Section Two

2.5 Dervin, B., Nilan, M. (1986). Information Needs and Uses. Annual Review of Information Science Technology, 21, 3-33.

Brenda Dervin and Michel Nilan present the advances of the information science field from 1978 to 1986 by reviewing the available literature. They discover "a certain schizophrenia" (p. 9) as there is a schism in the findings between the classic system-oriented approach and those that branched out into a more comprehensive view of the user. The authors further broke down the differences between the two groups into six different approaches of understanding information needs and seven main paradigm shifts they observed.

I found this reading to be especially useful to have at the beginning of the course. It helped me orient myself with the different things that I will be looking out for in the readings throughout the semester. It not only explained the directions that the field is growing towards, but also the systems approach that defined the field previous to 1978. The layout of the article made it very easy to understand. The headings and short definitions also makes it easily accessible in case I need to call upon it in the future.

While I found this information useful for understanding the literature in the class, I am having trouble placing it into the context of my future librarianship. It paints a picture of paradigm shifts and suggests where the research needs to go, but does not relate specifically to where the literature is now, over two decades later. And while I can use this to appreciate where the field has been, there are different sources of information available now that were not even dreamed of in 1986. In order to make myself a media specialist of the twenty-first century I have to be aware of what the current literature is saying. If there was a follow up article to this containing the same premise, but for the years 1986-2007, I would find it more useful.

Section Two

2.1 Julien, H., Duggan, L.J. (2000). A Longitudinal Analysis of the Information Needs and Uses Literature. Library & Information Science Research, 22(3), 291-309.

Julien and Duggan (2000) begin the article with a statement made in a review by Hewins . The comment suggests that findings within the field of library science is bifurcating out into many disciplines, focusing on the cognition of the user and is accomplishing this by utilizing a variety of different survey methods (p. 291-292). The pair observe that there is a lack of empirical evidence to support Hewin's claims, and therefore decide to test these assertions. Their study applies "content analysis" (p. 292) to statistically deduce the legitimacy of Hewin's claim. In the end, Julien and Duggan conclude that Hewin's statement is over-exaggerated, as only moderate improvement has been perceived in the literature.

While I am certain that empirical studies are a fabulous way to observe and record factual data, I cannot comprehend the charts and information no matter how I try. Originally I attended college to become a psychologist and it is a direct result of this statistical illiteracy that led me to change my major to English and later pursue librarianship. As this is one of the first pieces of information I encountered when I came to SCILS, it seemed as if perhaps I chose the wrong field after all. I understand that within the school library environment I will not be working explicitly with statistics and charts, but in order to perform my best I must be able to comprehend the latest findings. Despite not being able to properly evaluate all of the data presented, I found the addition of several pie charts helpful.

As previously stated, I will have to keep with current trends and research in order to be the best librarian I can. From the research presented in this article it seems I will have to read more theoretically based journals in order to observe more progressive forms of research (p. 307). I am grateful for an article such as this one that collects data and pinpoints what is most helpful for me so that I can spend my time doing other activities. Knowing which types of journals to pursue makes it easier, as I will have many things I will be required to read in the future. I am grateful for an article such as this one that collects data and pinpoints what is most helpful for me so that I can spend my time doing