The Role of the Model of Information Behavior as the link between Information Seeking and Communication

Abstract

Searching for information, retrieving it, ad using it lie at the heart of library studies and librarianship. Libraries function by and for the human act of information seeking. The where, why and how of information seeking continues as the topic of debate and discussion on both the theoretical and practical level of a variety of social science disciplines. Like any other complex concept, information seeking means different things in different contexts. In the simplest terms, information seeking involves the search, retrieval, recognition, and application of meaningful content. This paper therefore seeks to discuss the roles of four models of information behavior and the link between information seeking and communication. The model includes Ellis model which refers to his behavioral model as ‘’the relation between these characteristics or components, Johnson model refers to the users’ insight of their trustworthiness and authority, and the accurateness and comprehensibility of the information, Ingwerson and Javelin model refer to the different contexts of the information seeker, the author, the selector etc. and Gorman model which relates to information seeking by physicians in primary care. The paper gave the link between information behavior and communication. The paper concluded by listing the challenges faced when seeking information with relation to communication which includes among others lack of awareness of available resources and information seeking behavior models and nature of task at hand and communication of the task domain knowledge, the paper also gave some recommendations based on the challenges.