think that this will become the standard work in the area very quickly."
-T.D. Wilson, Emeritus, University of Sheffield, U.K.
"In my view, Looking for Information is particularly welcome as an academic textbook because the field of INS studies suffers from the lack of monographs. Along with the continuous growth of the number of journal articles and conference papers, there is a genuine need for a book that picks up the numerous pieces and puts them together. The use of the study as a textbook is facilitated by clearly delineated sections on major themes and the wealth of concrete examples of information seeking in everyday contexts. The book is lucidly written and it is accessible to novice readers, too."
-Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
"A welcome and ambitious book that should be received with open arms by schools of library and information studies and researchers looking for an analytical synthesis of research on information needs, seeking and behaviour."
-Information Research
"Case's book is an especially useful source, assembling and framing user-centered studies...In the complex task of surveying newer information-seeking behavior investigations, Case has performed a significant service for students and researchers...What Case establishes are the many paths leading to the current crossroads; readers would do well to consider his survey a navigational guide for future research."
-JOURNAL OF THE MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
"Case sees this book as an introduction to the field for graduate students and as a handbook for established researchers. I believe it could be useful to other professionals and students as well, including librarians who wish to better understand their clientele, and undergraduates majoring in a number of fields like information science, marketing, the health sciences, and communications. This is a compliment to the broad range of topics within this book, their readability, and the accessible format through which Case presents them.
...it is a text that students interested in information seeking research should read in conjunction with other materials, and it is a handy pointer back to the literature for experienced researchers. It should appear on reading lists and bookshelves across a number of academic fields."
-FIRST MONDAY.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Academic Press; 1st edition (May 31, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 012150381X
• ISBN-13: 978-0121503819
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #855,728 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I have to disagree with a Reader from England..., November 5, 2003

By	infomaverick (Texas) - See all my reviews

I'm currently enrolled in a doctoral program in Information Science and, while this book isn't the sum total of all LIS knowledge, I've found it invaluable as a reference on Information Seeking. Few other places will you find this level of literature review laid out in such a compact way. I use it nearly every day in my studies and I'm grateful that Don Case wrote it. It's a roadmap and guidebook for my studies.

- A reader from Texas

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I'd prefer a 3 1/2 for this book, April 3, 2006

By	hrladyship (Las Cruces, NM United States) - See all my reviews

As a graduate student in Library and Information Studies, I was assigned this book in one of my courses. As textbooks in this field go, Case's book is more readable than most. As mentioned by an earlier reviewer, it is an in-depth literature review, and since it is for one of the required courses which had to be taken early on, it will be a useful reference in future classes. In fact, it is a book that I will retain simply as a source of information on possible research material.

The book is well organized and frankly, is one of the nicest as far as materials and construction. The questions at the back of the book, supposedly relating to each chapter, were confusing in that there seemed to be no relationship in many instances.

The one serious complaint that I can make is the tremendous need for editing and proofreading in this edition. The book is replete with incorrect grammar, misspellings, missing words, extra words, etc. Hopefully, these will be corrected in the new edition.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Case Book is my research bible, August 5, 2009

By	Bhuva Narayan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Looking for Information, Second Edition: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs, and Behavior (Library and Information Science) (Hardcover)

I am a doctoral student in Information Science and reading the first edition of this book as a textbook in one of my MLS courses 4 years ago is what inspired me and motivated me to apply for a PhD program. I have read hundreds of books and thousands of articles in the field of User Studies and Information Seeking since then, but I keep coming back to this book again and again as it is like a refdesk full of information about all the major works in the field, and organized in a very easy-to-comprehend manner. I like the second edition even better on account of the added Glossary. Thank you, Dr. Case, for doing all the hard work to compile such an expansive literature review and a wonderful and thought-provoking introduction to the research in my field!